Chris Graham
mmmm...Haggis
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 4869
Loc: Stirling, Scotland
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Has anyone found a good program to print off starcharts for their location?
I have used StarryNights Pro but not that keen on how it prints.
WinStar seem pretty good.
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-Skywatcher 8" Reflector on HEQ5 with Skyscan
-Orion ED80 Refractor
-70mm Guidescope/grab and go scope
-Canon EOS 350D
-Toucam Pro 2
Astronomy & Veggies
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html
try this its free and I think its better than Winstars
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Chris Graham
mmmm...Haggis
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 4869
Loc: Stirling, Scotland
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Yeh i have that, i think your right, it is pretty good for printing charts.
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-Skywatcher 8" Reflector on HEQ5 with Skyscan
-Orion ED80 Refractor
-70mm Guidescope/grab and go scope
-Canon EOS 350D
-Toucam Pro 2
Astronomy & Veggies
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BluewaterObserva
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/04
Posts: 4763
Loc: Zuni Mtns, NM
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Cartes Du Ciel, while complicate can print most excellent charts.... Lots of options.
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Mark
super member
Reged: 01/17/04
Posts: 166
Loc: Chicago
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Quote:
Has anyone found a good program to print off starcharts for their location?
I have used StarryNights Pro but not that keen on how it prints.
WinStar seem pretty good.
Cartes Du Ciel is an outstanding freeware package that I like a lot for printing out star charts. Personally I think that Cartes is the equal of any of the commercial programs, I know a lot of other people like it a lot as well. One of the things it is specifically designed to do is print out star charts for observing sessions.
I also use Cartes to verify observations of DSO's that I sketch at the eye piece. The program has a number of free star catalogs you can download.
I highly recommend giving it a look.
MC^2
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Celestron C5 on an EQ2
Orion XT10
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BluewaterObserva
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/04
Posts: 4763
Loc: Zuni Mtns, NM
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Actually Cartes Du Ciel is the most powerful chart printing software I have come across. Quite remarkable even.
Just be forewarned.. There is a learning curve with it, be patient. I have not used it in quite sometime now, I tend to rellish some odd older world feeling with the ginormous hard bound 3 thick volumed Uranometria anymore.
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Chris Graham
mmmm...Haggis
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 4869
Loc: Stirling, Scotland
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Whats the learning curve for it?
I find it quite easy so far...but i have used other programms before.
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-Skywatcher 8" Reflector on HEQ5 with Skyscan
-Orion ED80 Refractor
-70mm Guidescope/grab and go scope
-Canon EOS 350D
-Toucam Pro 2
Astronomy & Veggies
|
Mark
super member
Reged: 01/17/04
Posts: 166
Loc: Chicago
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I did not think it was a steep learning curve so much as getting it configured the way I like it. There is a lot of flexibility in how the final charts turn out. It took me some time playing around with it but now I can turn out detailed charts showing all stars down to the mag. limit of my finder scope which is a real big help.
MC^2
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Celestron C5 on an EQ2
Orion XT10
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Xenoaxle, forgive me for stealing this thread but...
I use StarCalc, also free with lots of catalog downloads. It is not as pretty as CDC but I can figure it out.
I have CDC but can't seem to make it work. Not sure what I am doing wrong but I can't get the catalogs to work with each other. When I zoom in I may get nothing or I may have a patch of stars off to one side. Also can't figure out why when I zoom in everything rotates to where I loose my orientation. and have to start over. It appears to be a tremendous program if I could make it work. The directions aren't thorough enough for my brain. I asked about this in the computer and astronomy forum a while back but haven't found an expert with enough patience who could help me.
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Mark
super member
Reged: 01/17/04
Posts: 166
Loc: Chicago
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Now that you mention it... I did have to play around for a little while to figure out how to get the different star catalogs to display stars to the mag. limit I wanted at different zoom levels. I agree, that part of the program takes a bit of getting used to.
I have tried to attach a screen shot of the "Select Catalogs and Display Conditions" screen from CDC. If it shows up properly in this post then you can see how I have mine setup. I use the bright star catalog for the wider zoom levels from 360deg. in to 50deg. Then at zoom 45deg. and below I use the Tycho 2 catalog. One thing to keep in mind is that that you cannot have overlaps between catalogs.
Then at the bottom of the screenshot you can see where I define the limiting magnitude for the different zoom levels.
I hope this helps some.
MC^2
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Celestron C5 on an EQ2
Orion XT10
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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I use Cartes du Ciel too...and think it's excellent for printing out charts (I usually spend 1 to 2 minutes to find any object I'm looking for thanks to the charts)
Carlos.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Mark,
Thanks! That helped a lot.
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Mark
super member
Reged: 01/17/04
Posts: 166
Loc: Chicago
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Quote:
Mark,
Thanks! That helped a lot.
You're welcome. Glad to be able to help. 
MC^2
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Celestron C5 on an EQ2
Orion XT10
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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You can also print out a circle on your start charts that represents the FOV for you finder scope and EPs that can help you plot you starhopping path if you don't have goto. I have a bunch of starhopping charts printed out for several Messier objects.
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Chris Graham
mmmm...Haggis
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 4869
Loc: Stirling, Scotland
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Quote:
You can also print out a circle on your start charts that represents the FOV for you finder scope and EPs that can help you plot you starhopping path if you don't have goto. I have a bunch of starhopping charts printed out for several Messier objects.
Thats a good idea, i'll need to try it out. 
--------------------
-Skywatcher 8" Reflector on HEQ5 with Skyscan
-Orion ED80 Refractor
-70mm Guidescope/grab and go scope
-Canon EOS 350D
-Toucam Pro 2
Astronomy & Veggies
|
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