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Space

By Scott Mendham
Space has always fascinated humans and it was unthinkable just two or three decades ago that you could use your home PC to view and map the heavens.

These programs will help you learn more about the moon, planets, stars and other orbiting bodies. If the terminology is hard to follow, then start with the Windows Dictionary of Astronomy. If you are curious about the few stars that can be seen in the city or the thousands in the country skies, the free programs Adastra or Home Planet make are a good introduction. More sophisticated users may want to try SkyMap Pro and Stella 2000. Those people interested in searching the universe for signs of life should consider joining the SETI@HOME project. For your own space adventures, don't forget to try the full game StarFight VI on CD2.

  • Space photo libraries
    On CD2, you will find find two collections of space images: Cities From Space and the latest Hubble Space Telescope pictures.


  • Adastra
    Explore your night sky from any location or date with heavens this planetarium.


  • Distant Suns 4 (SETI@Home Version)
    Distant Suns allows you to explore the Solar System, watch the Earth move around its orbit or view the sky over your location (it contains a database of over 20,000 stars).


  • Gravitorium 0.3.2
    A locally developed product designed to simulate the movement of stars, planets and other bodies under Newtonian gravitation.


  • Home Planet
    Home Planet is a comprehensive space and satellite-tracking package. It will show Earth's day and night regions, location of the Moon and current phase, and position of a selected earth satellite. It also includes a sky map, based on either the Yale Bright Star Catalogue or the 256,000 star SAO catalogue.


  • LunarPhase
    A detailed tool for tracking phases of the moon.


  • MyStars
    MyStars is an astronomical simulator that helps visualise and locate the positions of stars, planets, comets, minor planets, and Messier (M) objects from any location on Earth.


  • SETI@Home 3.03
    Help search for signs of life in the universe with SETI@HOME. When you are not using your computer, it can be used to crunch through data collected through the SETI program.


  • Sky Map Professional
    SkyMap is a planetarium and star-charting program for more serious stargazers.


  • Stella 2000
    Stella 2000 is a complete star charting package. You can view the stars in the present or future. It also has a location finder and search facilities.


  • Windows Dictionary of Astronomy
    This program will help you understand many of the terms used by astronomers. It has over 2000 entries with links to associated terms with search and index tools. You can also append notes to selected entries or copy the information into other applications.



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