This astronomy software page contains links to sites with PC software of interest to the astronomy hobbyist. These programs include useful astronomy utilities and programs that are educational and fun.

Some of this software is free and some is commercial or shareware. There are also a few demo versions of some commercial software products. Each entry contains a description of the software type as well as the last known price. Please read the online information on each publisher's site for more detailed information. These astronomy software links are provided for informational purposes only.

Sea and Sky does not necessarily endorse these products. Free Astronomy Software. Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X Cost: Free Demo: N/A Celestia is a very unique 3-dimensional universe simulator. With it you can travel throughout the Solar System, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that's not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects. The program is highly configurable and expandable.

A library of add-ons and expansions is available including everything from additional stars & galaxies to science fiction worlds and spacecraft. For those with fast processors, you can even download and install super high resolution images of the planets and moons enabling you to zoom in close and explore every subtle detail. You can even take screen shots of your favorite scenes.

Celestia is highly recommended by Sea and Sky!. Platform: Windows 95 and above Cost: Free Demo: N/A Home Planet is a comprehensive astronomy, space, and satellite-tracking package for Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 and above. Features include an Earth map showing day and night regions, position of selected satellites, positions of the planets, positions and phases of the Sun and Moon, sky map based on either the Yale Bright Star Catalogue or the 256,000 star SAO catalogue, including rendering of spectral types, planets, Earth satellites, asteroids and comets, and much more. Platform: Windows 95 and above Cost: Free Demo: N/A Complete astronomy software suite exploring realistic skies in real time, with observing log, Sky Quiz, Live Orbits, telescope support, spoken pronunciation guide, a half-million word Encyclopedia Astronomica, and concentrated searches embracing planets, comets, asteroids, DSOs, and over 300,000 stars. An integral HTML guide to the solar system, a 1000-term astronomical dictionary, and the 2nd revised and enlarged edition of Aspects of Astronomy-a book-length primer covering topics such as 'What are the Stars?' , 'Choosing a Telescope', 'Cosmology', 'Dark Matter', 'Eclipses', and 'The History of Astronomy', to name but a few-are closely coordinated with the sky display and picture windows. Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X Cost: Free Demo: N/A Stellarium is a free GPL software program which renders realistic skies in real time with openGL.

It is available for Linux/Unix, Windows and MacOSX. With Stellarium, you really see what you can see with your eyes, binoculars or a small telescope. Loaded with advanced features, this incredible software will turn your PC into a virtual planetarium! This is definitely one of the best free astronomy programs currently available for download. Stellarium is highly recommended by Sea and Sky!. Platform: Windows 3.1 or later Cost: Free Demo: N/A WinOrbit is a free software package for Microsoft Windows (3.1 or later), which will compute and display the position of artificial Earth satellites. The principal feature of WinOrbit is a series of Map Windows, which display the current position of satellites and observers on a simple world map, together with information such as bearing (azimuth), distance, and elevation above the observer's horizon.

The maps can be updated in real time, or in simulated time, or manually set to show the situation at any time past or future. An additional Table Window displays much more-detailed information about one or more satellites in a tabular form. Astronomy Shareware. Platform: Windows 98 and above Cost: $16.50 Demo: Download available AstroViewer is a planetarium software that helps you to find your way in the night sky quickly and easily. Due to its intuitive and easy-to-use graphical user interface, it fits well to the demands of astronomy beginners. Platform: Windows XP and above Cost: $34.95 Demo: 30-day trial download available CyberSky is an exciting, entertaining, and educational astronomy program that transforms your personal computer into your personal planetarium.

CyberSky provides an excellent way to learn about astronomy and to explore the wonders of the sky visible in the distant past, the present, and the far-off future. CyberSky displays accurate charts of the sky as seen from any location on the Earth. Sky charts can include stars, constellations, deep sky objects, and solar system objects, and can be enhanced by the addition of labels, coordinate system grids, and reference lines. CyberSky's user-friendly interface allows you to easily change your view of the sky, search for celestial objects, and display data about those objects. CyberSky also prints attractive sky charts that you can take outside with you. Platform: Windows 2000 and above Cost: $79.95 Demo: Lite version available for $29.95 The Earth Centered Universe is a planetarium and telescope control program for amateur astronomers. It is capable of simulating many of the features visible in the Earth's night sky.

