is stellarium software any good

[rockferryred]

Has anyone used is software.

[Tinker1947]

Very nearly everybody some time or other, its free, and it works....

http://www.stellarium.org/en_GB/

[John]

Practially everyone on the forum uses it I think !

It's really good and free

[kendg]

It is more than worth the price 

I use it all the time. It's great.

[BritAngler]

+1

[cuivenion]

Yep tis very good!

[ronin]

Yes good, but you do need to sit and set up the F4 stuff, showing every star and every DSO as a default means a very "busy" screen, as in too much on it.

Reducing the DSO and Stars back to somewhere around Mag 6 to 8 means what it displays is closer to what you may see.

Stars at Mag 6 and DSO's at Mag 8 probably show about right, but for London you may find that 8 for DSO's means they are shown but you cannot see them.

Have to "play" a bit to get it right for you.

[Floater]

Stellarium is excellent - and so is Sky Safari (my preference).

[rockferryred]

Hi everyone what I am asking for

Is I have a skywatcher 130p with goto mount.And trying to set it up with my laptop,but being new to the hobby i don't know what cable I need from the laptop to the scope thanks scott

[seo]

Besides that its a free software, I believe that after so many years of reliably helping everyone with at least an astronomical interest, Stellarium has fairly earned its position among the must have software regardless of how many other astronomical involved software each has in his/her "arsenal".     

[cuivenion]

Hi everyone what I am asking for

Is I have a skywatcher 130p with goto mount.And trying to set it up with my laptop,but being new to the hobby i don't know what cable I need from the laptop to the scope thanks scott

I'd start a new thread about that specifically, you're more likely to get answers then. Something like 'Using Stellarium with .....' insert your mount.

[Uranium235]

Its pretty awesome as far as im concerned. It can also be used to control your mount and get it to point at stuff which isnt in the handset. However, it is a little CPU intensive.

[Dave In Vermont]

It's one of the best. Similar software planetarium-programs can run you upwards of £200. Stellarium is free. And one of the developers is a member here - often to be found answering questions and listening to people's suggestions. The directions help. Here's the program and links to instructions:

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
As for instructions, the most current one's are posted in Wiki due to their being new features & functions being created almost daily. There is also a Pdf. that's almost up-to-date. Here's the Wiki-Link:
 
http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide
 
And the Pdf. is here:
 
http://barry.sarcasmogerdes.com/stellarium/stellarium_user_guide-new.pdf
 

You'll love it! I leave you a screenshot of mine. It's nowhere near this technical when you first turn it on - but I've outfitted mine to do what I need in my interests.

Dave

Click on image for full size.

[rockferryred]

Thanks Dave looks great will try it out to nite.