Should you use the location menu to change to Rome, Italy, the sky will go dark because it's nighttime there. When you run Stellarium at 3 PM it will show the afternoon daytime sky with the Sun.
For example, if you are in Baltimore, Maryland and you set up Stellarium for that site, then the computer is in the Eastern U.S. If you change your location, the time shown will still be the time at your computer, not the time at the new site. This time is the local time at your computer. The date and time will show at the lower right, based on the computer's clock. Stellarium starts with the sky over your site at this very moment. When you have selected your location the menu will show a map of Earth with an arrow pointing to your site.
The location menu is also in the left menubar under the compass icon at the top left. Once you have done this and saved the configuration, Stellarium will come up at your chosen site. If you press F6 the location menu will pop up and you can select your city or put in longitude and latitude. When you or done, you can use the bottom menu bar to exit by selecting the off button.īy default you will be in Paris, France. They are hidden until you run the mouse down to the bottom or over to the left. There are two bars of menus, one at the bottom of the screen, and one on the left.
You can change this by pressing the F11 key to fit it into a smaller window. Stellarium starts in full screen mode and will cover everything. You might look at the Stellarium Tour on their website for an overview and reference to these options: 7 Constellations seen from the Southern Hemisphere by Seasonįirst, there are a few things you need to know about using Stellarium.6 Constellations seen from the Northern Hemisphere by Season.If you have a Planisphere or one of the other applications on your handheld device or laptop, use it too. This lab will use Stellarium to help you learn to identify some of the prominent constellations and bright stars. Map of the sky that will show you how it appears on any date and time. If want to pursue this and learn the night sky well, old technology works great. ITunes also offers a Sky Map for iPhone and iPad for a fee. The free Google Sky Map for Android works well, and makes use of Android device's navigation to interact with your real sky. It is also available as a paid application for Android handheld devices. Tonight's sky including artificial satellitesįor your laptop, home computer, cell phone, or tablet there are many choices.īeautiful Stellarium is free planetarium software for Windows, Mac, or Linux operating systems and online in a browser. These resources may be useful in the lab, or for later study. Identify bright stars and constellations in the night sky.