Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 New Horizon Panoramas Watch spectacular sunsets in one of many new photorealistic horizon panoramas. Moon Surface Outlines Recognize 1000+ craters, valleys and more instantly with surface feature outlines for the Moon. Observing Lists Create a list for a particular night or specific objects. Share your lists with other observers. Enhanced Topography Change the face of the Earth, Moon or Mars in an instant. Starhopping Chart Centered on the target objects, three-view starhopping charts allow experts to manage their time more efficiently. AllSky CCD Mosaic From any place on Earth, see the real night sky in full-color photographic detail. AllSky Image 100 Degrees 100 degree field-of-view of the AllSky Image. AllSky Image 33 Degrees AllSky Image zoomed in to 33 degrees field-of-view. AllSky Image 10 Degrees AllSky Image zoomed in to 10 degrees field-of-view. AllSky Image 3 Degrees AllSky Image zoomed in to 3 degrees. Telescope Pane Enhanced telescope control makes Starry Night even easier-to-use for unsurpassed astronomical observations. Nebula Outlines Nebula outlines make it easier to spot the diffuse edges of nebulae you\'re observing. High Resolution Earth Graphics Hover above the Earth for a detailed view of our home planet before blasting off to explore deep space. 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 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. 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. 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. Version 6 includes an additional 6 GB of the AllSky image in DDS texture format, which enables the AllSky image to load up to 20X 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. We recommend 128 MB nVidia GeForce 6600 (or higher) or ATI Radeon X800 (or higher). 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: * Zoom in on full-color AllSky CCD image mosaic of the entire night sky to a limiting magnitude of 14-15, mapped precisely to Starry Night\'s databases * AllSky CCD image loads 20X faster in DDS texture format (additional 6 GB of hard drive space needed) * 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) New Features: * Plan observing sessions with Event Finder that instantly displays celestial events, such as lunar and solar eclipses and conjunctions, for months far into the future * Create Observing Lists of astronomical objects using a variety of filters such as magnitude, altitude above horizon, type or database. Quickly see what objects you have observed and which ones you still need to hunt down * Find targets effortlessly with three-view starhopping charts customized to your equipment * Select your equipment from expanded default database of over 300 Orion, Meade, Celestron and Vixen scopes, binoculars, SBIG, Apogee, FLI and Starlight Express CCD chips and more * Recognize 1000+ craters, valleys and more instantly with surface feature outlines for the Moon * View the locations of 160+ extrasolar planets * Enjoy 8 additional photorealistic Earth horizon panoramas * And all the new data and features of Starry Night Pro version 6, including o Take advantage of improved Digital Settings Circles Support for non-motorized telescopes such as Orion SkyQuest IntelliScope, NGCMAX, Lumicon Sky Vector, Discovery Digital Star Finder, Orion SkyWizard III, and Celestron Advanced Astromaster o Control your robotic telescope focuser with Computer Controlled Focuser Support (Windows only). Supported models include AstroOptik telescopes, Astrophysics GTO mount, Finger Lakes focusers, Gemini equipped mount, JMI Smart Focus, Meade LX200 and Autostar, Optec TCF-S, and PCFocus. o Smoothly track and follow satellites with the Meade LX200 GPS telescope (Mac only) o And much more. Other Features: * Controls most popular brands of robotic telescopes, including Orion SkyQuest Intelliscope, Meade LX200 and Autostar, Celestron Nexstar series and all ASCOM compliant scopes (additional cable required) * Explore 65,000,000 stars * Access 500+ million stars online * Explore PGC Catalog of 980,000 galaxies * Choose from over 30 photorealistic horizon panoramas * Add custom field of view indicators to match your telescope eyepiece, binoculars, CCDs or DSLRs * And all the data and features of Starry Night Pro version 6 FAQs What happens if I only have OpenGL 1.4 and not OpenGL 2.0? Will Starry Night Pro Plus 6 run? In Starry Night version 6, the graphics default settings are not any more graphics-intensive than version 5. The 3 things that are new and may not be supported are: 1. The AllSky Image \"shader\". This is OFF by default and is only used when the user selects to use it from the Preferences. All this does is speed up the AllSky image at large FOVs (the lowest two resolution levels). The AllSky is ALSO sped up by Starry Night\'s use of DDS images, which every video card should support. 2. The \"daytime sky\" shader. This is also OFF by default. All this does is give that pretty gradient sky look during daytime/twilight. 