Suggestions for star map software

[ardbeg74]

I've got stellarium and a planisphere which is great for planning. However i really need a detailed printed reference when im at the scope. 

Seems on a good night my naked eye magnitude is around 2 because of LP, so my primary navigation is a set of 8 x 42 7.0 fov bins and finder scope. The planisphere gets me into the rough area where i want to observe but could do with more detailed charts i can use while at the scope. 

A search for astronomy software brings back more programs than i can shake a barlow at, so wondering if anybody has any suggestions?

So basically what i want is:

1) select at area of zoomed in sky and display stars upto my chosen magnitude.

2) be able to print this out or export as jpeg, tiff or whatever (option to flip the image for a newt would be good but can do that in gimp )

3) black stars on white background.

4) include star labels by magnitude range ( i.e include labels for mag 5 - 6 only )

5) RA and Dec grid.

6) run on linux, mac ( or at a last resort windows )

7) be free  

I can stick the printouts in poly pockets and keep em in a binder for reference. Means charts targeted exactly for the obs i want to make and no messing with book pages when im wearing gloves etc.

Anyone else doing that here?

Cheers

Mark

[Charic]

...........Can`t you print what you need from Stellarium?  Create a new folder somewhere to store the images. Go into Stellarium CONFIGURATION - TOOLS - Screenshots. Tick the INVERT box, then  browse to the newly created  folder to set the path. Now  go and play with Stellarium, and once you`ve added detail and zoomed to your liking, hit Ctrl+S and the image is saved as a .png (portable network graphic). Works on my pc W7. Hope this helps.

[ardbeg74]

Hi Charic,

Thanks! Just tried that out, with the atmosphere off and limiting magnitude set it works a treat!

Now feel rather stupid, the answer was right under my nose all the time

Cheers

Mark

[Charic]

..........no worries. Advance the timer when in  daylight to a time / date stamp more suitable to show the Stars, in preparation for the next observation.

[ccfcbob]

Ardbeb74, when you are out do you still have internet access? When im out I use 'the night sky' app on the tablet. Don't know if this would do the job, give it a go its a free download & would save printouts

[Merlin66]

You can do the same with Cartes du Ciel.....

[ardbeg74]

Thanks Guys,

I guess the wireless will reach into the garden, but dont have tablet only smartphone and laptop. I did take the laptop out once, stellarium with the red screen enabled. But kind of worried about the moisture. Batteries probably wont last long in the cold either. Dont want to knock my coffee over it either!

Im ok with printed charts though.

Merlin66 -- I tried out cartes do ciel, ubuntu version running under parallels on the mac, was pretty slow to update after dragging the scroll bars. Not tried the mac version yet but i think i need to investigate it further. Lots of options with this and support of additional star catalogs.

Spent yesterday afternoon messing around with stellarium. I can produce charts with it but there is a lot of post processing needed to add labels, etc needed so its not ideal.

But the worst thing of all was dealing with the Struve catalogue. Stellarium doesnt support searching on those numbers. So used the WDS database on a website to get the SAO number which Stellarium will search on. Where the SAO wasnt listed in the WDS, had to do a simbad search on the coordinates and get the SAO that way.  But Stellarium displays as HIP catalogue on the labels so all very confusing and time consuming. Then Stellarium on one monitor and gimp on the other, then manually mark the stars on my chart and add labels, ra/dec coordinates and a north marker.

So if anybody has any suggestions to make this process easier... im all ears Otherwise im not going to be lost for something to do on cloudy nights

Cheers

Mark

[frugal]

I did take the laptop out once, stellarium with the red screen enabled. But kind of worried about the moisture. Batteries probably wont last long in the cold either. Dont want to knock my coffee over it either!

This is why I bought a second hand Panasonic Toughbook. I don't have to worry about spilling anything on it, or worry about leaving it on a damp surface.