Do you prefer Stellarium or Cartes Du Ciel?

[angusb1]

Stellarium won't run on my little old laptop, it can't cope so I tried CdC and really like it.

[MarkSix]

I prefer Stellarium but its because its easier to understand and use as a beginner.

btw I think this thread should have included a poll on the subject.

[great_bear]

I consider them different tools for different tasks.

CdC for exploring/mapping what's actually there, and Stellarium for approximating the views from my location. I think CdC suffers a lot from non-optimal architecture and coding, as well as a poorly designed user interface. It is nonetheless an extremely useful tool and gets used as least as often - perhaps more so - than Stellarium on my machines.

[chrisshillito]

I much prefer CDC - perhaps less style than stellarium but considerably more substance with much less overheads. Certainly when it comes to telescope control CDC is far superior to Stellarium as slews and syncs are actually built in rather than a bolted on after thought like stellarium (ctrl1, what's that all about for heavens sake - hardly the click and go interface we might expect from a modern user interface).

Chris.

[David Smith]

Knew nothing of Stellarium until I moved operating system from Windows to Linux about 2 years ago. Had used CdC for years prior to that. Loads of detail but a bit clunky to work with. Stellarium is good but I end up going back to CdC if I want high levels of detail.

Having said that I recently added some of the extra catalogues (down to mag 15!) so will see if I still need to go back to CdC for the detail......just need some clear nights!

David

[ncjunk]

CdC for me every time. No clutter just raw data - love it!

Couldn't put it any better than Steve so...wot 'e said.

[maub]

I can’t decide which is best and end up using both. Stellarium is better for general viewing and planning observations. CdC is much better for telescope control but the overall navigation is very jerky. A combination of both would be ideal.

[Pavel]

Stellarium is one of best for newbies; legible map of skies; interesting plugs and others.

Cartes du Ciel permits for advanced planning of observation; lot of special informations about objects and others; good graphics.

So, both programs are useful but after some time I prefer CdC when I need accuracy and punctuality. Stellarium is not bad to watch a nice picture of skies.

[gary1968]

I used Stellarium a while back, though it was great but it is very computer resource hungry. I tried CdC, couldn't get to grips with that at all, but I have read nothing but good things about it.

To throw another option into the mix, I now use Starry Night Pro 6, great software, almost as pretty as Stellarium, nowhere near as resource hungry and has as much functionality as I need for use with EQMod etc.

gary

[Black Knight]

Stellarium is definitely a great app. Great for mooching around in, but in my own experience extremely convoluted to drive a scope with. So when I'm driving my NEQ6, I use CdC. I have real problems with the UI in CdC (it just doesn't make sense to me), but I find it's much easier to drive my mount with EQMod than Stellarium. So horses for courses I suppose. Stellarium for browsing, CdC for controlling the mount. Works for me anyway .

[x6gas]

I have both, but massively prefer Stellarium. I use it to drive my scope and it was pretty much plug'n'play so I don't really understand the comments about Stellarium being a pain to drive the scope...

...so now I'm just wondering what I'm missing! Perhaps I should dust CdC off and see...

[sunshine185]

Same as Zedds, always used stellarium, happy with it so never had any reason to try the other, getting a hand-me-down netbook at chrimbo, so might try CdC then, can only grab the lappy inbetween the kids and the missus using it.

[todd8137]

syell for me get all the pluggins

[The Flinty Fox]

So are the maps on cdc more accurate than stellarium or simply more detailed?

[bombassa]

For planning I use CdC and for figuring out what was I looking at I usually use Stellarium. No it probably doesn't make sense but I'm happy and all that.

Somewhat off-topic (sorry) I made Stellarium work on my old Dell Inspiron 6400 by replacing the graphics drivers with the Radeon Omega Drivers, so if someone out there with a similar system has problems then that might be a possible solution.

Regards,

[lukebl]

CdC wins hands down. Functional, detailed and no-nonsense. Who needs all the unnecessary bling of Stellarium?

[NickK]

I'm starting to use Aladin more and more.

It's possible to create your own filters and layer them. Also you can create Java plugins so I've been discussing that for AOSX too.

[Zul]

I got both but i'am using stellarium more then cdc because stellarium is faster for me to check something quick and check future events.

[The Flinty Fox]

I have used stellarium and think it's really good (admit it's my first go at this type of software) but now having read this thread am now slightly concerned for its reliability. This is a pity because i like it or am i just being paranoid.

TBH i havn't really tested it yet as i only downloaded it yesterday.

[RogerTheDodger]

Nowt wrong with Stellarium for visual work as it is quick and easy to use, CdC is just better for imaging when controlling the 'scope.

[Tinker1947]

I'm a Stellarium user, not to say i won't try CDC, just a case of downloading soon.

[Orion_the_Hunter]

CdC

[Simms]

Stellarium when planning my nights observations, CdC for actually getting down to the work.

[Macavity]

Well, CdC (quickly) answered the question uppermost in my mind last night: Where exactly WAS the Horsehead nebula <G> - And then ably directed the scope's GoTo to the quasi-invisible thing! I still need to apply myself to learning how to BEST way to use it though... That said, I still like to check Stellarium to see "what's about" generally.

[Si W]

Stellarium when planning my nights observations, CdC for actually getting down to the work.

Me too, that's exactly what i do as well