- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/NT
- Date added: March 18, 2009
- Total Downloads: 93,913
- Downloads last week: 355
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 85 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Open source and currently in use by planetarium projectors, Stellarium brings astronomer-level features to stargazers of all levels of interest. It's not quite as robust as its competitors, but it's also a much faster program. It doesn't suck away your RAM into a black hole when loading or running. It does run only in full screen mode, making any other programs you're running inaccessible except for the ALT-Tab switcher.
The default catalog includes 600,000 stars, with upgrade modules that can push the count up to 210 million stars. The constellations of 10 different cultures are included, as well as illustrations and asterisms to help you visualize what the ancients saw. There's a full Messier catalog of nebulae, too. The dawn, dusk and atmosphere backgrounds were good, but not great on our monitor. They probably look better on a planetarium dome, which is why it's useful that Stellarium also includes a fish-eye view for curved surfaces. Besides equatorial and azimuthal grids, users also get shooting stars when appropriate, eclipse simulation, and skinnable landscapes. Stellarium incorporates star-views from the Moon.
The controls live in the lower left corner and are transparent--a bit hard to find. The nifty record feature is somewhat hampered by the dark interface. When you run the program for the first time it asks that you set your current location, but the mouse-over map of the world was too small to use easily. Stellarium should appeal both to users who need something more academic and less distracting than Google or Microsoft's offerings, as well as those who have a need for an open-source planetarium. Fortunately, that could be any of us.
Publisher's description
From Stellarium :Stellarium is a free open-source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
In version 0.10.2, a new projection mode is now available, called "Hammer-Aitoff", which allows for very wide fields of view (up to 360 degrees). This release also includes many bug fixes and some general performance tweaks.
What's new in this version:
In version 0.10.2, a new projection mode is now available, called "Hammer-Aitoff", which allows for very wide fields of view (up to 360 degrees). This release also includes many bug fixes and some general performance tweaks.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 4.1 stars out of 85 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 18 user reviewsSee all 18 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Stellarium 0.10.2
Pros: being able to add the visual representation of the constaltions is a nice touch.
Cons: I would like to still have the windows bar when the app is running.
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Version: Stellarium 0.10.2
Pros: Its got so many user-friendly features! Bridges the gap between professional astronomical knowledge & average newbie astronomer. 2nd best astronomy program after World Wide Telescope (WWT). But that might be partly because I'm just so used to WWT :)
Cons: Rarely, but every once in a while freezes, but mainly while taking tours. I used Windows Vista. No other problems.
Summary: Very Good - No Probs!
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Version: Stellarium 0.10.2
Pros: Love being able to see my starts even in the daylight
Cons: still exploring
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Version: Stellarium 0.10.2
Pros: good program
Cons: trojan problems
Summary: When I run a scan on this program after I installed it the exe file is quarantined by McAfee.
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Version: Stellarium 0.10.2
"it kept freezing up my computer, and blinking"
Pros: the verion just before this one was great, easy and user friendly. Had just what I was looking for in the software. I lloved the pictures of the constellations, the moon. that is a great software
Cons: this new one just would not work on my computer. since I could not find the older one I had to find another software to put on.
Summary: If someone could tell me how to get the older version it would be great!
- See all 18 user reviews Write review
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