You only need to enter your geographic location and the time; the local sky will then be simulated on the screen in a colorful display. This includes a database of over 15,000,000 stars (CD-ROM version), the planets, Sun, Moon, comets, 30,000+ asteroids, and 10,000+ 'deep sky' objects. It prints high quality star charts using any Windows-compatible printer and also controls modern computerized telescopes.

The site also includes a parts list and instructions for building a telescope interface for use with the program. Platform: Windows 95 and above Cost: $20.00 Demo: Trial version download available MyStars! Is a scientifically rigorous, yet simple and educational Windows astronomy program that helps you visualize and locate the positions of stars, planets, comets, minor planets, and Messier (M) objects from any location on Earth and any date/time.

Features: Optional 32 Bit, Multi-lingual Installer, Orrery, Printing, Full Screen View, Help, Images, Zoom In/Out, Object tracking and Animation. Star & Constellation Names, Constellation Stick Figures, Alt/Azi, Rta/Dec, ELatLng lines.

And the animations are amazing. The evaluation version is available free for download. Platform: Windows XP and above Cost: $49.95 Demo: 30-day trial download available StarStrider is a three-dimensional star plotting program that allows the user to see the stars and constellations from distant points in the sky. With the help of StarStrider you will be able to travel to the stars and watch their alien skies.

Travel to Vega and see how the Sun pales to a faint star, a star among thousands of others. Look at the Pleiades from behind! With ordinary red/blue 3D glasses your experience will be even greater. Now you can see the variable distances to the stars - without even leaving our solar system if you don't want to! Cassiopeia looks really different when you realize that the constellation aren't flat. You'll also learn to appreciate the fact that the closest stars are not always the brightest.

Commercial Astronomy Software. Platform: Windows 98 and above Cost: $349.00 Demo: N/A CCDSoft CCD Astronomy Software (previously released as SkyPro) combines both CCD camera control functions and astronomical image processing functions into a single package. With support for many CCD cameras, its powerful functionality and ease of use, CCDSoft is in a class by itself. No CCD imager's software library is complete without it.

With CCDSoft, you can control many types of CCD cameras, including the full line of SBIG cameras. CCDSoft provides all of the functionality that you need to take spectacular CCD images - from helping you focus your camera to adjusting your CCD's resolution and temperature. Platform: Windows 98 and above Cost: $49.95 Demo: Online demo available Deepsky (for Windows) is a collection of observer friendly astronomy tools designed to make your observing sessions more productive. By using these integrated tools, you’ll be able to easily plan your observing sessions so you can be more productive and record what you see. This is no average planetarium software folks! Deepsky packs an enormous wealth of features all integrated together in one low cost solution.

Platform: Windows 95 and above Cost: $129.95 Demo: N/A MegaStar is the first software to integrate the Hubble Guide Star Catalog, and combine it with a massive deep sky database of 84,000 objects. It is also the first to implement the 'eyepiece view,' with deep sky objects plotted to scale and galaxies rotated to show position angle. This is an extremely detailed visual sky atlas program with too many features to mention here. Check out their site for more information. A demo version of the software is available for download. Platform: Windows XP & above, Mac OS X 10.4.8 & above Cost: $169.95 Demo: N/A TheSky is a full-featured graphical astronomy program that turns your personal computer into a personal planetarium. With TheSky, you can view the stars as they were seen by Anaximander (the man who invented the star chart in 550 BC), or you can view them as they will be seen tonight - without the clouds, of course. But that's not all. TheSky will also create customized, publication-quality star charts, and it will even control your computer-driven telescope.

