Starry Night Backyard 4.x

by Imaginova

Product Details

Product Manual [2.50mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000070MR2
• Item model number: Y-X-CIU
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 7, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,684 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #59 in Software > Education & Reference > Secondary Education > Science
  • #74 in Software > Children's Software > Science & Nature
  • #92 in Software > Education & Reference > Science
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

There are many enthusiastic amateur astronomers and in the past 50 years they have made a number of important discoveries. Starry Night Backyard 4.x is a CD-ROM package that is targeted at this audience and adds greatly to the tools at the amateur astronomer's disposal.

The package is extraordinarily eclectic--one moment you're viewing the sky as it now is in Abidjan or Rio de Janeiro, and the next you're visiting Mars or any location within 20,000 light-years (surely enough for most of us). This range is supplemented by some excellent visual effects: the moving graphics, for example, as you travel through the solar system and past the edges of planets and moons are quite otherworldly.

The software is designed so that you can select your home geographical coordinates and then explore the constellations as you perceive them from home. However, what really distinguishes this CD-ROM is the scope it offers in terms of interstellar travel. With the range of viewing locations on offer, you can experience the fearful darkness of Pluto and the searing heat of a sunny day on Mercury. You can also turn to interesting events in the past, including many solar and lunar eclipses, and experience the passage of comets and asteroids.

This broad, comprehensive scope is what will really attract people to this package. Among the consolations for the freezing winter temperatures suffered by those who live in northern Europe and the northern part of North America are the crisp wintry nights, when the stars are as clearly visible as at any other time in the year; now, with the help of Starry Night Backyard 4.x, we can all go out and discover the mysteries of the heavens for ourselves. --Toby Green

Amazon.com Product Description

Brilliantly realistic, Starry Night Backyard 4.x is designed for anyone with an interest in the night sky. See the sky from anywhere on Earth, or visit any solar system or location up to 20,000 light-years away. View up to 2,500,000 stars and 170-plus deep-space objects like galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae. Travel 15,000 years in time, check out the view from the International Space Station, or see Jupiter from one of its moons.

Starry Night Backyard 4.x's more than 90 minutes of multimedia video offer compelling visualizations of the solar system and beyond. Print out star charts, learn about the movement of the planets, watch the phases of the moon, and even see what the stars looked like when you were born. A 200-page guidebook and the Atlas of the Sky CD-ROM are also included. Plus, Starry Night Backyard X adds access to LiveSky on the Internet for additional online astronomy resources.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Software for Anyone Who Is Fascinated by the Stars, January 28, 2003

By 

bc from new york (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starry Night Backyard 4.x (CD-ROM)

I just turned into an astronomy buff since the planets in the inner solar system aligned last year in 2002. Now, I find myself looking at the sky every day and night and I am completely fascinated by the stars that not only gleem, but change colors from white to orange to red as they gleem.

Through Starry Night Backyard, I found out the name of those star and why they dance in the sky changing colors. Also, last year, when Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Venus all lined up with each other, I wondered what it looked like up there and not just from the earth which only hindered the view. Starry Night has a Blast Off feature that lets you center the planet or star and let's you blast off the surface of the Earth and go right to that star or planet. The Blast Off feature alone makes Starry Night a great investment.

And if you are fascinated by solar and lunar eclipses like I am, Starry Night makes watching an eclipse easy and DIFFERENT. Did you ever wonder what a solar eclipse looks like from the surface of the moon instead of just looking at a big black disk covering the outer halo of the sun from the Earth? Starry night has a database of dates from all the eclipses. It lets you go back in time to watch that eclipse and then, you can go to the surface of the moon and watch its own shadow engulf the Earth while the eclipse is occurring. Since mosst of us will probably never travel to the moon in our lifetime, Starry night will allow you simulate being on the Moon. You can also open two windows and watch the eclipse from both the moon and the earth simulataneously. Then, you can land on the sun and watch the solar eclipes from the sun. Try doing that in real life...

Starry Night Backyard and Pro just makes all these things possible. Just the fact that you can travel 5000 light years in 30 seconds and look at all the stars from that point in space (and time) makes Starry Night one of the few software programs that any astronomy buff can really call an investment.

So, if you purchase this program and use it to identify just one star, you will have already gotten your money's worth.

Have fun and I hope you enjoy this review.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Universe on your monitor - 5 stars are not enough, December 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Starry Night Backyard 4.x (CD-ROM)

In my 18 years of nearly daily Mac use, decades as an amateur astronomer, and celestial navigator since sextants were used to get little triangles on a chart with star tables and a pencil, this is the most astonishing program I have ever used.
If you use a Mac with OS X, have ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what you see, or have any interest in astronomy, or have children or grandchildren about, buy this software. If you also own binoculars or a telescope of any size and use them to look at the stars, and own a real Sky Atlas, buy this software anyhow. You will find yourself using it in place of your atlas or planisphere or the charts in Astronomy or Sky and Telescope magazines, to print stunningly lovely and detailed charts of the heavens as they appear at your location at any time of the night or portion of the sky, to plan your nights pleasure looking up, as a superb supplement to your atlas.
If you don't own binoculars or a telescope, you will still get immense enjoyment from this program helping you to learn the constellations with the naked eye.
The versatility of the program is immense and it is very simple to use. If you have grown up with the Mac and have lots of unread manuals gathering dust as I have, you will love this program. The manuals which accompany the package merely expand the level of detail to which you can go in its use, and start you on the road to be an expert amateur astronomer.
Starry Night is also highly educational for beginners or children of any age. The videos included reflect current professional astronomy knowledge and are very enjoyable. The vendors site also provides support for lessons in its use and in astronomy.
Among the thousands of dollars I have spent on software in 18 years, this was by far the best buy of all.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Gift for the amateur astronomer, March 24, 2003

By 

Andrew P. Mott "mottster" (Des Moines, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Starry Night Backyard 4.x (CD-ROM)

I purchased this gift for my girlfriend because she loves astronomy, but her collge does not offer any classes in this subject. The program offers views of anything in the night sky that could be viewed with any powerful telescope. This is an ideal piece of software for any beginning astronomer. It's just a little more than the base version, but offers so much more.