34 replies to this topic

[Goldengirl52]

First off, I just want to say this is some cool software imo.  I watched a couple of videos to try and learn the basics, but there doesn't really seem to be anything for beginners.  Most software I've used over the years, I've taught myself, but this is the first to do with Astronomy which I'm totally new to.

 

I'd love to ask others that either have used Desktop PC Version of Stellarium, or still use it.  I'm trying to figure out how to zoom in, for example, I learned to type in what I want to see, and I did find the milky way, but can't zoom in on it.  Can someone help me just learn that to start with?

 

Thanks much

 

PS I did find out how to set my location so I can also view the sky as it "should" look from my home

 

PSS Oh crud, I just use my wheel on mouse like normal but when I try to zoom it just blurs it so I guess you really can't get the real pic when you zoom in, lol!  I'm such dork, like my PC is a telescope, duh!!

Edited by Goldengirl52, 10 July 2024 - 10:06 PM.

[Magnum45hp]

Hello Goldengirl, You just use the wheel on your mouse. Can go as deep as you wish. Roll it in and out for high detail...  Your Welcome ....

[Goldengirl52]

Ok, did you learn how to view what one guy called the Milky Way Arch?  This is a gigantic program and I so want to learn it   Maybe you know of a good guide, or even a book on how-to??  These guys supposedly teaching are just sort of forgetting newbies like me that know nothing at all about Stellarium or the Universe, LOL!!

[Goldengirl52]

Ok, I found something, PDF file, better than a video I think for this big of a program

 

Here's the link if anyone else wants, or needs to know more about Stellarium.  I'll keep up this thread on what I discover about the software

 

Thank you @Magnum45hp

 

https://stellarium.org/files/guide.pdf

 

Hello Goldengirl, You just use the wheel on your mouse. Can go as deep as you wish. Roll it in and out for high detail...  Your Welcome ....

 

[Magnum45hp]

Ok, did you learn how to view what one guy called the Milky Way Arch ?

I think if you look it up on YouTube you will see  how they photograph it and how it is found at different times of year. It takes time, planning and effort .

 

Right now if you have Stellarium up and running if you look to the east and size it right you will see the arch. As you can tell to see it in the sky would take some...

Edited by Magnum45hp, 11 July 2024 - 12:15 AM.

[Alexander Wolf]

The User Guide is coming together with Stellarium for Windows users - please check group Stellarium in Start menu.

[therealdmt]

Ok, did you learn how to view what one guy called the Milky Way Arch?  This is a gigantic program and I so want to learn it   Maybe you know of a good guide, or even a book on how-to??  These guys supposedly teaching are just sort of forgetting newbies like me that know nothing at all about Stellarium or the Universe, LOL!!

The "Milky Way arch" is just referring to the arching shape of the Milky Way across the sky. In general, [northern hemisphere] summer (when we’re looking in toward the center of the Milky Way, thick with stars and dust lanes) would be more the time to see it than winter (when we’re looking out through a much sparser section left between us and intergalactic space).

 

I’m not sure that this is the ultimate manifestation of the arching Milky Way (the view changes with date and time, as can be seen by scrolling through different dates and times on Stellarium), but here’s the basic idea:

(view from the Stellarium mobile app on an iPad)

[therealdmt]

…

PSS Oh crud, I just use my wheel on mouse like normal but when I try to zoom it just blurs it so I guess you really can't get the real pic when you zoom in, lol!  I'm such dork, like my PC is a telescope, duh!!-

Maybe you just had to wait for more data to load and fill in the more zoomed in view with all the little details that involves? Or otherwise, you could try zooming in more slowly so that your computer and the program can keep up. Maybe back out (zoom out) first before starting to more slowly zoom in again. Another possibility is that you tried to zoom in too far (that can happen on the free mobile version, anyway).
 

Meanwhile, you might want to give this video on Stellarium a view. I’m not 100% sure I ever watched the whole thing, but I do know that this guy knows Stellarium very well and that in general he has a nice slow, mellow way of talking: https://www.youtube....JkDVlxY&index=1

 

It’s a bit amateurish as it was an early video of a series that this pair started putting up during COVID. They get to the Stellarium part after 6 minutes and 40 seconds (6:40) in, starting from the installation of the software (so, it’s quite thorough). The installation part is over by 14:50

Edited by therealdmt, 11 July 2024 - 07:15 AM.

