Stellarium Portable is a computer program that displays a realistic 3D sky and is available for free as an Open Source planetarium. Installer, Linux, and Mac versions are also available.
With Stellarium Portable, you can view the stars as if you were looking at them with the naked eye, binoculars, or a telescope. This planetarium projector allows you to set your coordinates and explore the galaxy. The software features a default catalog of over 600,000 stars and extra catalogs with more than 210 million stars. You can also view illustrations of the constellations, images of nebulae (including the full Messier catalog), and a realistic representation of the Milky Way. The atmosphere, sunrise, and sunset are also portrayed realistically. In addition, the planets and their satellites can be viewed using this software.
Stellarium Portable's Interface is equipped with powerful zoom capabilities, time control, and the ability to record and play your own shows through scripting. It also includes fisheye projection for planetarium domes and spheric mirror projection for your own dome. With its user-friendly graphical interface and extensive keyboard control, the Stellarium Portable Interface also offers easy telescope control.
Stellarium Portable's visualization offers equatorial and azimuthal grids, star twinkling, shooting stars, eclipse simulation, and skinnable landscapes. Additionally, it now comes with a spheric panorama projection. Customizing Stellarium Portable is also possible by adding your own deep-sky objects, landscapes, constellation images, and scripts.
Installer, Linux, and Mac versions are also available.
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