Astronomy Software

[mad4mars]

hi thanks for the response of my last thread.

basically i am looking for the best and easiest software available for maps etc fromm what i think i know is that certain ones come with uptodate maps so you can see what there now.
i have downloaded the free verion from google earth wich is really good
any help would be great
regards
mad4mars

[Carlos_dfc]

The best free sky charting software is probably Cartes du Ciel
Not as flashy looking as some home planetarium software, but oodles of functions, LOADS of objects in the database (more than all other freebies) and doesn't eat up lots of system resources (great for using at the telescope, on a laptop)
[Registered users can see links. ]

Stellarium looks nicer, good for a beginner, but not enough detail for an advanced user
[Registered users can see links. ]

And a new one
Microsoft's Worldwide telescope. Very good graphically, and has some great tutorial for beginners etc....
[Registered users can see links. ]
Requires a modern PC to run it though.
(No good for a lappy when out in the field - I prefer Cartes du Ciel for that)

[admin]

thanks those are quite useful Carlos.

Do you do astrophotography as well (along with the software that comes with it?)

[Carlos_dfc]

Sorry, I'm not into imaging that much.

I've dabbled a little, taking pics of Moon and planeys with a webcam attached to the scope.
Remove the webcam lens, then fit webcam onto the focuser, and focus directly onto the webcam's chip - effectively using the scope as a huge telephoto lens (the prime focus method)

Only software I can recommend for that is K3CCDtools, for controlling the webcam settings, and capturing the avi movie
[Registered users can see links. ]
and 'Registax', which separates the frames from an avi file, then aligns and stacks them, in order to get a sharp still image
[Registered users can see links. ]
I prefer Registax version 3 - version 4 has a multi-point alignment facility, which I feel over-complicates things