While computers and specialized software are not strictly required for stargazing at the amateur level, there is no doubt that the stargazing hobby can be greatly enhanced with the use of computers and user-friendly software. The problem, however, is that there are thousands of applications available today, and it is no easy task to select the ten best desktop applications that will satisfy the needs of all amateur astronomers all of the time. For Mac Astronomers Sightings![]() The Mac App Store has a great selection of diverse astronomy-based apps at reasonable prices, many of them have superb 3D models of the planets and contain an astounding wealth of educational and interesting information. This article explores 10 of the best astronomy apps for the Mac. Nonetheless, in this list, we present you with our choice of ten stargazing applications that cover the most ground, from planetarium simulations to an app that automatically searches for near-earth objects. If you don’t have these apps, get them- you will wonder how you ever got by without them. AstroGrav AstroGrav is a solar system simulator with a difference. All movements of solar system bodies are based on their gravitational interactions with other bodies, meaning that you get gravitationally correct motions of asteroids, planets, and comets. The software takes the effects of general relativity into account, ad used superb interactive three dimensional rendering that allows you to rotate, and zoom into parts of the solar system while you watch it evolve. AstroGrav includes a background of more than 100 000 stars, all the constellations, and planetarium-style viewing points from anywhere in the world. Other features include: • Multiple views that can be animated at the same time with orbits that are calculated dynamically. • Extensive tabular data with more than 30 editable fields for each object selected. • Simulation time steps that can be set to fractions of a second, to several thousand years. • Ecliptic, equatorial, galactic, and horizontal celestial coordinate grids. • Astronomical, metric, and imperial measurement units. • Comprehensive editing capabilities that allow for the manual insertion of additional objects, or the importation of any of several hundred thousand comets and asteroids. Apart from the solar system, you can also explore the gravitational effects of exoplanet systems, the collision of globular star clusters, or even watch the evolution of planetary systems from accretion discs. In fact, almost any situation in which gravity is the dominant force can be simulated accurately. AstroGrav is available for both Mac and Windows, and a free, but fully functional trial in several languages is available for download. Stellarium While there are hundreds of planetarium software suites available, Stellarium is the only free software that is also used in commercial planetaria all over the world today. Stellarium runs on all major operating systems, and in all cases, the rendered views are almost indistinguishable from what would be seen through a telescope, binoculars, or with unaided vision. The following is a list of features taken from the. MetaGuide Auto-guiding software is a requirement for astrophotography, but the problem is that while there are many auto-guiding applications available, there are very few that are free, and even fewer that provide the accuracy and sharp focus of adaptive optics. However, is both free and in the adaptive optics league. It is based on video imaging, and provides precise collimation by using the in-focus diffraction patterns of stars. I addition, the software employs several novel approaches to auto-guiding that results in real and significant insights into the optics of any given telescope, as well as the tracking behaviour of the mount used. The following is an extract of a review of the software by an experienced observer: “MetaGuide allows me to obtain sub-2″ fwhm stars with a Celestron CGE and 11″ SCT at 2800mm f.l. And 0.45″ per pixel. The key is an accurate and low latency centroid that can be chased aggressively to overcome gearbox and bearing noise. This pushes auto guiding of a mid-range mount into a realm of performance that normally requires adaptive-optics.” MetaGuide is free, extremely user-friendly, and fully compatible with any telescope, and almost all video cameras. However, for the auto-guide to work, you must provide either an ASCOM connection, or some other mode of mount control such as GPUSB, TOGA, AstroGene, or LPT. Plustek smartoffice ps282: install guide. Pcchips m830lr drivers for mac. Plustek smartoffice ps282 drivers for windows xp User guide. ![]() Additional requirements to run MetaGuide: • MetaGuide requires only a video camera and Windows 7, Vista, XP or 2000 computer (not Win98, ME, NT, Mac, or Linux) with recent DirectX installed to perform the core diffraction analysis of a star. MetaGuide and its install package are compatible with Win7/64. • Most video cameras are supported – of any size – along with analog video cameras (NTSC/PAL) with a simple video2usb converter. The user can specify any resolution the camera supports.
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