| 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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