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
Mailing address:
Department of Physics
UCSB
Santa Barbara CA 93106-9530
E-mail: airboy@physics.ucsb.edu
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http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~airboy/
Voice: (805) 893-2345
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