| TheSky6 Standard Features Common To All Versions.
Planetarium Dusplay - Input any date (from 4,712
B.C. to A.D. 10,000) and any time to show a graphical representation of
what the sky looks like from your location. TheSky6 can show the
position of all of the planets, the Moon, comets, asteroids,
satellites, up to 1 billion stars and up to 1 million deep-space
objects (galaxies, clusters, nebulas,
double stars, variable stars, etc.). See TheSky's Databases for
details.
Extensive Databases of Celestial Objects and
Pictures - TheSky6 is packed with up to millions of celestial objects
and thousands of detailed pictures. Over 13,000 images from the NGC and
IC Catalogs (shown in-place using 1.7 arcsecond per pixel images from
the Digitized Sky Survey). Almost 200 full color deep-space images from
the David Malin collection.
Over 400 full-color images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Over 150 images of solar system objects, including images from the Mars
Rover and other space missions.
Detailed descriptions of the planets.
The Sun, Moon, planets, Jupiter and Saturn's major moons, and comets.
Find Objects - TheSky6 has a powerful Find command
so you can locate any object. Find objects by: Stars, Common name,
Bayer designation, Flamsteed designation, General Catalog of Variable
Star (GCVS) designation, Non-stellar variable star (NSV) designation,
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Catalog number, Struve
designation, Washington Catalog of Double Star designation, Non-stellar
objects, Caldwell number, Common name, Herschel number, Index Catalog
number (IC), Lorenzin Catalog number, New
General Catalog (NGC/IC Project) number, Principle Galaxy Catalog
number (PGC), Principle Galaxy Catalog cross-reference number , Zwicky,
Arakelian Catalog of Galaxies, Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of
Galaxies (CGCG), David Dunlop Observatory Catalog of Galaxies, Fairall
Catalog of Galaxies , Karachentseva Catalog of Galaxies , Kazaryan UV
Galaxies, Kiso UV Galaxies, Second Byurakay Survey, Tololo Galaxies,
Uppsala General Catalog of Galaxies (UGC), University of Michigan
Catalog of Galaxies, Virgo Cluster Catalog of Galaxies Weinberger
Catalog of Galaxies, Planetary Nebula designation (PLN), Saguaro
Astronomy Club Deep-Space Object catalog (SAC) Solar System, Comet
name, Minor planet name or number (Serious Astronomer and Professional
Edition only), Moon, Satellites (Serious Astronomer and Professional
Edition only), Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Pluto. Constellations, Common name.
Detailed Information on Celestial Objects - Click
on any object, or use the Find command to show extensive information on
celestial objects, including: common name, catalog number (including
cross references to other catalogs), for example M42 or NGC1976,
description of the object, magnitude, distance information, rise,
transit, set times, the constellation to which the object belongs,
equatorial and horizon-based coordinates, other object and catalog
specific data, position angle (as measured from the Celestial Pole)
from the previously identified object, phase (where applicable).
Display Explorer - The Display Explorer is a
versatile tool that allows you to access and edit virtually every
display option in TheSky6 via a tree list control.
Display Reference Lines - TheSky6 can display
reference lines that show coordinates, help you visualize your
orientation, or indicate what part of the sky you’re looking.
They include:
Ecliptic, Galactic Equator, Milky Way (picture), Milky Way (solid),
Constellation lines, Constellation boundaries, Constellation drawings,
Equatorial grid lines (customizable spacing), Horizon-based grid lines,
Telescope limit lines, including declination and altitude limit lines
(Serious Astronomer and Professional Edition only), Local horizon
customizable), Refracted horizon, Panoramic horizon (customizable).
Display Object Labels - Show labels for the
following objects: Common name (stars), Common name (non-stellar
objects), Constellation name, Messier number, Sun, planet, moons, Bayer
designation, Flamsteed designation, Comets, Minor planets or asteroids
(Serious Astronomer and Professional Edition only), Customizable
"extended" labels (Serious Astronomer and Professional Edition only).
Adjust Appearance of Stars - Show stars with their
spectral color, change the contrast, gradient fill, density, halos on
bright stars, red color in Night Vision Mode and more!
Use Toolbars to Access Commands - TheSky6 contains
versatile toolbars for accessing commonly used commands.
Show/Hide a Status Bar - Display a Status Bar with
customizable content, including:
Equatorial and horizon-based coordinates of the center of the screen,
Equatorial and horizon-based coordinates of the mouse pointer, Earth
location, Local sidereal time, Field width, Date, Time.
Look North, South, East, West or Up - Quickly
orient yourself with the local horizon using these commands.
Zoom box - Click and drag a zoom box to magnify the
current field.
Zoom to Pre-defined fields - Adjust the display to
suit your instrument. Telescope, Finder scope, Binocular, Naked Eye,
Wide Field, Maximum.
Move To Any Coordinate - The handy Move To command
lets you center the display on any equatorial or horizon-based
coordinate, from any Epoch.
