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Re: Astronomy Software



We've probably discussed this before, but with new versions appearing it
might be time to ask the question again. What's the best astronomy
(planetarium) software package out there? I've always liked Starry Night
(is that you cited on the box, Leigh?), but I've heard that the latest
version of Red Shift is so much better than its predecessors that it is
worth a look too. What are the pros and cons of each package? Or do you
select the textbook first and use whatever software comes with it?

I have been converted to Starry Night Pro after trying various demos
and having been a regular user of Voyager II. Starry Night Pro is a
spiffy planetarium simulator and is the prettiest of all of them.
The functions that have been built into it are quite numerouis, the
only significant one lacking that I can think of being the ability
to model three- or more-body gravitational interactions. I believe
that Dance of the Planets can do that, but I like Starry Night Pro's
other features better. There is also the problem of religious
conflict - "Dance" won't run on a Macintosh; Starry Night Pro works
(Voyager, Redshift, and Distant Suns all work on both those common
platforms.)

If I find some important function missing from Starry Night Pro, it
can be fixed by informing the developers of the deficiency. They
eagerly solicit constructive criticism, and they are both fast and
amazingly competent when making modifications. Is it common to be
able to select a cluster of stars (including radial bracketing) and
produce a H-R diagram? I have not seen that capability in other
planetarium simulators, but Starry Night Pro can do it. "Live Sky"
is a feature that allows one to download information from ADS and
the Palomar Survey plates if one is connected to the internet. The
ability to make a photographic finder chart formatted in advance on
the Starry Night Pro screen is as marvelous as it is effortless.

Yes, I suspect that the Starry Night Pro package has the Hyakutake
simulation I produced alongside a photograph taken at the time. I
have seen it on their site, and it is quite ordinary; anyone can do
similar things with only a little practice. I've learned a lot by
simply playing with the application. I've learned some astronautics
(or astrodynamics) by simulating Earth-Mars transfer orbits. It is
a marvelous self-educating tool. Try to make an analemma for Mars.
Cool. Now try the same thing for Venus. Do you understand what
happened in the second case? How can you fix it? What did you learn
by doing the exercise? This one was suggested by a student who
asked the question in tutorial. I would like to be able to say that
I solved it on the spot with Starry Night Pro - I did not. After I
did solve it I had learned something, and I was able to share that
with my students. This morning I looked at the 584 BC eclipse
supposedly predicted by Thales of Miletus. Starry Night Pro
straightened me out - the eclipse in question occurred in 585 BC.

I use Starry Night Pro almost every day, even when I'm not teaching
a course. A much attenuated version comes on the CDROM accompanying
"Universe" by Kaufmann & Freedman. The first three weeks of my
course would be a lot more successful if an appreciable fraction of
my students would use it. It appears that they don't, and I must
devise a strategy to coax them to do so. This strategy must use
grades as either stick or carrot, I'm sad to report. Failing that I
would have to say that CDROMs are the very least important feature
I consider when selecting a textbook. Since I know things that are
not mentioned in the textbook, and since I mention them in lecture
but do not hold the students responsible for them, the packaged
examinations are essential. Using them I can be reasonably sure the
questions I ask will have been covered in the textbook. For that
reason alone it may be necessary to change textbook periodically to
wash old exams out of the system. There are other good books with
excellent support packages, so the problem is not serious.

Does anyone out there use instructor's manuals? I have always found
them to be nearly useless, and I haven't even opened one in the
last twenty years or so. Today I found that I needed one, and I did
not have it! A student asked me in tutorial how to approach a
problem I had assigned from the text (Carroll & Ostlie) and I could
not give him a good answer. I found out that a solutions manual for
the book exists. Fortunately one of the authors responded to my
emailed plea for help very quickly and I was able to email his
answer to the class less than ninety minutes after the tutorial
ended.

We live in magic times!

Leigh