astro software questions

[kniclander]

I am using KStars and Stellarium and I'm trying to find a way of entering the RA/dec co-ordinates manually so that that posiiton will be centred in the field of view (it's so i can find double stars by starhopping my dob or binos).

In Kstars there seems to be a facility to do this but it does not go to the right place :scratch:

In Stellarium, there does not seem to be any facility for doing this at all.

Any ideas?

ps -for some reaosn my Stellarium is missing 2 of the three stars in Orion's belt which seems something of an oversight - has anyone else noticed this in theirs? i am running (I think) version 08.9.1 on a Linux eeepc701 which always seems to have interesting side effects.

thanks for any help

Dan

[aussi skywatcher]

I am using the latest version (beta but good) of Stellarium (but with windows vista!!!!),everythingis there, there dosnt appear to be any way of entering the RA as you wish but you can search for objects very well ( I am new to this hobby but it works for me) and it goes straight to it, if the object you want is below the horizon just turn off the "ground" feature. I like this program, I like the way you can speed up (or go back) in time and identify an object you have looked at or like me found and didnt know what it was. The best thing about it is its free!!! It would be interesting to know if there are any other handy bits of software around similar to Stellarium in the same price bracket. As I'm from down under I thought I'd just let you know that the weather here is HOT, it reached 48deg C here in Whyalla today and will be like that for the next 4 days, so when you all put on your gloves and coats on to view your cloudy skies spare a thought for us down here having to use our beer to cool the scope down!!!!!!!

Happy viewing guysaussi skywatcher

[kniclander]

thanks aussie skywatcher. Try cartes du ciel - it's free, it's not quite as easy as stellarium but it potentially s a lot better.

[AstroDonut]

Cheers for that advice I've got cartes du ciel too, but never knew there was a RA and DEC facility on it.

View - Locate new position

I like the interface of Stellarium but find it's a bit limited (just like my astro knowledge)

[Terry]

Hi Dan

Glad its nice and warm down under. I am newby to and run with Stellarium, I have Cartes but find this dificult to get to grips with. One to try thats in your price bracket is google world wide telescope. I down loaded this last weekend and find it very good.

Terry

[timetraveller]

hiya Dan

You can enter your own coordinates in Stellarium very easy to do from the side menu select Sky and View then when in there select landscapes you will see a new box appear with a list of horizons listed next to it in the box you will see the current long/ lat coordinates listed just click on them one at a time and replace with your own coordinates should save these new settings automatically mine works just fine and I to Have version 10 also all of Orion is present in my version

regards Pete