# Stellarium



## Nightspore (Jul 6, 2013)

Does anyone use Stellarium? I've been using it since about the #9 series. It runs well on Windows Vista & Win 7 (I use the x64 version on Win 7). It tends to upgrade about once a year, but the last version (0.12.0) was a bit buggy, possibly due to a new rendering engine bug, & recently this has been ameliorated with 0.12.1. PortableApps do a version as well. 

"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."

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 15 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
_


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## Nightspore (Jul 6, 2013)

1/ Regulus setting in the West not long after sunset tonight (from Worcestershire), Stellarium 0.12.1.

2/ Vega high in the East, showing astrological symbols, Stellarium 0.11.4


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## Nightspore (Jul 6, 2013)

Position of comet C/2011 L4 4/5/2013





Jupiter & galactic rim.





Mars from high orbit.





The night side of Saturn from Tethys.


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## Nightspore (Jul 7, 2013)

Mars from Phobos





Pluto & Mars 18/11/2012 17:02:51 GMT


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## Mariella (Jul 7, 2013)

I use 0.8.2.


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## Nightspore (Jul 7, 2013)

Mariella said:


> I use 0.8.2.



I can only go as far back as the #0.9 series. I've updated without problem until 0.12.0 which was a bit of a disaster, it didn't work with the BIOS clock & had quite a few bugs. I had to uninstall it on three computers, including the x64 version on my 64 bit box. 

I was a bit heartbroken for a while, until I found an old 0.11.4 PortableApps copy which I installed in a special folder on my C-Drive. PortableApps versions can be run like this if you make a repository folder on the Local Drive (C) & not in 'Program Files'. I run a few portables on my notebook like this. 

When 0.12.1 was released only a couple of months after 0.12.0 (obviously to remedy the bugs) it worked fine. It has a new rendering engine & a few other extension choices. 

It's difficult to make screenshots but I just do a screenprint & copy/paste into a word processor then save as a PNG file. Which I then usually edit in Paint or Paint.NET & save as a JPEG.

PortableApps Stellarium 0.12.1

The portable can, of course, be saved to a flashdrive/pendrive & taken anywhere.


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## Nightspore (Jul 8, 2013)

Earth from Mars on Xmas day 2012.





Milky Way as seen from a night on Mars.


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## Nightspore (Jul 9, 2013)

Meteor shower from the rings of Saturn (note the constellation of Orion).





Surmised view of Saturn from a hydrocarbon lake on Titan.





Uranus & ring system.


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## Nightspore (Jul 13, 2013)

Saturn from Mimas.





Early morning on Mars on the Husband Hill Summit & Spirit Rover.


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