For the advanced amateur astronomer, the full-color AllSky CCD mosaic, sophisticated telescope controls and comprehensive observational tools included in the Starry Night Pro Plus Astronomy Software version 6.3 will engage you in the hobby like no other software.

The biggest single addition to Starry Night software since its inception, the full-color AllSky CCD astroimage mosaic of the entire night sky visible from Earth weighs in at 6.44 billion pixels in size. Named AllSky for its uniform coverage from pole to pole, it's a single picture of the whole sky that has been precisely mapped to Starry Night's computer generated stars and databases.

View on your computer screen an image better than the best-trained human eye can capture in real-time viewing through a telescope on a "good seeing" night. See the entire Milky Way in exquisite detail and then zoom in to explore dust lanes and nebulae. Instead of dots and circles, you will see an actual photo of a star or a deep sky celestial object.

Smoothly and swiftly navigate this full color photograph of the entire night sky, to a limiting magnitude of 14-15. Five years in development, the AllSky CCD mosaic is comprised of about 20,000 individual images, originally imaged at a resolution of 12 arc seconds per pixel with a scientific grade, custom built AP9E Charge Coupled Device (CCD) camera.

The AllSky astroimage in Starry Night presents the ENTIRE sky as a full-color, seamless mosaic at 5 resolution levels depending on your zoom setting. This consistent resolution, color and depth of coverage eliminates the uncertainties of comparing images from many and varied sources. Zoom from the widest possible view of 180-deg to 0.5-deg field of view.

If you have the processing power, set the AllSky image to be more precise and a better match between the photographic stars in the AllSky image and the Starry Night stars. For the highest quality AllSky image, you will need a video card of 96MB VRAM.

Starry Night Pro Plus includes an additional 6 GB of the AllSky image in DirectDraw Surface (DDS) texture format, which enables the AllSky image to load up to 20X faster. But, you will need a 64 MB OpenGL 2.0 capable graphics card to see this phenomenal improvement.

In all, Starry Night Pro Plus version 6.3 has over 20 new features that bring more power and control to your observing and imaging. Starry Night Pro Plus will change how you look at the night sky.

Exclusive to Pro Plus:

• Zoom in on full-color AllSky CCD image mosaic of the entire night sky to a limiting magnitude of 14-15, mapped precisely to Starry Night's databases
• New! AllSky CCD image loads 20X faster in DDS texture format (additional 6 GB of hard drive space needed)
• View positions and outlines of 1400 dark, emission, planetary and reflection nebulae
• Identify 1700 globular and open star clusters
• Fly over super-high resolution 24-bit color map of Mars land mass topography above the sea
• Hover over Earth and see details within 1 km (0.6 miles) resolution
• Create your own astrophotography using imaging plug-in to integrate Starry Night and MaxIm DL* imaging software (sold separately, Windows only) AstroOptik telescopes, Astrophysics GTO mount, Finger Lakes focusers, Gemini equipped mount, JMI Smart Focus, Meade LX200 and Autostar, Optec TCF-S, and PCFocus.

New Version 6.3 Features

• Over 20 new features including:
• New planets and their moons have been added and updated
• Enjoy 5 additional photorealistic horizon panoramas
• Animated trips between planets now include visually appealing planet avoidance
• Saturn's rings and ring shadows more precise than ever
• Dramatically improved spaceship responsiveness
• Distance Spheres can now be added to any solar system body with any radius and color
• Shadow cones can be displayed to show the shadows of orbiting bodies
• Updated LiveSky links and images

Other Features:

