Thursday, December 3, 2009,
Software & News
Stellarium is an open source desktop planetarium for Linux/Unix, Windows and MacOSX. It renders the skies in realtime using OpenGL, which means the skies will look exactly like what you see with your eyes, binoculars, or a small telescope. Stellarium is very simple to use, which is one of its biggest advantages: it can easily be used by beginners. The Stellarium project was started by Fabien Chéreau during the summer of 2001 and uses Sourceforge intensively. Access the Sourceforge project page here.: http://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/
Yes! Stellarium is open source software. Anyone has the right to download and use the software for free, to distribute it without modifying to other people, or modify the source code, all of this under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Via the download page. Stellarium is hosted on Sourceforge servers. After clicking on the right link of the download page, you will be taken to a list of Sourceforge servers, each with their location. Click on the file icon of the one geographically closest to you, it ensures a speedy download.
A graphics card capable of rendering OpenGL. A Riva TNT2, released in 1999 or 2000, should do. Stellarium is also fairly processor intensive, so you will get higher framerates with faster processors. Any reasonably recent computer should be able to run Stellarium. Furthermore your computer should be running a Linux, Windows or MacOSX operating system.
To give you an idea of what’s possible, we’ve had success with these older computers:
“Stellarium - The Universe on your Desktop”
Yes! Stellarium is open source software. Anyone has the right to download and use the software for free, to distribute it without modifying to other people, or modify the source code, all of this under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Via the download page. Stellarium is hosted on Sourceforge servers. After clicking on the right link of the download page, you will be taken to a list of Sourceforge servers, each with their location. Click on the file icon of the one geographically closest to you, it ensures a speedy download.
A graphics card capable of rendering OpenGL. A Riva TNT2, released in 1999 or 2000, should do. Stellarium is also fairly processor intensive, so you will get higher framerates with faster processors. Any reasonably recent computer should be able to run Stellarium. Furthermore your computer should be running a Linux, Windows or MacOSX operating system.
To give you an idea of what’s possible, we’ve had success with these older computers:
- Pentium III 800Mhz, 128MB RAM, Intel on board graphics (under Windows XP).
- AMD K6 400 Mhz, 256MB RAM, Nvidia Gforce2 AGP, DirectX 9.0 (Windows XP)
- Mac PPC’s back to about 667MHz, running at least OSX 10.3.9, any Mac Intel
- All stars from the Hipparcos catalogue
- The planets of our solar system, and their natural satellites
- All Messier objects
- All NGC objects
- Planet orbits
- Cardinal points
- Azimuthal grid
- Equatorial grid
- Ecliptica
- Equator line
- Meridian line
- Moon scaling
- Object trails
- Asterisms and names of the constellations
- Constellation boundaries
- Compensation for light travel time
- Equatorial/azimuthal mount
- FOV
- Disc viewport
- Observation from another planet, and as solar system observator
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