User`s guide

34 Starry Night User’s Guide
on/off, turning light pollution on/off and,
in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus, turning
the horizon on/off).
Options Pane
Many of the options for modifying the
appearance of the sky are in the Options
pane. The Options pane is organized in a
layered framework, based on the distance
of various celestial objects from Earth.
Controls for altering the appearance of the
sky are slotted into the appropriate layer.
For example, controls for adjusting the
appearance of the planets fall into the
“Solar System” layer. Any of the layers in
the Options pane can be expanded by
clicking the expand button to the left of the
layer’s name.
Most controls fall naturally into one of
four layers. These layers correspond with
different databases - see
“Introduction to Databases
” on page 80 for
a description of these databases.
1 Local View. Controls that affect the
view of the sky from your location. For
example, turning the horizon on/off.
2 Solar System. Controls for objects in
our solar system. For example, planets,
comets, and asteroids.
3 Stars. Controls for objects outside the
solar system, but inside the Milky Way.
For example, stars, extrasolar planets,
and the appearance of the Milky Way
itself.
4 Deep Space. Controls for objects
outside our galaxy. For example, other
galaxies.
Tip: This layer also includes databases
that include objects both within and
outside of our galaxy. For example, the
Messier database includes globular
clusters, which are inside our galaxy, but it
also includes other galaxies, so it is
classified in the “Deep Space” layer.
Guides and constellations do not fall
naturally into this layered scheme, so they
are given their own layers. Finally, certain
databases overlap with other databases, so
their controls are placed in the “Other”
layer. See “Databases 4 (Other)
” on
page 83 to see which objects fall into this
category.