
Stellarium: A free open-source planetarium for your computer - smacktoward
https://stellarium.org/
======
wallacoloo
I haven't figured out the Wayland solution yet, but on X11 you can use a tool
called Devil's Pie to make Stellarium act as your desktop background, which is
way more fun than any other desktop I've had: [http://mooooo.ooo/stellarium-
desktop/](http://mooooo.ooo/stellarium-desktop/)

~~~
rosstex
This sounds awesome! Any tips for doing this on a Mac? I haven't found a
working version of the tool.

~~~
kragen
You can still install Linux on a Mac.

~~~
moorsc0de
They have MAC version if I am not mistaken.

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anonytrary
Stellarium is such a beautiful product. I used it back in college and shared
it with the astrophysics majors, and they all loved it, too. Stellarium helped
me play around with a telescope I had. There is so much joy in playing with a
digital, interactive patch of the sky, then being able to look up through a
lens and see the _real thing_ a minute later.

As for Stellarium, I fell in love with the countryside aesthetic and how they
really went for a VR-type feeling before VR ever became a buzzthing. My
favorite features are zooming in and speeding up the clock. Stellarium put a
surprising amount of detail into their product, I suggest pushing all of those
features to their limits. You will be pleasantly surprised with how far they
go.

~~~
madaxe_again
It’s really handy for astrophotographers, too - I use Astroplanner to chuck
together a list of potential targets for a given night or set of nights, then
check them out in stellarium, where I’ve imported my actual horizon from my
site, and my scope and camera combinations for framing - means I can ensure
I’m not wasting time trying to image something obscured by trees or terrain -
I’m in a Y shaped valley with a horizon that goes from 10 to 50 degrees which
makes this impossible to sensibly automate.

The it’s just on to an SGP sequence, and let it run.

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LarryMade2
If you like that check out Celestia too -
[https://celestia.space/](https://celestia.space/)

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app4soft
If you want _Stellarium_ for Android I highly recommends you install
_«Stellarium for Android»_ [0] (extended FLOSS fork of _«Stellarium Mobile»_
[1]).

[0] [https://github.com/chengxinlun/Stellarium-
android](https://github.com/chengxinlun/Stellarium-android)

[1] [https://www.stellarium-labs.com/stellarium-
mobile](https://www.stellarium-labs.com/stellarium-mobile)

------
breck
This is really cool! Thanks!

I like the web version ([https://stellarium-web.org/](https://stellarium-
web.org/))

When I clicked "Allow to use my location" I was really hoping that the scenery
would change to Google Streetview or something for my exact location. That
would make it easier to orient myself. I'm sure that's on the roadmap in the
future as the streetview stuff continues to improve and be easier to remix.

~~~
Moru
Just make a photo for your own place and add it as background for Stellarium,
no need to wait :-)

~~~
breck
Now this is a good idea. Is there a feature where you can use your webcam or
phone's cam to scan in your current surroundings, and then potential use a
model to strip out the sky and replace it with Stellarium?

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cheez
Is there anything like (formerly) Google Skymap that works? In the "good old
days", Skymap was my goto to answer the question "what is that point of light
in the sky?"

The most recent versions of Skymap don't seem to work for me _at all_. I have
to use the manual orientation.

~~~
AnonymousPlanet
I got it from F-Droid and it works just like always for me. Maybe your phone
lacks a necessary sensor.

When I was shopping for a phone lately I noticed that there are still fairly
expensive phones lacking a compass or a gyroscope, sometimes depending on the
region they are sold.

~~~
cheez
I don't think that's the case for me but I'm not sure how I'd check. What
phone are you using with fdroid?

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EnderWT
They creators did an interview when Stellarium was featured as the project of
the month on SourceForge:
[https://sourceforge.net/blog/potm-2006-05/](https://sourceforge.net/blog/potm-2006-05/)

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emmelaich
I'm throwing in a recommendation for

[https://heavens-above.com](https://heavens-above.com)

which is awesome and free and has an Android app ..

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.heavens_ab...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.heavens_above.viewer)

~~~
app4soft
> _which is awesome and free and has an Android app_

> > _Contains Ads_

NO, thanks.

 _Stellarium for Android_ has NO ads.

~~~
colomon
Do you mean Stellarium Mobile Sky Map, which is $3.50? Or are you compiling
Stellarium-android?

~~~
app4soft
There are ready to install _Stellarium-android_ APKs.[0]

[0] [https://github.com/chengxinlun/Stellarium-
android/releases](https://github.com/chengxinlun/Stellarium-android/releases)

~~~
colomon
Nice! Now have it installed on my phone...

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jlengrand
This link pops up every other month on HN, and every time it makes me remember
all those nights spent trying to find in the sky the stars I had seen on the
software and I smile :).

So thanks I guess!

~~~
signal11
Also [https://stellarium-web.org/](https://stellarium-web.org/), a WASM
version of Stellarium (also open source[1]) was previously discussed on HN a
year ago[2].

[1] [https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-
web](https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-web)

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17906113](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17906113)

------
_august
How do people find the time to create free software of this caliber?

~~~
smacktoward
By working on it for nearly 20 years.

~~~
Moru
If you don't work at a place that expects you to work 80 hours per week it's
certainly easier to find time. Love Stellarium, now you can even predict ISS
passings accurately to see it IRL.

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lejalv
The Stellarium authors are combing research papers and continuously improving
the physical realism of lighting. It's a true work of craftsmanship.

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adonnjohn
Stellarium is the reason I passed my astronomy classes in college. Mad props.

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dang
Thread from 5 months ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19513222](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19513222)

and a year ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17906113](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17906113)

We waived the usual dupe criteria
([https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html))
since people like this project so much, and it hasn't had so much attention
relative to its (and HN's) history.

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codeplea
Does anyone know if this, or anything like it, is available in VR?

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nessunodoro
I'm on mobile right now and can't verify the contents of the tarball but you
might try

[http://www.nongnu.org/devilspie2/](http://www.nongnu.org/devilspie2/)

i recommend devilspie2 highly, for years it was the only way i found to remove
window decorations from ubuntu unity, remove UI drop shadows from notification
windows, and a few other wm- agnostic quality of life tweaks

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dessant
Stellarium has helped us anticipate the position of astronomical events. It's
extremely useful, even for casual stargazers.

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rockcamus
I really want to explore the scripting feature

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linuxlover08
I want to more about it

~~~
linuxlover08
[https://www.cyberpratibha.com/apt-get-command-in-
linux/](https://www.cyberpratibha.com/apt-get-command-in-linux/)