TheSky is a native 32-bit application written for Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT. Since TheSky uses the Microsoft Windows user interface, you can experience the power of the program instantly. Platform: Windows XP & above, Mac OS X 10.4 & above Cost: $24.95 - $239.95 Demo: N/A Starry Night is the most visually stunning and realistic astronomy program in its class. A powerful tool for both serious observers and casual stargazers, Starry Night lets you view the universe from anywhere in the Solar System. Explore over 19 million celestial objects and travel across 14,700 years of night skies.

Features include a 19 million object Hubble Guide Star catalog and the ability to add new objects and databases. An evaluation version of the Basic version is available for download.

Free planetarium programs for observing the night sky. ASTRONOMY - FREE SOFTWARE Freeware planetarium downloads for win 95/98/ME/XP/Vista/Win 7. HINDSIGHT IS AN EXACT SCIENCE Page links active as of May 18 '10 HOME PLANET A superb earth and sky simulator. (7.2MB) STARCALC An excellent planetarium program. Has the 110 object Messier catalog.

Sky Chart 3.10 Free Download For Mac

A large star database can be downloaded from his homepage to add to it. Lots of nice features including star colors. With ASCOM telescope control. (753KB) updated Mar 10 '07 DISTANT SUNS An excellent planetarium program. Leaves out only the files that would make the download unbearable (large star database, pictures and movies).

Newly released version 6. (12MB) updated Feb 19 '06 HNSKY A nice planetarium program. Author continues to upgrade and expand it. Shows the sun, moon, planets and stars to 16th magnitude (with additional star catalogs). Also, some comets, asteroids and deep sky objects.

For advanced astronomers, this and Cartes du Ciel (below) are probably the best. (3MB + databases) updated Feb 28 '04 SKY CHARTS (CARTES DU CIEL) Sky charts is primarily for printing out skycharts for observing rather than a strict planetarium program. There are many additional catalogs at the sky chart homepage for downloading and expanding it's functionality. After you download all the catalogs, this program produces incredible star charts.

Printing them is fantastic and can be used at the telescope. Only real drawback, besides the high price of ink cartridges, is that computers don't label charts as well as people (at least we're still better at something). This is probably the best program for the serious amateur, particularly if you download all the add-ons available for it (preferably with a broadband modem). You can even download the Hubble guide star catalog to produce 14th magnitude charts with this program. I've downloaded the 6 gigabyte USNO star catalog (16th magnitude). Not too bad with DSL modem. That's alot of stars.

(3.5MB) updated Feb 28 '04 SPICA Spica is astronomical software for those who wish to prepare their nightly and better understand what happens in the sky. (1.3MB) ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA Planetarium program that allows the creation of different types of sky maps in which practically any element is customizable. Calculation of the positions of Jupiter and Saturn satellites. Moon calendar and feature locator. A solar system orrery.

An observing list manager. Maintain a database of celestial objects images, with direct download from Internet. An artificial satellite visibility predictor. The visibility graph, to check the optimum time for observing an object. More star catalogs to expand program are available for download.

(3.2MB) updated Mar 25 '02 STELLARIUM Stellarium renders 3D photo-realistic skies in real time. With stellarium, you really see what you can see with your eyes, binoculars or a small telescope. (5.9MB) updated Apr 24 '05 SKYORB SkyORB'03 computes sun, moon and majors planets and theirs majors satellites rise and set times, positions from any place in the world, and from any planet (like Mars), renders local sky using HYG Database in real time and constellation charts and stars names,nebulas, comets and asteroids from IAU Minor Planet Center database. Very fast, you can change view direction in real-time even with 30,000 stars rendered at once. A 3D realtime rendering view from space with the majors planets.

Solar/lunar eclipses, solstices and equinoxes days can be computed, and a sun clock is also available. A large database, user editable in XML format, of one thousand of places on Earth, Moon and Mars. For example, see the sky above the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. (5.5MB) updated May 2 '08 SOLEX SOLEX is a computer program modelling the N-body dynamics of the Solar System.

