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Introduction

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.

Educational application and relevance

Version

Stellarium Version - 0.12.4

Configuration

No need to configure
Application - Education - Stellarium

Overview of Features

sky

default catalogue of over 600,000 stars
extra catalogues with more than 210 million stars
asterisms and illustrations of the constellations
constellations for 20+ different cultures
images of nebulae (full Messier catalogue)
realistic Milky Way
very realistic atmosphere, sunrise and sunset
the planets and their satellites

interface

a powerful zoom
time control
multilingual interface
fisheye projection for planetarium domes
spheric mirror projection for your own low-cost dome
all new graphical interface and extensive keyboard control
telescope control

visualisation

equatorial and azimuthal grids
star twinkling
shooting stars
eclipse simulation
supernovae simulation
skinnable landscapes, now with spheric panorama projection

customizability

plugin system adding artifical satellites, ocular simulation, telescope configuration and more
ability to add new solar system objects from online resources...
add your own deep sky objects, landscapes, constellation images, scripts...

Other similar applications

Kstar ,

Development and community help

Project coordinator: Fabien Chéreau
Graphic designer: Johan Meuris
Developer: Bogdan Marinov, Alexander Wolf, Timothy Reaves, Guillaume Chéreau, Georg Zotti, Marcos Cardinot, Florian Schaukowitsch
Continuous Integration: Hans Lambermont
Tester: Khalid AlAjaji
and everyone else in the community.

Working with the application

Functionalities

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On opening a new installation of Stellarium, you will be presented with a 60° view of the sky as currently seen from Paris.	At the bottom of the screen you can see additional information describing the location, date and time.

Cardinal indicators located on the horizon show the direction you are facing.	A left mouse click on any object on the screen will display additional information in the top left hand corner of the screen. Right mouse click to clear the selection

Positioning your mouse at the lower left hand corner of the screen will reveal the main tool bars. They automatically disappear when the mouse is moved away. Basic Moves Moving around Stellarium can be accomplished using mouse and keyboard commands. Hold the left mouse button down while moving the mouse to change your orientation. You can also use the cursor keys on your keyboard to change your orientation. Press and hold the keyboard Page Up and Page Down keys to zoom in and out. Press the space bar to centre a selected object. Press the forward slash key “ / ” to quickly zoom in on a selected object. Press the back slash key ” \ “ to return quickly to a 60° field of view.	Setting the Location and Time : Setting the correct location and time must be done before Stellarium can be used to plan an evening’s observations. Press F6 to open the Location Window. Alternatively, click on the Location Window icon in the tool bar. Type the name of the city in the search box, then select it t. Click on “use as default” if you wish to retain the setting the next time Stellarium starts. Close when finished.

The main display should reflect the new location details:	Press F5 to bring up the Date and Time window. Set the time to 8:30 PM.

Time Stellarium also allows us to manipulate time. Press the “L” key 3 times to see the stars move across the sky. Press the “K” key to return time to normal speed. Press the “J” key repeatedly to make time move backwards. Press the “8” key to reset the date and time to current. Press the “7” key to freeze time. If you get lost, remember: The “8” key sets the date and time to current. The “K” key set the simulation to normal speed. Refer to the status bar at the bottom of the screen at any time to check on the date, time, and simulation speed.	Controls for time can also be found on the lower tool bar:

Markings : Various grids, lines and markings can be displayed on the celestial sphere. Pressing “e” toggles an equatorial grid:	Pressing “z” toggles the Altitude / Azimuth grid:

Constellation lines and boundaries are toggled on and off using the “b” and “c” keys.	Constellation art can be displayed by using the “r” key.


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