User`s guide

38 Starry Night User’s Guide
Horizon Styles: You can choose from one
of four horizon types. Flat horizons have
no variation in elevation or scenery.
Custom horizons are illustrated horizons
with images of trees, hills and clouds. See
“Custom Horizons
” on page 159 for
information on modifying custom
horizons. Photorealistic horizons use
panoramic images. Animated Horizons
show a live landscape view with moving
elements such as grass.
Tip: There may be times when you wish to
hide the horizon (for example to view a
close-up image of an object that is beneath
the horizon). You can turn the horizon on/
off by checking/unchecking the “Local
Horizon” checkbox in the Options pane
(“Local View” layer), or by choosing
View>Hide Horizon from the main menu.
Note: In all Starry Night software, if you
do not have an OpenGL compatible
graphics card, you will not be able to view
the photorealistic or animated horizons, so
you will probably want to use the custom
horizon type.
Options: The standard horizon view is
opaque, but you can make it semi-
transparent by checking “Translucent” or
reduce the horizon to a thin line by
checking “Outline”. This will help you
determine which objects and
constellations are about to rise above the
horizon.
By default, Starry Night displays
compass points on the horizon. If
you find that you don’t use or need them,
you can turn them off by unchecking
“Show Compass Points”.
Nighttime Slider: Adjust the brightness of
a photorealistic horizon at night.
Displaying Celestial Objects
Checkboxes in the Options pane for each
database of celestial objects let you turn on
or off these databases. See
“Object Databases
” on page 79 for a
complete listing of the object databases
included in Starry Night. You can turn
databases on/off so that only the objects
that you are interested in appear onscreen.
For example, you may want to find out
which of the many points of light shown
onscreen represent planets. By turning the
database of stars off, it will be much easier
to identify the planets.
Tip: You can also turn databases on/off by
choosing View from the main menu and
checking the appropriate database.
If a database is turned off, no objects from
this database will be displayed. However,
if a database is turned on, not all of the
objects in the database will be displayed.