Its hearth is a powerful numerical integrator, and the many additional functions make it a greatly flexible program, which at the same time is very simple to use and very powerful in its performances. It can just give aesthetic pleasure and help in identifying sky objects, or it can be used by an experienced researcher as a tool to investigate aspects of the solar system dynamics such impact probabilities and chaotic motion. This is a DOS program. (2.9MB) updated Jun 15 '07 NIGHT VISION Night Vision is a 'planetarium' program and will display the heavens from any location on earth. Viewing options allow the user to control which sky objects to display, which font to use, and manipulation of various star parameters. (3.1MB) updated Mar 21 '10 STARMAP A very basic star charting program. Several downloads needed.

Sky Chart 3.10 Free Download For Mac Windows 10

Added Feb 15 '04 THE ELECTRIC ASTROLABE The Electric Astrolabe is a fully animated planetarium program in the form of a planispheric astrolabe. The singular advantage of the astrolabe display is that it shows the entire sky, both visible and invisible, on a single screen. The Electric Astrolabe can be set for any location and includes accurate positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets. (477KB) added Sep 6 '04 C2A C2A (Computer Aided Astronomy) is a Planetarium software that allows you to build detailed views of stellar fields. An important objective of this software is to take into account the main catalogues available to professional and amateur astronomers in order to prepare observations on small fields as well as astrometry works. (35MB) updated May 18 '10 STARCHARTGL OpenGL star chart / planetarium with very realistic graphics. 110,000 stars.

All messier objects. All the major planets and visible moons. Animate the passing of night and day or Follow a planet, star or messier object's path over a few minutes to a few centuries. Realistic night and day colours. Free for non-commercial use. (3.3MB) added Sep 22 '04 STARCAT Starcat is a viewer for the Bright Star, Hipparcos and Tycho star catalogs.

The default catalog is the Bright Star Catalog with over 9000 stars. The Hipparcos catalog contains over 100,000 stars (above) and the Tycho catalog over 1,000,000 stars. StarCats is a visualization tool for these catalogs which also gives direct access to the catalog record data for any star by pointing and clicking.

(396KB) added Oct 5 '04 ASYNX PLANETARIUM Shows the brightest stars, planets and moon. (1.8MB) updated Apr 14 '08 SOLAR SYSTEM 3D SIMULATOR Solar System 3D Simulator generates a realistic solar system model and planets in 3 Dimensions on the PC using advanced physics formulas. It can display the planets and their orbits, the sun and the moon. The nine planets including planet earth and their detailed physical & chemical information and image pictures is also displayed including solar power, solar energy and solar eclipse details. The graphical output is in high-resolution 3D full color format and the orbit view can be adjusted and the orbits tilted & rotated to any angle.

(5MB) added Jan 4 '06 CELESTIAL MAPS Astronomical software that produces accurate maps of the sky in five types of projections. Other catalogs to expand the program can be found at the home page. (950KB) added Feb 12 '06 STARRY NIGHT SKY A complete view of the night sky with twinkling stars. (2.7MB) updated Dec 28 '11 CNEBULAX The main aim is the construction of powerful sky maps and lists of deep sky objects, to be studied in our deep sky observing sessions. It also implements a library, telescope control, ephemerid facilities, prediction of visibility, overlaying facilities, annotations, and more auxiliary tools for the deep sky observer. Add-ons and updates available at author's homepage. (30MB) added Feb 6 '07 SKY ATLAS The program is for everyone who wants to know how to identify constellations and other space objects: stars, galaxies, nebulas, planets.

(3MB) added Mar 7 '07 ACIQRA Aciqra is a virtual sky simulation program capable of tracking 120,000 stars, the 8 planets, deep sky objects, the sun and moon, and minor bodies from anywhere on Earth at any given moment. (5MB) added Apr 12 '09 TUBA The Touring the Universe Through Binoculars Star Atlas (TUBA, for short) is the only star atlas designed specifically for use with binoculars. Conceived by Dean Williams of Cabot, Arkansas, the atlas plots all of the objects listed in the book plus shows stars to 11th magnitude, a reasonable limit for giant binoculars.

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