Chances are that not very many people have heard of Stellarium although it is
very similar to one of the most popular pieces of software available today
– Google Earth. While Google's software allows you to focus on the earth
from a starting point in outer space, Stellarium reverses your perspective
and places you at any point on the earth's surface, staring up and out into
deep space. An interesting feature in Stellarium is that as time passes, the
virtual star system will evolve, with the sun setting and the various
constellations becoming more prominent in the dark night sky. You have a
selection of visual effects that you can switch on or off such as the
atmosphere, or trace lines for the star systems. Impressive stuff for a few
minutes, but once you've got the general gist of what Stellarium entails,
you'll quickly tire of zooming out to distant stars and watching as they
slowly move across the screen. While Google Earth brings you detailed photos
of our planet's surface, Stellarium can only achieve a much lower
resolution representation of the solar system's planets, without mentioning
the fact that stars are limited to simple white dots zipping through the sky.
With over 120,000 stars accurately plotted out in this virtual planetarium,
it's obvious that a lot of work has gone in to its creation. However,
Stellarium's excruciating level of detail is likely only to appeal to the
real die-hard star gazers. The idea behind Stellarium is a good one in
theory, but when it comes down to it most people will see it as little more
than a smart, interactive screensaver. That said, if you have an affinity for
astronomy, would like to learn the constellations, or simply enjoy watching
beautiful sunsets, then Stellarium is for you.Download *Stellarium 0.11.2* in
Softonic