3. Animated horizons. Again, this is OFF by default, and Starry Night will automatically determine if it\'ll work on your machine (and then disable -gray out- this option). If it IS enabled and it does not work well, this option will be automatically disabled the next time the program is started up. The ONLY new features which require a better video card than Version 5 are the three \"eye-candy\" features listed above. Overall, the other graphics in the application will not be affected if you only have an OpenGL 1.4 card. What\'s the difference between Starry Night Pro Plus and AstroPhoto Suite? Starry Night Pro Plus is the only version of Starry Night which contains the full-color AllSky CCD mosaic of the entire night sky. The reason that Astrophoto Suite is more expensive than Pro Plus is because it comes with a (Lite) version of MaxIm DL imaging software. Please note that the Starry Night product that comes in AstroPhoto Suite is the equivalent of Starry Night Pro, NOT Starry Night Pro Plus. The \"AstroPhoto\" version of Starry Night does NOT, for example, have the AllSky image and other features exclusive to Pro Plus. Also note that Starry Night Pro Plus 6 comes complete with the plugin necessary to interface with any version of MaxIm DL but does NOT come with a version of MaxIm (Lite or otherwise.) If you\'re already an owner of the full version of MaxIm DL, you want Pro Plus (which will interface with MaxIm DL for importing images, etc.) Starry Night Astrophoto Suite is meant for people who do not have MaxIm DL, but would like to do some imaging with webcams and select DSLR cameras. If you want the best that Starry Night has to offer, then you want Starry Night Pro Plus. Praise for Starry Night Pro Plus version 5 \"If you wish to recreate the majesty of the night sky indoors, then it\'s hard to imagine how it could be improved. I had many happy hours just admiring the view. ... it\'s awesome. ..So, will I be changing from my favorite software? ..the answer is a resounding yes.\" Sky & Telescope Magazine - April 2006 Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 includes: * 2 DVD-ROMs of Starry Night software for Windows and Macintosh * Exclusive SkyTheater DVD with over an hour or original movies about space * Starry Night Companion, a 192-page illustrated astronomy book * New, comprehensive 210-page User\'s Guide System Requirements To run Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 you need: A DVD-ROM drive is required for the installation of Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 on your computer. Windows: Requires Windows XP, 800 MHz or higher processor, 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended) and 5 GB (11 GB needed for full install) of hard disk space. 64 MB (128 MB recommended) OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky, animated grass and fast AllSky rendering at wide FOV). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. DVD-ROM drive required for installation. Starry Night will operate on any Windows Vista system that supports Windows Aero. Not sure if your system supports Aero? Please download the Microsoft Upgrade Advisor, http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx?wt_svl=20409a&mg_id=20409b Recommended Graphics Card: 128 MB nVidia GeForce 6600 (or higher) or ATI Radeon X800 or higher. Macintosh: Universal Binary runs natively on Intel and PPC Macintosh computers. Requires OS X 10.3.9 or higher, G4 800 MHz or higher processor, 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended) and 5 GB (11 GB needed for full install) of hard disk space. Will not run on OS 9.x or earlier. 64 MB (128 MB recommended) OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky, animated grass and fast AllSky rendering at wide FOV). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. DVD-ROM drive required for installation. Basic support for joysticks recognized by Windows XP and Mac OS X. Requirements for Video DVD: Home DVD player and TV, or computer with DVD player. *MaxIm DL Advanced CCD Imaging Software for Windows is INCLUDED IN TORRENT. What happens if I only have OpenGL 1.4 and not OpenGL 2.0? Will Starry Night version 6 run? In Starry Night version 6, the graphics default settings are not any more graphics-intensive than version 5. The 3 things that are new and may not be supported are: 1. The AllSky Image \"shader\". This is OFF by default and is only used when the user selects to use it from the Preferences. All this does is speed up the AllSky image at large FOVs (the lowest two resolution levels). The AllSky is ALSO sped up by Starry Night\'s use of DDS images, which every video card should support. 2. The \"daytime sky\" shader. This is also OFF by default. All this does is give that pretty gradient sky look during daytime/twilight. 3. Animated horizons. Again, this is OFF by default, and Starry Night will automatically determine if it\'ll work on your machine (and then disable -gray out- this option). If it IS enabled and it does not work well, this option will be automatically disabled the next time the program is started up. The ONLY new features which require a better video card than Version 5 are the three \"eye-candy\" features listed above. Overall, the other graphics in the application will not be affected if you only have an OpenGL 1.4 card.