Blew my mind

[I'm goin' down]

I have trying to get a handle on celestial navigation. I visited the Celestial Navigation in SH4 thread. I downloaded Stellarium, a free celestial program, which is the program recommended to tie celestial navigation SH4. I thought some of the mods and programs were good in SH4 like Mobo, TMO2.0, 3D TDC and the Solution Solver. But the Stellarium program blew me away. It is unbelieveable. :yeah:It is a free download and worth an hour of you time to check out the sky. You can program the sky so it gives you a view of it from the town you live in. (I haven't begun to try to figure out how to use it on mission, and that looks hard. But the Stellarium program is amazing just the same.)

[Rockin Robbins]

By far, the best planetarium astronomy software on the web available for free is Carte du Ciel (http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/download.html). "Amazing" does no justice to this program, on a par with many of the expensive commercial software for amateur astronomers. It makes Stelliarium look like a horse and buggy next to a Ferrari.

I used it to prove that the positions and phases of the Moon in SH4 are just all wrong. Especially entertaining was a screenshot of a half moon a couple of degrees from he sun. I was able to prove that both the phase and position of the moon were completely wrong for that day in history.

Here, for instance, is a view of the Sun traveling ACROSS the sky (it doesn't rise and set like it does for us normal people) in this horizon plot animation from Dutch Harbor on the day of an annular eclipse of the sun! Of course the stars wouldn't be visible at that time, probably even during the eclipse, but they are there for clarity of where the Sun is in the sky.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa293/RockinRobbins13/Silent%20Hunter%204/DutchHarbor2-4-431113-1429.gif

[I'm goin' down]

Thanks for the tip. I no nothing about celestial navigation. I was stunned to find the Stellarum program, especially since it can apparently be tied into SH4--I am going to need help as I was unable to do it. I will check you your program.

I am trying to save a screen shoot for my desk top that has an infinite random space view that constantly changes. I see you were able to do it. Hopefully, I can figure it out.

[Armistead]

I agree, amazing stuff, one of my newest favorite hobbies

[Harmsway!]

I love Stellarium. Being using it for years.

In hard copy form I have numerous Sky Charts and Star Catalogs but find I use the Bright Star Charts most often. With the computer I find Stellarium to be like using those Bright Star Charts, quick and easy. In particular it's a snap to know where you are in the sky and find new locations. When I want to study an area of sky with more scrutiny I get out the more detail charts. I'll have to give Carte du Ciel (http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/download.html) a try.