Stellarium is a virtual planetarium that displays rendered stars with their relative brightness (indicated by size) and colour. It includes an expandable catalogue and a search facility for locating a particular star by name. This enables an observer to find its location relative to more prominent objects in the sky.

To set up for observer's location:

• Bring up the location window (F6).
• Enter the observatory's long-lat; N 51° 27' 36, W 2° 36' 0.
• Altitude isn't essential but as as a rough guide, use a sensible number such as 75m.
• Stellarium should now be operating in real-time for your location.
• If you wish to observe a different date/time, bring up the date/time window (F5) and enter the desired date/time.
• When using the program while observing, you may find it useful to turn on 'Night mode' (button indicated by an eye with a star in it on the bottom toolbar). This turns the display red to preserve your sensitivity to low light.

Figure 1: A typical view of the Stellarium environment.

stellarium.jpg (image/jpeg)