Starry Night Pro User's Guide

12Starry Night Pro Plus User’s Guide7Starry Night Pro Plus includes astandalone DVD disc (“SkyTheater”),which contains short movies aboutastronomy. You can play the DVD discon your computer DVD-ROM drive oryour home DVD player.Macintosh: To install Starry Night Pro Plusfor the Macintosh, follow these steps.1Insert the DVD into the DVD-ROMdrive and double-click on the StarryNight Pro Plus installation icon. The“Full Install” option will install extrastar data, with stars as dim asmagnitude 15 (these stars are notvisible in your sky without a telescope)and the Principal Galaxy Catalog(PGC) with 980, 000 galaxies as dim asmagnitude 18. The “Minimal Install”option will not install these dimmerstars and galaxies, and will save about800 MB of hard disk space. The“Custom Install” option allows you toselect which extra data to install.Tip: Macintosh users do not need to installa separate driver for telescope control, itis packaged into the main Starry Night ProPlus installer.2Starry Night Pro Plus includes astandalone DVD disc (“SkyTheater”),which contains short movies aboutastronomy. You can play the DVD discon your computer DVD-ROM drive oryour home DVD player.Running Starry Night Pro PlusOnce you have installed StarryNight Pro Plus, you can runthe program as follows:Windows:Double-click the Starry NightPro Plus icon on your desktop, or select itfrom your start menu.Macintosh: Double-clickthe Starry NightPro Plus icon in the Applications folder, orclick the icon on your dock.RegisteringWhen you run Starry Night Pro Plus forthe first time, you will be prompted toenter your name and registration number.To get your unique registration number,click Get Registration Number. For thisto work, you must have an active Internetconnection. If you do not have an activeInternet connection, you can still click OKand the program will operate normally—but you will not be able to download theperiodic data updates, such as new comets,upcoming events and tours.

Getting StartedRegistering makes it possible for us tonotify you of any upgrades, bug fixes, orplug-ins as they become available. Youmay also be eligible for reduced upgradeprices to other astronomy softwareprograms. You can update yourregistration information at any time in thefuture by visitingwww.starrynight.com/register.Tip: You can retrieve your registrationnumber at any time by choosingRegistration from the Help menu(Windows) or the Starry Night Pro Plusmenu (Macintosh).files at this time, just press Cancel to skipthis process. You can update these datafiles at any time in the future by choosingLiveSky- Update Comets/Asteroids/Satellitesfrom the menu. See “Database Updates”on page 85 for more information onupdating data files.Only registered users can download theupdated data files. If you did not registerStarry Night Pro Plus, the followingwindow will appear onscreen when youtry to download new data files:After you have typed in your name andregistration number, press OK to beginStarry Night Pro Plus.Data UpdatesThe first time you run Starry Night ProPlus, a window will pop up that asks if youwish to update your data files.Click Open Registration Dialog to obtainyour registration number and proceed withupdating your data files or click CancelFile Update to continue withoutdownloading.Note: Updating data files is not the sameas updating the program itself. To ensurethat you are running the latest version ofStarry Night Pro Plus, see“Program Updates” on page 16.If you press Update Files, Starry NightPro Plus will attempt to connect to ourwebsite and download updated data files.Downloading these files ensures that anynew comets, asteroids, satellites, calendarevents or tours are added to the program. Ifyou do not want to download updated data13

14Starry Night Pro Plus User’s GuideSetting Your Home Locationminutes.You must also enter the correcttime zone. Time zones are calculatedaccording to the time difference fromLondon, England. For example, allcommunities on Eastern Standard Timeare 5 hours behind London, so youwould enter “-5 h” if you are onEastern Standard Time. If you do notknow your latitude, longitude, or timezone, click Lookup Lat/Long onInternet for Internet resources that willhelp you find this information.The first time Starry Night Pro Plus runs, adialog box opens that asks you to set yourhome location. Once you have done this,you do not need to change your homelocation unless you move.1Click the List tab. This displays a hugedatabase of cities throughout the world.2Use the scrollbar on the right to lookthrough the list. If your home city islisted, click on its name to highlightthis city and press the Save As HomeLocation button. If your city is notlisted, proceed to step 3.Tip: A list of astronomical observatories isincluded in the location list. To see thislist, click on the Province column headingand scroll down to “Observatories”.3Click the Latitude/Longitude tab.Type in the name of your location andenter your latitude and longitude. Youcan enter these values in degrees,degrees & minutes, or degrees, minutes& seconds. Starry Night Pro Plus willconvert your values to degrees and4Once you have entered your coordinates, click the Add Location toList button. This will open a windowwhere you can enter your city,province/state and country. Press theAdd Location button once you haveentered this information., then press theSave As Home Location button.

