Map of the sky

**kenshi** · 04-25-2002, 01:39 AM

I've recently gotten back into astronomy for the first time in years. Whenever I find the eyepiece to my telescope, I plan on using it. The problem is that I don't know what to look at. I can definately spot Venus when I see it. Recently I've seen a red body that I'm sure is either Mars or Jupiter. But beyond that, I have no idea which dots are planets and which are stars. I used to have a program for Dos that would show you all the bodies in the sky at a certain time. Now if there was one for Dos, I'm sure there's one for unix, though I can't find one. A web site would work too that shows this information. (That's why I didn't put this in the software forum.) If it comes down to it, I'll use a Windows program and run it in Wine or put it on my old computer. Can anyone make a suggestion?

**t048** · 04-25-2002, 02:37 AM

There is a KDE program called KStars that does this.
http://edu.kde.org/kstars/

**kenshi** · 04-25-2002, 03:30 AM

I've already tried that one, or rather tried to try it. I can't get KDE to install on my system because libxml is too old. (I may have to check into that. Ports should handle that automatically.) Is there a program that isn't KDE-based?

**kenshi** · 04-25-2002, 04:03 AM

Probable nevermind on that. The problem was easier to fix than I thought it would be. (I simply manually updated it.) I'm compiling KDE at the moment and hopefully kstars will be next. Thanks, not for suggesting a program I already knew about, but for prompting me to fix my borked system.

**pam** · 04-25-2002, 10:15 AM

If your map isn't sorted yet, the fact that the first 5 (non Earth) planets are roughly in alignment at the moment will help.
They were in near perfect alignment last Friday, it was a pretty spectacular site. Even the moon was on the same line through the sky from my vantage point (in the UK).
They are supposed to remain in this region of sky for another couple of weeks or so, although obviously the alignment will degrade. Try to look just after sunset to see the most.

**boblucci** · 04-25-2002, 11:28 AM

i'm sure there are hundreds of web sites with a map of the stars!!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...s+of+the+stars

**xkill** · 04-26-2002, 12:26 PM

I've recently gotten back into astronomy for the first time in years. Whenever I find the eyepiece to my telescope, I plan on using it.

What kind of telescope you got? I've got a 10" Newtonian Dobson...nothing too fancy, but I love it.

**kenshi** · 04-26-2002, 06:10 PM

I forgot to mention that I got it fixed yesterday. I was too busy playing with KDE to post. It's going to be my new desktop manager for now. That's not to say that I'm finished with Ice; I just wanted something new for a while.

If your map isn't sorted yet, the fact that the first 5 (non Earth) planets are roughly in alignment at the moment will help.

Yep. I saw that on Kstars. Unfortunately it has been cloudy here for the past few days, so I haven't gotten a chance to observe them. Not only are those in a nice little line (though Jupiter is a pretty good distance away), but the outer 3 are pretty close to each other too. Of course Uranus would be hard to spot, and the other 2 are invisible to the naked eye, but I still think it's interesting. It makes me wonder how often all the planets are in a roughly straight line (not looking from Earth but from the sun). That would put some gravitational stress on the sun.

**kenshi** · 04-26-2002, 06:14 PM

What kind of telescope you got? I've got a 10" Newtonian Dobson...nothing too fancy, but I love it.

Mine's not fancy either. All I know is that it's a Jason telescope about 16 or 18 inches long. I got it when I was 6 or 7. The only good use I made of it back then was looking at the moon, because I didn't have a way of knowing where the planets were. Now I do, but I haven't found the eyepiece yet. I hope I do, but in case I don't, are telescopic eyepieces basically universal? I don't want to have to buy a new telescope until I have plenty of money to get a good one.