Technonoid Posted December 23, 2002 Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 I'm looking for some software that charts the stars, planets, and nebulas. Would like for it to be able to track them as well. I have always wanted a telescope, and finally got one the other day. I saw the rings of saturn with my own eyes and not in pictures for the first time in my life! What a thrill ! :D Later own I saw Jupiter and 3 of its moons ! And and I can put the moon in your living room. No kidding, it came with a Color digital CCD that I can hook to my computer, TV, or anything with video inputs ! Now thats cool! 8) Ok, I'm back on earth now. But of course the software that came with the scope is for M$. I already checked for a linux version. :( no need to explain that. Anyway I did a little searching and turn up nothing I wanted. Any of you guys / gals into astronomy and use linux ? Looking for software to chart the stars.... TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aru Posted December 23, 2002 Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 I remember an old project for something related to stars, sky maps... and that stuff. And when I say old I mean 3-4 years, before KDEs and Gnomes... but I don't remember its name, sorry. edited: http://www.gnu.org/software/spacechart/ (maybe was this one but ...I don't remember :P ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted December 23, 2002 Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 Have you checked out freshmeat.net? What exactly does the software do? On a side note, here's a recent slashdot article.. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...de=flat&tid=160 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonMage Posted December 23, 2002 Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 Hmmm.. how bout kstars. It is included in the KDE packages (I think it is in the kdeedu rpm, at least it is in my KDE 3.1 RC5). It looks cool enough for me, although I don't think nebulas are included, but it sure shows stars, constellations, and planets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technonoid Posted December 23, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 Thanks guys, aru, that link turned up another link that looked promising. But, something wrong with internet at the time. Thanks. cannonfodder, The software that I know is StarryNight. They do have a mac version. It will show the current location of any given star, planet, galaxies, and nebuleas. Oh, and even artifical space objects like the hubble and iss (International Space Station). It also tracks the movements across the sky. Very cool just watch, you can do real time tracking or go wild with minutes, hours, days, and years with just a click. Like, it will show you the position of saturn, say on December 20, 2003. It really helps you plan what to look for on a good clear night. And if your some what new at it like me, it shows you the locations in the sky to look for whatever you want to look at. Neat artical link. I plan own having a system similar to that one day. DragonMage, Hmm, I'll surely check that out tonight. Thanks again guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ab2ms Posted December 23, 2002 Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 I use xplns, it is the only one that seemed to install and work for me. Very nice program, I'd reccomend you check it out. http://www.astroarts.com/products/xplns/ hope this one helps . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamCat Posted December 24, 2002 Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 Any of you guys / gals into astronomy and use linux ?Looking for software to chart the stars.... YES! :) I have not had the opportunity to delve into Astronomy software in Linux or other systems. :( But Astronomy is my main hobby. :) I have an old C8. (Celestron 8 inch) Bought it about 20 years ago. It just came with some basic hardware; simple tripod and equatorial mount and a few optics and i've added a few eyepieces and filters to the collection since. I get alot of mileage out it it. I love it. :) I also have a 6" home made (not by me) reflector. That one has been on long term loan to an uncle since I bought the C8. :) It rules. :) It's on a tripod/equaltorial mount made of wood and steel pipes. It weighs a ton. LOL I subscribed to Sky & Telescope (S&T) for about 15 years or so. Still have every issue. Had to skip renewal a few years back during an economic crunch and hadn't gotten around to restarting. Then I got a subscription to Astronomy for my b day this year. It starts next month. :) I read in S&T several years ago that you could buy a special version of TheSky software. This special version was able to link up to one of the big 'scopes at Kitt Peak. (I think) You could actually buy time at the 'scope, slew it and take pictures from your home computer. Dunno how that program ever worked out or if it is still available. As I recall it costs *only* $300 for 15 minutes. LOL Welcome to the universe. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technonoid Posted December 24, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 I use xplns, it is the only one that seemed to install and work for me. Very nice program, I'd reccomend you check it out.http://www.astroarts.com/products/xplns/ hope this one helps . It looks like it will. Getting it now. Thanks ab2ms ! SteamCat, that is cool! 8) You just made me jealous. I've gotten so excited over this new hobby. That I've found that I want at least 2 more scopes. A 6" refractor and at least an 8" or 10" reflector. With computer controlled tracking and CCD cameras. Thanks Guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamCat Posted January 8, 2003 Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 hehe, don't be jealous! Enjoy the show. :) I have a new answer to your original question. :) I picked up the current issue of Linux Format. Went to the bank and took out a second mortgage on my house to be able to afford the damn thing! :shock: The CD's that came with this months issue are 1) Mandrake 9.0 8) and 2) their standard disk full of trinkets and utilities. One of which is an Astronomy package called Stellarium. I installed it and it is very cool. 8) http://stellarium.free.fr/ It's a basic program; not one that you could plug RA and Dec numbers in to slew your scope but gives a very powerful view of the sky. You can zip around the sky with arrow key's click on an object and get the basic data about it and such. Hit the space bar and it will center your current object on the screen. I love this. 8) Because once it is centered you can zoom in. It kicks ass because it looks like your flying into the object at high speed. This looks cool on nebula and clusters but it REALLY kicks ass on planets. :) I installed from the tarball on the LF CD so I had to do the config, make and so on. ./config ran into a couple dependancy problems but they were easily resloved by urpmi as the mesa stuff that Stellarium was looking for is on the Mandrake CD's. :) But, I read on their website that someone built a Mdk rpm for it. :) Speaking of Mesa.... I miss Halflife. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted January 8, 2003 Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 that looks like an awesome prog steamcat, i'll have to try it out when i get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamCat Posted January 8, 2003 Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 I like it. :) Howver, take note that I am very easily amused. :) Let me know if you can save your settings. I can not. :( I have to set my long, lat & gmt offset every time I start the program. If it works for you then i'll reinstall from the rpm. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugerobot Posted January 8, 2003 Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 I can't believe no one has posted about Celestia yet! Celestia is really cool... Maybe more eyecandy than anything else... but check it out: http://celestia.sourceforge.net/ The screenshots are beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technonoid Posted January 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Great guys. I try to get them now, and try'em out. Thanks. Astronomy is absolutely Amazing ! Check out astronomy.com , its my current hang out. Hubble has a new picture from space thats even further than the deep field pictures. Just amazing.... Crisp Skies, if your one that looks up at night. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamCat Posted July 26, 2003 Report Share Posted July 26, 2003 I finally got around to giving Celestia a whirl. WOW! :shock: That is some major eye candy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted July 26, 2003 Report Share Posted July 26, 2003 The only thing I ever looked at is Xephem (in contrib): urpmi xephem I will have a look at celestia soon. Thanks for the hint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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