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Re: Planetarium Software



Title: Re: Planetarium Software
At 10:17 AM -0400 5/1/01, Tom McCarthy wrote:
>Hello Everyone,
>        What is your experience of using planetarium software in an
>astronomy course and if it's good, what piece of software do you recommend.
>Thanks a lot.
>Tom McCarthy

We've gone the rounds on this one before, but the programs keep getting
updated, so maybe another discussion is in order.

All the (commercial) programs are good and improving.  We've been impressed
with some of the canned demos and animations that come with RedShift.  But
for overall ease of use coupled with power we still like Starry Night the
best.  I'm told the next edition of "Universe" by Kaufmann and Freedman
will incorporate Starry Night into end-of-chapter exercises; things like
this get me excited.

Larry

Larry, I'm glad we've got you excited! The new edition of Universe (available the first week in July) will indeed have Starry Night exercises in every chapter, as well as more in-depth Starry Night projects on the textbook web site.

Each copy of Universe comes with a CD-ROM that includes, among many other things, a copy of Starry Night Backyard. You can download a free trial version of Starry Night Backyard at

http://www.starrynight.com/en/trial_download.html

I think it's a very cool program, as well as extremely easy to use.

I use the software both as a demonstration tool in lecture and for homework assignments. In lecture, since the program is so easy to use, I can easily respond to student questions such as "What would that eclipse look like as seen from the Moon?" or "What would that look like as seen from the surface of X?" The students really enjoy the program, so much so that some of them purchase the "Pro" version of Starry Night (which includes the entire Hubble Guide Star Catalog and has more features than I've yet been able to discover, let alone count).

Cheers,
Roger
--
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Roger A. Freedman
Department of Physics and College of Creative Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara

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