[Goldengirl52]

Omg, I actually saw Jupiter this a.m.!  I'm so stoked about getting up early again, at 3 a.m.  It was too noisy to take my 80ST out on my balcony but I did use my Stellarium app on my phone to check out the "star" I was seeing far to the Eastern side, and I'm sure it was Jupiter!  Tonight I will put my telescope out before my "early to bed routine" and then it will be ready in the a.m. tomorrow!

 

I'll attach the silly photo I got using my phone, but also a snip of the Stellarium app on my phone

 

I'll get to the replies I see as well!!

 

This is my app for Android of Stellarium

This one below was an app called Skymap. 

Edited by Goldengirl52, 11 July 2024 - 07:05 AM.

[Goldengirl52]

The User Guide is coming together with Stellarium for Windows users - please check group Stellarium in Start menu.

Oh this is great news!!  Ok, I'll look for it because I LOVE open-source, plus this has more bells and whistles than I could ever use, but they are available!!

[Goldengirl52]

The "Milky Way arch" is just referring to the arching shape of the Milky Way across the sky. In general, [northern hemisphere] summer (when we’re looking in toward the center of the Milky Way, thick with stars and dust lanes) would be more the time to see it than winter (when we’re looking out through a much sparser section left between us and intergalactic space).

 

I’m not sure that this is the ultimate manifestation of the arching Milky Way (the view changes with date and time, as can be seen by scrolling through different dates and times on Stellarium), but here’s the basic idea:

IMG_9857.png

(view from the Stellarium mobile app on an iPad)

Yes, this look very similar to what I saw on the Youtube video, but wasn't able to get good direction out that particular video   Thank you for the explanation.  When I was growing up, and we were camping out even in our backyard, I always could see the Milky Way, and that was of course Summer!!  I'll show you a snip from that video, and I so wanted to know how he got it but he never gave any directions on it

 

[Goldengirl52]

shoot so much light now, by 5:19 a.m. Plus Jupiter was now over my roof-top I can't see through   Cannot wait to have "more" sky

Edited by Goldengirl52, 11 July 2024 - 07:25 AM.

[therealdmt]

In the case of my screenshot above from the Stellarium iPad app, you can see the time and date I used, July 11 (2024) at about 11:50 p.m. That’s not some magically perfect time and date, but rather I just scrolled through some times and dates as well as experimented a bit with which direction I was pointed (in this case, East-Southeast). As you look later in the summer, the arch centers more over the south and then later the southwest direction, iirc.

 

So, just go to that time and that date with the view pointed roughly southeast, and if you are backed out far enough (not zoomed in too much), you should see it. Then experiment a bit by changing the times and even the dates and you’ll inevitably start to learn a lot about how the sky moves. It’s a pretty powerful (but easy enough to use) learning device, without even digging into its more advanced features

[therealdmt]

When I was growing up, and we were camping out even in our backyard, I always could see the Milky Way, and that was of course Summer!!  

That’s a nice memory…

[Goldengirl52]

In the case of my screenshot above from the Stellarium iPad app, you can see the time and date I used, July 11 (2024) at about 11:50 p.m. That’s not some magically perfect time and date, but rather I just scrolled through some times and dates as well as experimented a bit with which direction I was pointed (in this case, East-Southeast). As you look later in the summer, the arch centers more over the south and then later the southwest direction, iirc.

 

So, just go to that time and that date with the view pointed roughly southeast, and if you are backed out far enough (not zoomed in too much), you should see it. Then experiment a bit by changing the times and even the dates and you’ll inevitably start to learn a lot about how the sky moves. It’s a pretty powerful (but easy enough to use) learning device, without even digging into its more advanced features

Ok, thank you, I will try to fiddle with it today, using your date and time   Do you know where the "group" is for Stellarium, and containing the Guide mentioned by Alexander Wolf above??  I searched for Groups and can't find any at all. 
 

[therealdmt]

Ok, thank you, I will try to fiddle with it today, using your date and time   Do you know where the "group" is for Stellarium, and containing the Guide mentioned by Alexander Wolf above??  I searched for Groups and can't find any at all. 
 

