Display Properties command (Right-click the Virtual Sky on an object, or click View | Display Explorer command)

Right-click on any Virtual Sky object (such as the globular cluster M68), and then click Display Properties of <Object Type> (Globular Cluster in this example) to edit the Display Properties of this object type.

Or, use the View | Display Explorer command to access an object type's Display Properties by clicking on the graphical icon next to the Display Properties text.

TheSky6 shows by default sixty different celestial object types (including as stars, galaxies, planets satellites, comets, minor planets and so on) on the Virtual Sky, and up to twenty user-definable object types. Each celestial object type is represented as a graphical symbol (either as small pictures, including raster based "bitmaps" and vector based "metafiles" that represent the object, or filled ellipses that show the size and orientation of extended objects, or actual photographs of the objects, such as the Moon or galaxies).

Each object type can be also turned on or off, or displayed based upon an upper and lower magnitude (filtered). TheSky6 can also show text labels for most celestial objects.

These elements (visibility, upper and lower magnitude, font, fill, line and symbol) comprise the display properties for a particular object type. Each object type can have unique properties, which allows you to customize the look and feel of the Virtual Sky.

The table below shows an example of the display properties for spiral galaxies.

Celestial Object Type

Visible?

Magnitude

Font

Fill

Line

Symbol

Spiral Galaxies

Yes (Visible option is checked)

Brightest: -6.0 Faintest: 30.0

Papyrus, regular, 10 point, red color

Light gray

Solid style, green color, 2 pixels thick

Expanded view

Actual "symbol" size

Note: This symbol is displayed at fields of view of 50 degrees or more.

Sample label:

Sample object:

Editing Display Properties

The two methods for changing the Display Properties of screen elements are described below.

Use the Display Explorer.

Turn on the Display Explorer by clicking View | Display Explorer.
Enter the name of the screen element, such as Constellation Figure in the Go To text box
Press TAB to jump to this item in the list.
Click on the icon next to the word Properties to display the Properties dialog box.

Right-click when the mouse cursor is over the desired screen element.

Right-click on any screen element, and then click the Display Properties of <Display Element> command to modify the screen element's display properties. The screen to the left shows the menu that appears when the right mouse button is clicked on a Constellation Figure. The dashed yellow lines surrounding the constellation line indicate that this screen element has been selected.

TheSky6's Default Celestial Object Types

TheSky6 displays 60 different "built-in" celestial object types, and up to 20 user-defined object types. The table below lists the general object type classifications (such as stars, non-stellar objects and planets), their categories and sub-categories, where applicable.

General Celestial Object Type Classification	Categories	Sub-categories
Stellar Objects	Stars Variable stars Suspected variables Double stars	none
Non-Stellar Objects	Galactic (Galaxies)	Galaxy Type C Galaxy Elliptical Galaxy Lenticular Galaxy Spiral Galaxy Irregular Galaxy Cluster of Galaxies
	Clusters	Open Cluster Globular Cluster Cluster+Nebulosity
	Nebulae	Nebula Bright Nebula Dark Nebula Planetary Nebula
	Other Sources	Quasar X-Ray Source Radio Source NGC Probable Star Other NGC Mixed Deep Sky (Messier Catalog)
Solar System	Planets	Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
Solar System	Sun Moon Earth's Shadow Comet Minor Planets Extended Minor Planets Satellites	none
Reference Objects	Reference Lines	Constellation Figure Constellation Boundary Ecliptic Horizon Grid Horizon Lines Meridian Equatorial Grid Galactic Equator Milky Way Reference Line Field of View Indicator Telescope Limit N/E Indicator Pole up Horizon Query Path Query Label Object Paths Mosaic Lines Proper Motion Vectors Minor Planet Vectors
	Other Reference	Image Video Sound Notes Reference Point Star Chart Chart Legend My Field of View Indicators User-Defined Data
	User-Defined Object Types	Type 1-Type 20 You can define the properties of these user-defined objects types in the Display Properties tab of the Properties dialog box.
Real Mode Options	Constellation drawings Horizon Image Horizon Glow Milky Way Image Moon Halo Sky Background Sun Halo	none
Sky Databases (SDBs)	Databases added using the Sky Database Manager.	none
Core Databases	Stellar	GSC USNO B (subset) UCAC USNO A2.0/SA2.0 USNO B (full) GCVS NSV WDS Struve
Core Databases	Non-stellar	PGC NGC IC PLN Lorenzin SAC Herschel Caldwell M (Messier)
Image Databases	This node lists the databases of photographs that can be displayed by TheSky6.	Constellation drawings All user-defined Image Groups