I do not want to cool my heels while the program loads. Fer instance, I want to know if Saturn is high up enough RIGHT NOW for me to tote our StarBlast mini-Dob onto the front porch for a 5-minute peep at the ringed wonder. I like to have a planetarium program for spur-of-the-moment sky checks. And, while the updated display of CdC version 3.0 looks good, it can’t compete with the likes of Starry Night and RedShift. It’s a little slow to load for use for quick “what’s up” looks at the virtual sky. That’s the good, but like every other piece of software, Cartes ain’t good at everything.

It can interface with other programs like Deepsky and RTGUI, can go incredibly deep, and is all many deep sky obsessed amateur astronomers need or ever will need.

Some folks like it even better than Cartes, though it is aimed at a somewhat different audience.Ĭartes du Ciel is great.

With Cartes du Ciel, it’s become the most popular freeware astronomy application. If’n you have even a nodding acquaintance with the world of astronomy software, I don’t have to tell you what a “ Stellarium” is.

Stellarium telescope control download