Starry Night Backyard 4.x

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Software for Anyone Who Is Fascinated by the Stars
Review: I just turned into an astronomy buff since the planets in the inner solar system aligned last year in 2002. Now, I find myself looking at the sky every day and night and I am completely fascinated by the stars that not only gleem, but change colors from white to orange to red as they gleem.

Through Starry Night Backyard, I found out the name of those star and why they dance in the sky changing colors. Also, last year, when Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Venus all lined up with each other, I wondered what it looked like up there and not just from the earth which only hindered the view. Starry Night has a Blast Off feature that lets you center the planet or star and let's you blast off the surface of the Earth and go right to that star or planet. The Blast Off feature alone makes Starry Night a great investment.

And if you are fascinated by solar and lunar eclipses like I am, Starry Night makes watching an eclipse easy and DIFFERENT. Did you ever wonder what a solar eclipse looks like from the surface of the moon instead of just looking at a big black disk covering the outer halo of the sun from the Earth? Starry night has a database of dates from all the eclipses. It lets you go back in time to watch that eclipse and then, you can go to the surface of the moon and watch its own shadow engulf the Earth while the eclipse is occurring. Since mosst of us will probably never travel to the moon in our lifetime, Starry night will allow you simulate being on the Moon. You can also open two windows and watch the eclipse from both the moon and the earth simulataneously. Then, you can land on the sun and watch the solar eclipes from the sun. Try doing that in real life...

Starry Night Backyard and Pro just makes all these things possible. Just the fact that you can travel 5000 light years in 30 seconds and look at all the stars from that point in space (and time) makes Starry Night one of the few software programs that any astronomy buff can really call an investment.

So, if you purchase this program and use it to identify just one star, you will have already gotten your money's worth.

Have fun and I hope you enjoy this review.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Gift for the amateur astronomer
Review: I purchased this gift for my girlfriend because she loves astronomy, but her collge does not offer any classes in this subject. The program offers views of anything in the night sky that could be viewed with any powerful telescope. This is an ideal piece of software for any beginning astronomer. It's just a little more than the base version, but offers so much more.

Rating:
Summary: Very useful!
Review: I use this program along with my etx70at to plan my observations and use it to find the perfect aligning star. I also just like to go back in time or forward to watch an eclipse of the sun. This program is very useful and you'll be out for many hours ovserving celestial bodies.

Rating:
Summary: The Universe on your monitor - 5 stars are not enough
Review: In my 18 years of nearly daily Mac use, decades as an amateur astronomer, and celestial navigator since sextants were used to get little triangles on a chart with star tables and a pencil, this is the most astonishing program I have ever used.
If you use a Mac with OS X, have ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what you see, or have any interest in astronomy, or have children or grandchildren about, buy this software. If you also own binoculars or a telescope of any size and use them to look at the stars, and own a real Sky Atlas, buy this software anyhow. You will find yourself using it in place of your atlas or planisphere or the charts in Astronomy or Sky and Telescope magazines, to print stunningly lovely and detailed charts of the heavens as they appear at your location at any time of the night or portion of the sky, to plan your nights pleasure looking up, as a superb supplement to your atlas.
If you don't own binoculars or a telescope, you will still get immense enjoyment from this program helping you to learn the constellations with the naked eye.
The versatility of the program is immense and it is very simple to use. If you have grown up with the Mac and have lots of unread manuals gathering dust as I have, you will love this program. The manuals which accompany the package merely expand the level of detail to which you can go in its use, and start you on the road to be an expert amateur astronomer.
Starry Night is also highly educational for beginners or children of any age. The videos included reflect current professional astronomy knowledge and are very enjoyable. The vendors site also provides support for lessons in its use and in astronomy.
Among the thousands of dollars I have spent on software in 18 years, this was by far the best buy of all.