Getting StartedTip: If you ever move and need to changeyour location (or if you initially enter yourhome location incorrectly), chooseSet Home Location from the File menu(Windows) or the Starry Night Pro Plusmenu (Macintosh) to enter a new homelocation.Most of the controls in Starry Night ProPlus will probably look unfamiliar to you.The next chapter will show you how to usethem and become more comfortable withthe program.Starry Night For the First TimeHopefully this User’s Guide will help youmaster Starry Night Pro Plus! But if youstill have questions, there are plenty ofplaces to turn for help.After you have entered your homelocation, the main screen of Starry NightPro Plus appears. This window showswhat you would see if you stepped outsideat the current time, and looked south fromyour home location. Direction markersalong the horizon help you orient yourself.If you open the program at night, you see astar-filled night sky. If you open theprogram during the day, you see a daytimescene with blue sky and sunshine. Ahorizon is shown to give you someperspective.The current time is shown in the upper leftcorner of the screen.Getting HelpContextual Help: Holdthe cursor over any ofStarry Night’scontrols, and a textbox will pop up thatdescribes the functionof that control.Info Icon: Whenever you see this iconbeside one of the controls in StarryNight Pro Plus, click the icon to see a shortdescription of that control.Electronic Manual: ChoosingHelp- User’s Guide from the menuopens the PDF version of this manual.Note: The current date and time arecalculated from your computer’s clock. Ifyour computer’s clock is incorrect, StarryNight Pro Plus may show night when it isday outside, or vice versa. See“Time & Date” on page 171 if you do notknow how to change your computer’sclock settings.Tech Support Website: A list of frequentlyasked questions is included in AppendixA: “Frequently Asked Questions”. Anup-to-date version of this FAQ is availableonline by choosing Help- Online Helpfrom the menu. Any new bugs or otherissues regarding Starry Night Pro Plus willbe covered in this FAQ.15

16Starry Night Pro Plus User’s GuideDiscussion List: The Starry NightDiscussion List is a newsgroup that allowsyou to ask questions and share tips withother owners of Starry Night Pro Plus. Atpress time, the Discussion List had morethan 6000 members, so it is an excellentresource. Sign up for this list at http://www.starrynight.com/support/discussion lists.htmlContact Technical Support: Youcancontact our technical support staff at http://www.starrynight.com/support/ for helpwith your problems.Program UpdatesStarry Night Pro Plus is updated on a fairlyregular basis. Updates may add newfeatures, or may fix bugs in the existingprogram. To find out if you are running thelatest version, run the Starry Night updater(internet connection required). Theupdater will automatically download andinstall any required updates. To run theStarry Night updater, click the Start buttonand select Program Files-Starry NightPro Plus-Check for Starry Night Pro PlusUpdates. On the Macintosh, click on theStarry Night Pro Plus Updater applicationlocated in the same folder as the StarryNight Pro Plus application.To find out your current version number atany time, choose About Starry Night ProPlus from the Starry Night Pro Plus menu(Macintosh) or the Help menu (Windows).A new window will open, and this windowwill have your version number in thebottom left corner.We recommend that you check forprogram updates soon after you install theprogram, to ensure that you are runningthe most up-to-date version of Starry NightPro Plus.Starry Night WebsiteMore information about Starry Night ProPlus and other astronomy programs isavailable at our website,www.starrynight.com.

Chapter 2BasicsIt is impossible to cover all of the features ofStarry Night Pro Plus in one short chapter.However, you will use certain features muchmore than others. This chapter will show youhow to use the 10 most important features inStarry Night Pro Plus. Once you have read thischapter, you will be able to use Starry Night ProPlus effectively as a guide to the night sky.10 Important FeaturesHere are the 10 tasks you will learn to performwith Starry Night Pro Plus in this chapter:1Use the controls.2Change your viewing direction.3Change the date and time.4Identify objects in the sky.5Label objects.6Display constellation figures.7Find objects.8Zoom in on objects.9Learn more about any object.10Print star charts.

18Starry Night Pro Plus User’s GuideUsing The ControlsAll of the controls in Starry Night Pro Plusare in three areas of the screen: the toolbar,the side panes, and the menu. There ismore than one way to access many of thefeatures in Starry Night Pro Plus - forexample, you may be able to access afeature through the main menu andthrough the side panes.Tip: If some of the controls described inthis section appear to be missing fromyour version of Starry Night Pro Plus, youmay not have installed QuickTimecorrectly. Reinstall QuickTime and be sureto choose the “Recommended Install”option, and you should then see all of thecontrols. See“Installing Starry Night Pro Plus” onpage 9 for more information.Tip: Clicking the blue pin button onthe toolbal will display a menu withall the log entries you have added to StarryNight Pro Plus. See “Adding Log Entries”on page 141 for more information onobserving logs.Side Panes: Thesepanes are along the leftside of the screen.Clicking on a pane causes the pane to slideout, revealing a set of controls. Each paneopens to a default width. However, byclicking along the right edge of the paneand dragging the mouse, you can make thepane narrower or wider.Within a pane, you can expand or collapsevarious layers by using these buttons:Expand layer (Windows).Toolbar: Thetoolbar is the strip of buttonswhich runs just above the main window.The toolbar has the following controls(each set of controls is explained in a latersection):Expand layer (Macintosh).Collapse layer (Windows).Collapse layer (Macintosh).Tool SelectionTime and DateTime Flow RateViewing oom (FOV)You can hide the toolbar by choosingView- Hide Toolbar from the mainmenu.Each of the side panes controls animportant function in Starry Night Pro

BasicsPlus, and is explained in detail in a Sky73FOV58Telescope116Menu: The menu runs across the top of thescreen, above the toolbar. Clicking on anitem in the menu expands the menu toreveal additional options.Button Bar (Windows only): OnWindows, the button bar provides anadditional set of controls. The button bar islocated under the menu, just above thetoolbar. It contains a set of buttons forsome of the most commonly usedfunctions in the program. Point the cursorat one of the

8 Starry Night Pro Plus User's Guide Outline Of This User's Guide All users of Starry Night Pro Plus should read chapters 1 and 2 of this User's Guide to get a basic grasp of how to use the program. After this, you may want to explore the program on your own and only refer to the User's Guide if you have questions about a specific feature.