What's the best free sky map software available? I'm looking for the kind of program that will show a map of the sky at any given point in time with all kinds of cool stuff labeled.

I just got my 25x100 binocs with a sturdy tripod. Last night I spotted Jupiter, and even a couple of her moons I think. I nearly blinded myself when I looked at the moon! What a beautiful site the universe is.

I just want to be able to know where to look to find planets, clusters, and other nifty points of interest.

Moderator's note: A little late...but this thread has been moved to the more appropriate Astronomical Observing, Equipment and Accessories forum.

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Two of the best in my opinion are Stellarium for general work (perhaps suited to binoculars) and Cartes du Ciel when better accuracy is desired.

The one's mentioned may be prettier, but I've got a lot of use out of the old demos of SkyMap, it shows what I need it to show: www.skymap.com

It's probably not the best, but it sure is convenient (and free!):

http://www.heavens-above.com/

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I can vouch for Stellarium as well. Excellent bit of software, with plenty of extras, some of which I am still trying to work out. I managed to find Jupiter as well the other night using it, and a splendid sight it was. To be honest, it's so good I am amazed that it is free.

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Stellarium seems to be the perfect program for my needs. I also downloaded Ciel, but Ciel has the look of an air control monitor from the early 80s.

Stellarium looks awesome, and has all the features I need. I confirmed that it was Jupiter I was looking at, the program even had the moons positions around Jupiter exactly as I saw them.

Thanks for the advice.

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Looks pretty cool. But this begs the question: What's the best thats not free?

Well, I would pay for SkyMap if I had to, but there is a cost ratio to benefit. The Sky, from Software Bisque, is often cited as the best.

What do they use at the Keck? :P

Reality!

Thanks for the recommendations - I downloaded Stellarium and WOW!

Beats the pants off the paid product I bought about ten years ago (can't even remember what it was call. Junk).

I'm quite fond of Guide version 8, from Project Pluto, and often use that while observing as well as for pulling up information at random times. It's been good for finding when near-Earth asteroids or comets cross the fields of deep-sky objects, working out where to point to get galaxies just inside opposite edges of the field, how to lay out multi-CCD mosaic images, generating a graphic for a book showing where the Sun and Moon stood against the outskirts of the Hyades for the famous 1919 eclipse, and when a rising object will clear our 10-degree brick limit for the campus telescope. In fact, this as been one of the two durable reasons for having a Windows virtual machine on my Mac laptop (the other being Mira).

I showed Stellarium to a friend of mine who's an amateur astronomer here in the Springs, and I'll be setting up my laptop and my 24" monitor with Stellarium for use during the next Star Party! Using my wireless mouse and keyboard means I can keep my laptop and monitor safely inside my truck!

I was totally unaware of this software, Bill. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention.

Eric

P.S.

For my own part, I must say that, offline I use Sky Atlas 2000.0. I also have the Millennium Star Atlas, but I didn't purchase it. It was actually a prize I won from a contest sponsored by Sky & Telescope for doing the best "fit" for a simulated exoplanetary system, while I did work for a project called Systemic. In fact, I think I still hold the world record for the best fit for 14 Her Systemic (amateur extrasolar planet search project). Even Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler can't beat my record. But that is not all. I, six months before the Swiss got credit for it, did a fit that accurately predicted the orbital trajectory using a crude Runge–Kutta algorithm in finding the very first Earth-mass planet in an exoplanetary system. It's a matter of public record if you want to verify what I have just said. I got a pat on the back for it and nothing more. After that I wrote a paper saying that the best chance of finding a planet like our own would be around long-lived red dwarf stars. But Nature decided that it was not worthy of publication. Now, it's become a common idea that the best place to find Earth-like planets is around red dwarfs. After that, I quite Systemic, just like I quite GalaxyZoo.....pearls among swine. From now on I charge a heavy price for my services. No more free rides for the idiots with Ph.D.s who are trying to prove themselves in the world of academia. Been there, done that. Was gladly willing to volunteer my time and expertise to help out in the advancement of science. But that was very naive of me. Because while I was growing up I lived in a world where you learned that you repay what has been given to you by the world. Well, that's no longer the case. The prevailing attitude in academia now is how can I use you for my own personal advancement. Well, I'm too old for that kind of doggy doodoo!

Anyway getting back to the Millennium Star Atlas even though it's very accurate and goes down to a relatively dim apparent magnitude, I rarely use it as an amateur, simply because it is so balky and cumbersome. Online I use Stellarium.

Unless you're going to use the software for guiding a telescope, Stellarium is just fine for getting your barings in the night sky. There are some inaccuracy in the software, but nothing that would matter to the average amateur astronomer. I like it. It gives me a pretty accurate representation of the night sky in my area. And like I said, when I'm using the telescope, I use Sky Atlas 2000.0. I hope that helps.

Eric

P.S.S.

I hold the record for many other extrasolar planetary systems, some recorded on the Internet, others not. Now I am using a much more advanced algorithm, which I'm sure even the Swiss would love to get their hands on. But until I get some recognition for my pioneering work, not only in finding the first Earth-mass exoplanets, but in developing the software with the algorithms that make the software work, I ain't sharing anything with anyone! If that's the way the game is played these days, then I will go to my grave with the secret. Let's see how many more Earth-mass planets they find from now on!

Most Sincerely,

Eric F. Diaz

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