Time Control - Astronomers are always looking
forward, or backward in time. TheSky6 makes this easy! You specify how
time advances or retreats.
Specify any Earth-based Location - Quickly specify
your viewing location by selecting it from a list of over 1,200
locations, click on a World Map, or manually enter your coordinates
(that are, for example, obtained from a GPS).
Create Object Paths - TheSky6 lets you generate the
path of any solar system object over time. Create the Sun's analemma,
or demonstrate the retrograde motion of Mars.
Eclipse Finder - The Eclipse Finder allow you to
search for and animate solar and lunar eclipses, and view their
geometry. TheSky6 even displays a solar eclipse's path of totality on a
map of the Earth.
Conjunction Finder - Locate conjunctions between
any three planets, or the Moon.
Moons of Jupiter and Saturn - Shows the positions
of Jupiter's Galilean major moons and Saturn's major moons at any given
time, allowing you to set the moons into motion.
Moon Phase Calendar - Display or print a monthly
calendar (for any month) with the phase for each day and text showing
the moon's significant phases. Also print the rise and set times for
the Sun and Moon for each day of any month. Great for planning
observing sessions!
Moon Viewer - Show detailed, medium-resolution
photographs of the Moon's surface. The Moon Viewer can label common
features, landing sites, and shows historical references about feature
names. TheSky6 Professional Edition includes photographs with 100 meter
resolution.
3D Solar System Mode - View the planets, comets,
and minor planets from anywhere in the solar system. Watch comets race
around the sun. Plot comet and minor planet's paths through the solar
system. Lock On and/or View From any object during a time skip
animation.
Display Constellations - TheSky6 shows detailed
Bevis drawings, and/or simplified figures and/or the boundaries of all
88 constellations.
Daytime Sky Mode - Simulate the daytime sky to view
sunrises, sunsets, or solar eclipses, in real time or accelerated time.
Sun and Moon Report - Generate a text-based report
that shows the daily rise/set times of the Moon and Sun, as well as
beginning and ending twilight times for the current month.
Full Screen Mode - Show only the Virtual Sky with
no toolbars or windows. Great when using TheSky6 with the telescope.
Night Vision Mode - Change the computer screen to
red to preserve dark adaptation. Great when using TheSky6 at your
telescope.
Mirror Image - Invert the virtual sky to simulate
the sky as it might appear through a telescope.
Chart Mode - Display the virtual sky similar to a
printed star atlas.
Star Chart Output - Copy star charts to the
Clipboard as Metafiles or Windows bitmaps to paste into other
applications. Spruce up your next astronomy club newsletter by
including a publication-quality star chart!
Print Star Charts - Star hopping was never easier!
Print a hard copy of any portion of the night sky, and use it in the
field to help identify objects.
Right-click and Drag Screen - Use the right mouse
button to drag and adjust the position of the screen.
Compute Angular Separation - Display the precise
angular separation between any two objects on screen.
Free Screen Rotation - Rotate the Virtual Sky in
any angle when matching star fields.
Import and Display New Databases - Import
additional databases of objects.
Stellar Proper Motion - Watch the motion of the
stars over hundreds, or thousands of years. Proper motion "vectors"
show the path that the stars will follow over time.
Display photograph of the Milky Way Galaxy -
Display a high-resolution photograph galaxy, the Milky Way.
Display the Earth's Shadow - When simulating lunar
eclipses, the Umbra and the Penumbra of the Earth's shadow is displayed
against the starry background. This "object" is also very handy for
minor planet hunters who need to search dark areas of the sky that are
directly
"opposite" the Sun.
Send Star Chart as an Email Attachment - Shared a
cool astronomical event with your friends who own TheSky6 by emailing a
copy of your star chart (TheSky6 required).
Extensive Help Files - Questions? Use TheSky6's
Help to get answers!
Detailed User's Guide (PDF) - TheSky6 comes with a
comprehensive user's guide in Portable Document (PDF).
Create Slide Shows - Use TheSky6 to create a list
of images that can be shown as a manual or automatic advancing slide
show.
For feature details of TheSky 6 Student Edition,
Serious Astronomer and Professional Astronomer, see the relevant
entries in our online catalogue.
Minimum System Requirements:
TheSky6 is designed to run on the following
operating systems: Windows 98, Windows ME,Windows NT4 (SP 6a required),
Windows 2000, Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional. TheSky6 does
NOT run under Windows 95. At least 200MB of disk space is required to
install TheSky6 Student Edition and about 1GB for the Serious
Astronomer Edition. Over 3GB is required for full installation of
TheSky6 Professional Edition. At least 128MB of RAM is recommended (as
always, more RAM is better), and a quad-speed or faster CD ROM or DVD
drive is desirable during installation. Performance with a processor
slower than a 200MHz Pentium or equivalent is likely to be
unsatisfactory.
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