Astrarium

Astrarium is a desktop planetarium application for the Windows operating system that enables users to explore the night sky from any location on Earth at any given date and time. The software computes precise positions of planets, stars, asteroids, comets, artificial satellites, and deep-sky objects, and it predicts astronomical phenomena such as lunar phases, planetary conjunctions, and oppositions.

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• Precise positions of solar system bodies. Ephemerides for the Sun, Moon (ELP2000/82b theory), and the eight major planets (VSOP87) are computed using high-accuracy dynamical models. The software also includes calculations for planetary satellites.
• Support for multiple star catalogs. The Bright Star Catalog (BSC) with 10,000 stars, the Tycho2 catalog with 2.5 million stars, and the UCAC4 catalog with 113 million stars are included, allowing visualization from the brightest stars to fainter magnitudes.
• NGC/IC deep-sky catalogs. Data from the NGC (New General Catalogue) and IC (Index Catalogue) are incorporated for observing galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters.
• Realistic landscape rendering. The terrestrial horizon and environment are rendered with realistic landscapes. Users can load custom panoramic images to simulate observation from any specific location.
• Bright asteroids and comets calculation. Orbits of asteroids and comets are automatically updated with the latest orbital elements, displaying their current positions on the star map.
• Artificial satellite tracking. The software calculates trajectories of Earth-orbiting satellites, enabling prediction of visible passes and real-time position determination.
• Visual representation of planetary surfaces. Planets, the Moon, and their satellites are displayed with textures reproducing their visual appearance from Earth. At small zoom scales, surface features of the Moon and Mars are rendered.
• Real-time solar images. The program can download and display current images of the Sun, along with a summary of active solar regions (sunspots and flares).
• Astronomical phenomena prediction. Events such as Moon phases, conjunctions, oppositions, solar and lunar eclipses (with interactive visibility maps), and meteor showers are calculated.
• ASCOM telescope and joystick control. The software can control telescopes using the ASCOM standard, as well as joysticks or gamepads for moving the mount or panning the sky map.
• Observation planner. An integrated planner with filters for object type, magnitude, constellation, and position allows users to generate customized lists of observable targets.
• Ephemeris generation and motion tracks. Detailed ephemeris tables can be generated for any object, and motion tracks of celestial bodies across the sky over time can be plotted.
• Field of view (FOV) simulation. Rectangles or circles representing the field of view of telescopes, eyepieces, binoculars, or cameras can be defined and overlaid, with options for rotation and automatic scaling.
• Night mode support. The user interface can switch to a red color scheme to preserve dark-adapted vision during observation sessions.
• Notes plugin. Textual notes associated with celestial objects can be created, incorporating date and time stamps to record personal observations.
• Constellation figures. Figures of all modern constellations can be visualized, including representations from the "Uranographia" atlas by Johannes Hevelius.
• Today's events window. A dedicated window displays all relevant astronomical phenomena occurring on the selected date.
• Fisheye map projection. In addition to standard projections, a hemispherical fisheye projection is available for an immersive view of the sky.

Astrarium is written in C# and utilizes the MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) design pattern. The software is a reincarnation of AcruSky Planetarium, which was originally started in 2008. The current version has been completely revised and rewritten under a new concept, featuring an extensible plugin-based architecture that determines the final set of available functions.

Alternatives to Astrarium:

Cartes du Ciel

Cartes du Ciel, known as Skychart, is astronomical software that generates detailed celestial charts.

Price: Free   Size: 39.7 MB   Version: 4.2.1   OS: Windows, Linux, MacOS