• Controls most popular brands of robotic telescopes, including Orion SkyQuest Intelliscope, Meade LX200 and Autostar, Celestron Nexstar series and all ASCOM compliant scopes (additional cable required)
• Take advantage of Digital Settings Circles Support for non-motorized telescopes such as Orion SkyQuest IntelliScope, NGCMAX, Lumicon Sky Vector, Discovery Digital Star Finder, Orion SkyWizard III, and Celestron Advanced Astromaster
• Control your robotic telescope focuser with Computer Controlled Focuser Support (Windows only). Supported models include AstroOptik telescopes, Astrophysics GTO mount, Finger Lakes focusers, Gemini equipped mount, JMI Smart Focus, Meade LX200 and Autostar, Optec TCF-S, and PCFocus.
• Smoothly track and follow satellites with the Meade LX200/RCX400 telescopes (Mac only)
• Plan observing sessions with Event Finder that instantly displays celestial events, such as lunar and solar eclipses and conjunctions, for months far into the future
• Create Observing Lists of astronomical objects using a variety of filters such as magnitude, altitude above horizon, type or database. Quickly see what objects you have observed and which ones you still need to hunt down
• Add custom field of view indicators to match your telescope eyepiece, binoculars, CCDs or DSLRs
• Find targets effortlessly with three-view starhopping charts customized to your equipment
• Select your equipment from a default database of over 300 Orion, Meade, Celestron and Vixen scopes, binoculars, SBIG, Apogee, FLI and Starlight Express CCD chips and more
• Recognize 1000+ craters, valleys and more instantly with surface feature outlines for the Moon
• View the locations of 160+ extrasolar planets
• Explore 65,000,000 stars
• Access 500+ million stars online
• Explore PGC Catalog of 980,000 galaxies
• Choose from over 35 photorealistic horizon panoramas
• NEW-Tully galaxy rendering now implemented as particle systems
• NEW-Tully database improved to allow for more galaxy types
• NEW-Universal Time can now be displayed and edited in the toolbar
• NEW-The precessional path of the celestial poles can now be displayed
• NEW-The circumpolar region, based on your altitude, can now be displayed
• NEW-The value of DeltaT has been improved with user override capability
• NEW-All planets now draw with softer edges
• NEW-Various space mission data sets have been broken into smaller, logical segments for improved rendering speed
• NEW-Improved find feature will help find objects of the same name
• NEW-Some lines now draw thicker on high-DPI displays to maintain visibility

Praise for Starry Night Pro Plus version 5

"If you wish to recreate the majesty of the night sky indoors, then it's hard to imagine how it could be improved. I had many happy hours just admiring the view. It's awesome. So, will I be changing from my favorite software? The answer is a resounding yes."
Sky & Telescope Magazine - April 2006

Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 includes:

• 2 DVD-ROMs of Starry Night software for Windows and Macintosh
• Exclusive "SkyTheater" DVD with over an hour or original movies about space
• Starry Night Companion, a 192-page illustrated astronomy book
• New, comprehensive 210-page User's Guide

QuickGuide to Starry Night

• If you want to spark your child's curiosity about the night sky, you want Starry Night Constellation Adventure
• If you want a great introduction to astronomy or are looking for a gift, consider Starry Night Complete Space & Astronomy Pack
• If you are ready to explore more of the Universe and prepare for your first night out under the stars, consider Starry Night Enthusiast
• If you want telescope control, extensive data and comprehensive observational tools not found in any other program, consider Starry Night Pro
• If you want the world's most powerful astronomy software with unparalleled observation tools and the world's only full-color photograph of the entire night sky, there's only one choice: Starry Night Pro Plus

Also Improved in Starry Night version 6.3:

• New updated technology built directly into Starry Night will check for updates automatically if registered
• Features have been added to help Customer Support track down issues
• Exported data of the sky view now contains a header row
• Horizon drawing improved when looking at the nadir
• Spaceship speed controls function when Starry Night Time is stopped
• Telescope name now indicated in Windows 3-pane print settings dialog
• Pluto is now classified as a Dwarf Planet in the orbit editor
• Satellite eccentricities now import from source file
• Moons can now be added to dwarf planets
• Now you can add or edit planet surface images or 3DS model assignments.
• User-specified images are now rendered on moons
• One-pane printing FOV
• Cardinal points can now be controlled independently of horizon using horizon layer labels
• Robust observing list filters now available
• Comets are now indicated on printed output
• Observing lists now display the object's constellation
• Coordinates now export in the format selected in the preferences
• Peak times for meteor showers are now listed
• Ambient sound has been restored

If you own an earlier version of Starry Night Pro Plus 6, click here to update to Starry Night Pro Plus version 6.3.

To run Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 you need:

A DVD-ROM drive is required for the installation of Starry Night Pro Plus version 6 on your computer.

Windows: Requires Requires Windows 7, Vista or Windows XP, 800 MHz or higher processor, 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended) and 5 GB (11 GB needed for full install) of hard disk space. 64 MB (128 MB recommended) OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky, animated grass and fast AllSky rendering at wide FOV). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. DVD-ROM drive required for installation.

Macintosh: Universal Binary runs natively on Intel and PPC Macintosh computers. Requires OS X 10.3.9 or higher, G4 800 MHz or higher processor, 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended) and 5 GB (11 GB needed for full install) of hard disk space. Will not run on OS 9.x or earlier. 64 MB (128 MB recommended) OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky, animated grass and fast AllSky rendering at wide FOV). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. DVD-ROM drive required for installation.

Basic support for joysticks recognized by Windows 7, Vista or Windows XP and Mac OS X.

Requirements for Video DVD: Home DVD player and TV, or computer with DVD player.

AllSky CCD Image and Associated Data copyright 2005 Main Sequence Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Returns
Boxed software which has been opened cannot be returned except for an exact exchange to replace defective software.