Sorry, I don’t know about any group for Stellarium

[Goldengirl52]

Sorry, I don’t know about any group for Stellarium

Ok, I'll get a message to Alexander and see what he meant.  He mentions "start menu" but maybe he meant in the app itself on desktop version.  I'll go look

[Goldengirl52]

Oh I found it earlier, and totally forgot, it's here:

 

https://www.cloudyni...-10/?p=13559698

[Goldengirl52]

I'm learning!!  Here's what I can see, hopefully, in the a.m. and I'll have my Orion 80ST ready. Only smaller numbered eyepiece I have is a 6.4 Plossil.  Advice on using that, as I won't have my new one yet as it will come later in the day from my friend in California? The next one up from that is a 9 mm or a 10mm.  I have a 2 x Barlow, but not sure if that is good to use. 

 

any help appreciated as always,  I also don't have a "working" red dot finder yet which is coming with the new eyepiece

 

Here's what I was able to look ahead to for tomorrow morning on Stellarium!

 

[therealdmt]

Yes, this look very similar to what I saw on the Youtube video, but wasn't able to get good direction out that particular video   Thank you for the explanation.  When I was growing up, and we were camping out even in our backyard, I always could see the Milky Way, and that was of course Summer!!  I'll show you a snip from that video, and I so wanted to know how he got it but he never gave any directions on it

 

milky way arch or curve on stellarium.JPG

I don’t know if you saw my previous post with this video that explains how to use Stellarium.

Starts with some general chitchat before getting into how to install the program starting at about 6 minutes and 40 seconds (6:40) in.

Then from 14:50, it gets into how to actually use the Stellarium program:

https://www.youtube....JkDVlxY&index=2


At about the 44 minute mark, he starts explaining how to make the Milky Way appear brighter so you can see that arch well (or dimmer, as a too-bright Milky Way could be distracting if you’re trying to concentrate on individual stars and objects, not the Milky Way itself).

Stick with it, and have fun 

[Magnum45hp]

Ok, thank you, I will try to fiddle with it today, using your date and time   Do you know where the "group" is for Stellarium, and containing the Guide mentioned by Alexander Wolf above??  I searched for Groups and can't find any at all. 
 

If your using Win 10 go to the little window in lower left corner, left click, it will open the start menu. Scroll down to Stellarium  and open it. About 13 items will drop down, the last one will be guide..  It's the same one in the URL that you posted...

[Goldengirl52]

I found it yesterday, but didn't know you were talking about the same one, it finally dawned on me that I found it on the .org site.  Thank you though for you help, I really didn't know I had what you were talking about

 

I'm just not believing how neat Stellarium is!!  I just found a Galaxy called The Fiddle something or other Galaxy.  I went back to find the name again and it's gone now Waited too long.  I also see a whole lot of Starlink Satellite, are we cluttering up space or what

 

I found it again!!  The Fiddlehead  Galaxy.  This is viewing my sky now, if only it was dark now

Edited by Goldengirl52, 11 July 2024 - 03:55 PM.

[gmiller123456]

How familiar are you with astronomy? Learning Stellarium is one thing, but it won't teach you astronomy. For example, it'll tell you where the Andromeda Galaxy is, but won't tell you the view will be much more amazing from a dark site with no moon out.

Sadly I don't have any books or videos to recommend. But if you have any chance to join a club, or attend a public star party, you'll learn far more practical information in one night than in months or years of reading.

[Goldengirl52]

I'm very, very new to astronomy, and Stellarium is just really fun.  I don't have a clue other than that

 

I've joined the one and only club I could find here in my town, and have a Star Party coming up, very small I imagine, down in Cave Junction.  Looking forward to that.  I went to a library to hear the local expert speak today, and head of the club, but unfortunetly I couldn't hear a word as I didn't think to take my hearing aids, I rarely need.  Just had couldn't sit through it without hearing him even though there was a sort of slide show but just was uncomfy.  I will like it better just with being around others with their telescopes, binoculars, whatever. 

 

The Star Party is on the 27th, hope to make some friends to guide through some things, and that plus trying to find my way here at home, and CN of course, I will learn the basics at least

[chvvkumar]

Goldengirl52, A couple of tricks to make your life easier with Stellarium. I understand you have just started using it so some of these may be a bit too advanced but I thought I would mention these

 

1. The F3 and F5 function keys are your friend. The former brings up the search window while the later brings up the date and time selector.

2. Once you setup Stellarium to your liking, Press F2 to bring up the settings screen and click save settings to tell stellarium to save the settings you have changed. Next time you start Stellarium, it will load these settings automatically. Same goes for the 'Save View' button, this will tell stellarium to save the view you currently have in the app.

3. You can add your telescope and eyepieces to Stellarium if you know it's physical specifications so that you can use the software to show you exactly how an object will look like when looking through the scope like so: