Starry Night Pro Plus 6.2 [Old Version]

by Imaginova

Product Features

• Includes DVD-ROM software, DVD movie, astronomy book, and user's guide
• Sky-exploring software for the advanced amateur astronomer
• Full-color AllSky CCD image mosaic of the entire night sky visible from Earth
• View positions and outlines of 1400 dark, emission, planetary, and reflection nebulae
• Comprehensive observational tools; sophisticated telescope controls

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000HDFYSS
• Item model number: PP60-C1U
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,000 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #29 in Software > Education & Reference > Secondary Education > Science
  • #47 in Software > Education & Reference > Science

Product Description

Amazon.com

For the advanced amateur astronomer, the full-color AllSky CCD mosaic, sophisticated telescope controls and comprehensive observational tools included in Starry Night Pro Plus version 6.0 will engage you in the hobby like no other software.

100 degree field-of-view of the AllSky Image. View larger.

From any place on Earth, see the real night sky in full-color photographic detail. View larger.

Hover above the Earth for a detailed view of our home planet before blasting off to explore deep space. View larger.

Recognize 1000+ craters, valleys, and more instantly with surface feature outlines for the Moon. View larger.

Enhanced telescope control makes Starry Night even easier-to-use for unsurpassed astronomical observations. View larger.

Pro Plus Version 6 Features
The biggest single addition to Starry Night software since its inception is now yours in the Pro Plus version 6.0--a full-color AllSky CCD image mosaic of the entire night sky visible from Earth--a picture so detailed, it weighs in at an astounding 6.44 billion pixels in size. Named AllSky for its uniform coverage from pole to pole, it's a single picture of the whole sky that has now been precisely mapped to Starry Night's computer generated stars and databases. Previously only available to Windows users through Desktop Universe planetarium software, the display of the AllSky image has been drastically improved in Starry Night and is now accessible to Mac users as well.

Computer Images With Exquisite Detail
With Pro Plus version 6.0, you can view on your computer screen an image better than the best-trained human eye can capture in real-time viewing through a telescope on a "good seeing" night. You'll be able to see the entire Milky Way in exquisite detail and then zoom in to explore dust lanes and nebulae. Instead of dots and circles, you will see an actual photo of a star or a deep sky object.

Smooth and Swift Navigation
With Pro Plus version 6.0, you'll smoothly and swiftly navigate the full color AllSky CC photograph of the entire night sky, to a limiting magnitude of 14-15. Five years in development, the AllSky CCD mosaic is comprised of about 20,000 individual images, originally imaged at a resolution of 12 arcseconds per pixel with a scientific grade, custom built AP9E CCD camera. The AllSky image in Starry Night presents the entire sky as a full-color, seamless mosaic at 5 resolution levels depending on your zoom setting. This consistent resolution, color and depth of coverage eliminates the uncertainties of comparing images from many and varied sources. Zoom from the widest possible view of 180 degrees to 0.5 degree field of view.

If you have the processing power, set the AllSky image to be more precise and a better match between the photographic stars in the AllSky image and the Starry Night stars. For the highest quality AllSky image, you will need a video card with a minimum of 96 MB VRAM.

Pro Plus version 6.0 includes an additional 6 GB of the AllSky image in DDS texture format, which enables the AllSky image to load up to 20 times faster. In addition, at wide fields of view, the AllSky image can be rendered via shaders for perfect rendering accuracy and a dramatic speed improvement, but you will need a higher-end OpenGL 2.0 capable graphics card to see this phenomenal improvement. A 128 MB nVidia GeForce 6600 (or higher) or ATI Radeon X800 (or higher) are recommended.

In all, Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 has over 25 new features that bring more power and control to your observing and imaging. Starry Night Pro Plus will change how you look at the night sky.

Exclusive to Pro Plus:

• View positions and outlines of 1400 dark, emission, planetary and reflection nebulae
• Identify 1700 globular and open star clusters
• Fly over super-high resolution 24-bit color map of Mars land mass topography above the sea.
• Hover over Earth and see details within 1 km (0.6 miles) resolution
• Create your own astrophotography using imaging plug-in to integrate Starry Night and MaxIm DL imaging software (sold separately, Windows only)

What's in the Box
Two DVD-ROMs of Starry Night software for Windows and Macintosh, an exclusive SkyTheater DVD with over an hour or original movies about space, Starry Night Companion, a 192-page illustrated astronomy book, and a new, comprehensive 210-page User's Guide.

Product Description

Travel where you've never been before! For the advanced amateur astronomer, the full-color AllSky CCD mosaic, sophisticated telescope controls and comprehensive observational tools included in Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 will engage you in the hobby like no other software. The biggest single addition to Starry Night software since its inception, the full-color AllSky CCD image mosaic of the entire night sky visible from Earth weighs in at 6.44 billion pixels in size. Named AllSky for its uniform coverage from pole to pole, it's a single picture of the whole sky that has been precisely mapped to Starry Night's computer generated stars and databases. View on your computer screen an image better than the best-trained human eye can capture in real-time viewing through a telescope on a "good seeing" night. See the entire Milky Way in exquisite detail and then zoom in to explore dust lanes and nebulae. Instead of dots and circles, you will see an actual photo of a star or a deep sky object. Smoothly and swiftly navigate this full color photograph of the entire night sky, to a limiting magnitude of 14-15. Five years in development, the AllSky CCD mosaic is comprised of about 20,000 individual images, originally imaged at a resolution of 12 arcseconds per pixel with a scientific grade, custom built AP9E CCD camera. In all, Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 has over 25 new features that bring more power and control to your observing and imaging. Starry Night Pro Plus will change how you look at the night sky. Hover over Earth and see details within 1 km (0.6 miles) resolution Create your own astrophotography using imaging plug-in to integrate Starry Night and MaxIm DL* imaging software (sold separately, Windows only) 1000+ craters, valleys and more instantly with surface feature outlines for the Moon Controls most popular brands of robotic telescopes

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expensive, but well worth it. Also supports Vista, September 18, 2007

By 

C. Stoneham (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Starry Night Pro Plus 6.2 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

Works great on my Macbook AND my Vista machine (which is used less and less as I revel in the joy that is "Mac OS X"). The amount of information available is staggering. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the AllSky survey, but when I consider it only adds 60 to cost (compared to Pro) and other enhancements are included as well, the "Plus" is well worth it. be prepared for a total install of almost 12Gb if you copy the AllSky to the local drive (recommended).

I can certainly understand passing up Pro Plus for just Pro, but if you have the extra, I think it's well worth the money spent...


***Vista issues seem to have been addressed in the current version. You may need to DL patches from the site for older ones...***

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, September 2, 2008

By 

T. Yerks (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starry Night Pro Plus 6.2 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I wanted to address the reviews below concerning Vista compatibility. I received my order last week, version 6.2.3 and it installed without a single error, and it has worked great ever since. I cannot make this claim regarding many programs on my Vista PC!
The program is outstanding. As I started learning it, I would ask, "I wonder if it can do this?" Nearly everytime, the answer was yes. Truly a well through out program.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular - come a long way, April 19, 2010

By 

GenerallyCurious (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Starry Night Pro Plus 6.2 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

This app quickly exceeded my expectations. I'm an amateur astronomer, and I've loved astro software since its inception on desktops years ago. I've only scratched the surface of what Starry Night can do, but it's already blown me away in its realism, depth of data/display/control, and richness of capabilities. One example in one tiny corner of the app: if I want to track a satellite (say, the Int'l Space Station) over the sky, I'm used to downloading my own two-line ephemeris data elements...and loading them to the app (shows how long it's been since I bought a new package...). Starry Night simply phones home when you start it up, and a whole freakin' passel of satellites is already in there with up-to-date ephemeris...you can just turn 'em on and they creep across the simulated sky (ISS, GPS, Iridium...you can add any others). The UI is amazingly intuitive, and the display is stunning. The program also integrates today's online astronomy resources in inventive ways, and the user community is broad and vibrant. I'm using it under XP (so can't vouch for Vista or 7, though SN's website claims it works fine under either). I have also asked for support once (a license question, nothing technical) and got a prompt, professional response. This is pretty powerful stuff, and a brilliant use of all the horsepower we now have sitting on our desks (and/or laps, and one license gets you two installs). FYI, Amazon shows 6.2 version, so I was expecting to have to download the 6.3 upgrade...but it was delivered as 6.3. I just had to let it update to a new 6.3.9 dot-release after install.

I still have Software Bisque's "The Sky", which was the gold standard a while back. It still may be terrific and a good competitor to Starry Night (my last version was 5.x)...but I switched to Starry Night after pondering reviews, and realizing that each package came from an opposite lineage. SN started with trying to make a photo-realistic desktop planetarium (and later added telescope control), whereas The Sky started with telescope control as central, and later added photorealism. I have not tried Sky Six -- so I can't legitimately compare the two...but from my knothole I'd speculate each still shows its lineage: if you want extreme telescope/observatory control, TS would be the first place to look, whereas if you want the consummate desktop experience SN is the first stop. Maybe those overlaps are complete, but it'll be years before I'll feel like I am taking advantage of all SN has to offer (much less finding it wanting in some way).