User`s guide

Appearance of the Sky 65
For distances, you can choose to view the
distance between you and any celestial
object in either light years or parsecs. One
parsec is equal to about 3.26 light years.
Full Screen Mode
Starry Night has two menu options that
allow you to hide the screen controls.
Selecting View->Hide All Controls will
hide the side panes, the toolbar, and the
button bar (Windows only). Selecting
View->Fullscreen hides the main menu,
the scrollbars, and the window frame. By
using these two options together, you hide
all controls and menus, for a full screen
view of the sky. Even with all controls
turned off, you can still move around the
sky using the many keyboard shortcuts
available, such as the arrow keys. For a
complete list of shortcuts, see
“Keyboard Shortcuts
” on page 179.
Tip: Once you are in full screen mode, you
will need to find your way back out! Press
the F7 key to restore the main menu, and
then choose View->Show All Controls to
restore the other controls.
Saving Your Settings
Now that you know all of the features for
adjusting the appearance of the sky, you
may wish to make some changes to Starry
Night’s default settings. For example, you
may want Starry Night to always open
with daylight turned off. Choosing
Options->Save Current Options as
Default will save all of your appearance
settings so that Starry Night will use these
settings whenever you start the program or
open a new window. This allows you to set
up Starry Night to look exactly the way
you like, every time you use the program.
Restoring Default Settings. Choosing
Options->Presets->Default will restore
all of the settings in Starry Night to the
default values you have chosen (or the
built-in default settings, if you have never
used the
Save Current Options as Default
option).
Multiple Settings: You may wish to create
a set of appearance settings that is not used
as the default. To do this, set Starry Night
up the way that you want, then choose
Options->Save Preset... from the menu.
This will open a dialog box that allows
you to name your new settings files. Any
settings files that you create can then be
turned on from the
Options->Presets menu.
Adding Print Presets: You may wish to
modify Starry Night’s default print presets
or add additional print presets. To modify
an existing print preset, first apply the
preset by choosing
Options->Presets-><preset name>from
the menu. Next, make any changes to
these settings. Finally, choose Save
Preset... from the Options menu and click
on the file “<Preset Name>.sno” in
the Save dialog box that opens. This will
replace that print preset with your own
changes. You may also choose to create an
entirely new print preset by making your
own settings and then choosing Save
Preset... from the Options menu and