Standard Features Included in Levels II, III and IV

Brief Explanation

Planetarium Display

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.  

TheSky can show the position of all of the planets, the Moon, comets, asteroids, man-made satellites, 19 million stars and about 100,000 deep-space objects (galaxies, clusters, nebulas, etc.)

Extensive Databases of Celestial Objects and Pictures

TheSky is packed with millions of celestial objects and thousands of detailed pictures.

Eclipse Finder

The Eclipse Finder allow you to search for and animate solar and lunar eclipses, and view their geometry.  TheSky even displays a solar eclipse's path of totality on a map of the Earth.

Moons of Jupiter and Saturn

Shows the positions of Jupiter's Galilean moons and Saturn's 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!

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.

Record Movies

Create and play back fascinating QuickTime^® Movies using output from TheSky's animation.

Daytime Sky Mode

Simulate the daytime sky to view sunrises, sunsets, or solar eclipses, in real time or accelerated time.

Planet Report

Generate a text-based report that shows information (such as right ascension and declination and altitude and azimuth) about the planets.  This report also 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 TheSky with the telescope.

Night Vision Mode

Changes the computer screen to red to preserve dark adaptation.

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.

Multiple Map Projections

Show the Celestial Sphere using stereographic, orthographic, Mercator (fields of view up to 360° ), Azimuthal equal-area, Azimuthal equal-distance or gnonomic (for plotting meteor showers) cartographic projections. 

Star Chart Output

Copy star charts to the Clipboard as Metafiles (Windows) or PICT pictures (Macintosh) to paste into other applications.  Spruce up your next astronomy club newsletter by including a professional-looking star chart!

Compute Angular Separation

Display the precise angular separation between any two objects on screen.

Time Service Settings

Use the NIST Time Service to set your computer's clock accurately.

Free Screen Rotation

Rotate the Virtual Sky in any angle when matching star fields.

Field of View Indicators

Overlay eyepiece, CCD Camera, Telrad^©, or photographic film Field of View Indicators (FOVIs) for comparing star fields.

Integrated Telescope Control

Built-in control for almost every commercially available telescope, including "goto" and encoder-based models.

Display Artificial Satellites

Using standard Two-Line Element (TLE) data from the Internet, you can plot the positions of any satellite (such as the Space Shuttle, International Space Station or GPS satellites) in "real time" or animate its motion against a starry background.

Import and Display New Databases

Quickly turn plain ASCII text into graphical database.

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.

Milky Way "Isophotes"

Displays the outline of our galaxy, the Milky Way, including the different regions of brightness.

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.

Display the Galactic Equator

Shows the position of the Milky Way's equator as well as the North and South Galactic Poles.

Overlay Pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey

Overlay pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey directly on the graphical sky display.  Check out RealSky for more information about this incredible feature.