Software Bisque Knowledge Base Article – 1180

PHOTOGRAPHS OF DEEP SPACE OBJECTS ARE NOT DISPLAYED AT THE CORRECT COORDINATES AT WIDE FIELDS OF VIEW

ISSUE

When TheSky6 is oriented at wide fields of view (about 100 degrees or so), the photographs of deep space objects do not always appear at their correct coordinates.

RESOLUTION

At fields of view of about 50 degrees and wider, by default, the only “photograph” displayed by TheSky6 is the 360-degree panoramic photograph of the Milky Way Galaxy. This photograph contains many bright extended objects (such as the the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Pelican Nebula, IC5070, etc.).

When the photograph of the Milky Way Galaxy is projected onto the flat computer screen, distortion in the Stereographic projection causes the position of the bright extended objects in this photograph to become misaligned with the coordinates of the actual objects. The misalignment is most severe when the photograph is near the edge of the computer screen (that is, where the distortion in a Stereographic projection is greatest).

This is expected behavior. To turn off the photograph of the Milky Way Galaxy, click View | Real Mode Options, clear the “Milky Way Photograph” option and then click Close.

APPLIES TO

TheSky6, all Editions

KEYWORDS

SBKB

Last Reviewed: 02/07/2005