Amazon.co.uk Review
"Astronomy made easy for the total ignoramus" might be a better title for this astonishingly easy astronomical software. If, like this writer, you like the idea of the Big Dipper but have never been able to spot it without assistance, you're finally in luck.
Starry Night shows you what the sky looks like right here, right now: you type in your location, it reads the time off your system and shows you what constellations are above you this minute, complete with trees to indicate where the horizon is. You can scroll forward to 9999 AD or backwards to 4713 BC, and the sky rotates around you and darkens or lightens accordingly.
The program comes with all sorts of amazing functionalities. You can "grab" the sky with your mouse and spin it around you; search the sky for constellations by name; view constellations in numerous ways (astronomical, Zodiac and so on), with or without translucent mythical figures superimposed over them; "visit" planets or stars; change brightness of the stars, or the amount of light pollution. When you mouse hovers over each star, its name or number and distance from Earth flashes up. You can print star charts, track astronomical events such as eclipses and solstices, and create images and even little QuickTime movies to put on your Web site.
You'll need a Power PC Mac or better, running OS 7.5 or later, a CD drive, 24MB of Ram and around 75MB of hard drive space (or a PC with a Pentium or better processor and Windows 95 or later). The program comes with QuickTime if you haven't already got it installed (much quicker than downloading it). --Liz Bailey
Product Description
This CD is a visually appealing guide to the planets, stars, constellations and over 70,000 galaxies. Starry Night Pro comes with stellar databases, movable horizons, Internet updates and a 240-page guidebook, Starry Night Companion, by John Mosley.
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