Stellarium Astronomy Software

[gruso]

This software has been mentioned a couple of times before. Those threads are a bit dusty now so here's a new one.

Daggerstab, one of the Stellarium guys, tweeted this the other day:

In other news, Fabien is working hard to make #Stellarium compatible with OpenGL ES. The guys who wanted an OpenPandora port may have luck.

http://twitter.com/daggerstab/statuses/5015818936

http://www.stellarium.org/

I must admit, I've never looked up to the sky and thought "I need a pocket planetarium." But having checked out this software, I do now. ^_^

 

[guizm]

Nice

 

[marshal]

Just installed it on Ubuntu and it looks like a nice program. I guess the interface could be adapted for smaller screen quite easily.

I personally wouldn't have that much use for an Astronomy software but it would always be a nice thing to have on the Pandora

Also I was thinking it could be quite nice to use it with a 3way accelerator.

 

[dflemstr]

I use this program all the time for various observations or just for fun. It's the only piece of software that I know of that lets you manually find a solar eclipse by speeding up the time! Excellent tool, especially if you download the additional planetary data packs (that provide ~200 million additional stars, galaxies and nebulas I think)

I guess the interface could be adapted for smaller screen quite easily.

Are you kidding me? I've never seen an interface that is more suited for a touch screen in any astronomy software, or any "world exploration" software either for that matter!

 

[Lafazar]

Nice. Now all we need is a port of Celestia and we can explore the whole universe on our Pandoras.

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

 

[hitbyambulance]

Stellarium is one of my favorite Linux apps, so i'm glad to hear about this.

 

[WizardStan]

I hope this comes to the Pandora. I will use it to pick up chicks.

 

[Asmo]

I hope this comes to the Pandora. I will use it to pick up chicks.

If it doesn't, just use the above image as wallpaper. They are unlikely to ask for proof it works.

 

[Nation.A.List]

I hope this comes to the Pandora. I will use it to pick up chicks.

I think it's more likely it will pick up radio waves.

 

[WizardStan]

I think it's more likely it will pick up radio waves.

Chicks dig radio waves!

 

[gruso]

I think it's more likely it will pick up radio waves.

Achievement Unlocked: FCC PANIC

 

[Wheels]

If that works out, I'd finally use Stellarium! It's pretty wonky just sitting around on my desk.
Of course now I'll need a decent pair of binoculars, maybe a 10-inch Dobsonian... crap, I feel another expensive hobby coming on!



(Also I second the calls for a Celestia port)

 

[borgqueenx]

wait...i use this kind of software to see the stars on my iphone 3gs, since it got gps, a camera, accelerometer, and a compass, all needed to use the software.

So how is this gonna work on pandora?

 

[gruso]

Same way it works on a PC... there's a user guide on the website if you're curious.

Bloody iPhones, they poison peoples perception I tell you.

 

[lulzfish]

wait...i use this kind of software to see the stars on my iphone 3gs, since it got gps, a camera, accelerometer, and a compass, all needed to use the software.

So how is this gonna work on pandora?

Well, first the loader program will load an executable image into memory. Then the kernel.... *trails off*

It'll use the touchscreen and you'll have to enter your latitude / longitude manually.

 

[pelrun]

Of course now I'll need a decent pair of binoculars, maybe a 10-inch Dobsonian... crap, I feel another expensive hobby coming on!

Get yourself a Galileoscope before you start throwing the $$$ out there, it's good kit and cheap.

 

[Wheels]

Of course now I'll need a decent pair of binoculars, maybe a 10-inch Dobsonian... crap, I feel another expensive hobby coming on!

Get yourself a Galileoscope before you start throwing the $$$ out there, it's good kit and cheap.

Actually, that's not a bad idea at all.

 

[Paradox]

this is pretty cool, I actually just started my astronomy hobby and bought a 10" Dobsonian the other week, been using my laptop for Stellarium but this would be pretty cool.

 

[daggerstab]

An update to this:

It turns out that Fabien Chéreau, Stellarium's lead developer, has a Nokia N900, so this explains the OpenGL ES porting efforts. He says that a mobile version can be expected within a few months (source). As N900 has the same screen size as Pandora, all the necessary changes to the GUI will be suitable for both devices.

The port is not finished yet, but some guy unrelated to the development team found out and managed to create a working .deb package for Maemo (Nokia's mobile OS). Here's the thread in the Maemo forums:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=40834

And here's an YouTube video showing Stellarium in action on a N900 (in German, with English subtitles):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1mpCAWCKC4

 

[gruso]

Looks fantastic on the small screen! Thanks for the update Daggerstab.