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Programs for Mac

In this section we have divided the programs in three categories:

  • Planetariums, celestial charts and ephemeris
  • Education and multimedia
  • Tools and utilities for the observation

Planetariums, celestial charts and ephemeris

AstroWidget: Package of diverse useful programs to make astronomical observations. It calculates positions of celestial objects and times of events. So that he is portable to different operating systems completely is written in Tcl/Tk. AstroWidget is covered by license GPL and therefore its use is gratuitous and frees. Requirements: Tcl/TK equal or superior to 8.0. 90 Kb (source, Linux, HPUX, Solaris, OSF3, Windows, Mac… and any operating system open where Tcl/Tk works).

MacAstro: Program for the lovers of Astronomy, that will allow them to at any time calculate the appearance of the sky and from any Earth point. It shows the astronomical position of planets, Moon, and the 2,500 objects more brilliants (shareware, Mac).

MacAstronomica: Planetarium and celestial charts in a program that shows stars, planets, ecliptic. It allows to see the fleeting stars, Moon and planets from any Earth point and at any time, as well as galaxies, nebulas, stars, the Milky Route. The maps can be printed. The become fond of astronomers will appreciate their flexibility and its speed. He allows to keep the own observations to the program, to export them like images and to use them in other applications. In English and French (shareware, Mac).

MPj Star: Planetarium that shows the position of stars, planets, I commit, the Sun and the Moon, for any location from years 2000 to C. to the 6000 d. C. can be used the program to locate and to identify objects in the sky, and to even draw stellar maps. Very useful for its use in education, since it invites to learn on the nocturnal sky. The program, by means of simple questions, shows to the location and the vision of the nocturnal sky. With these data the stars can be identified easily that are seen in the sky (shareware, Mac).

NightSky: It shows the nocturnal sky updating it every several minutes; its data base can be extended up to 20,000 objects (freeware, Mac).

PlanetC: It calculates the coordinates of the Sun, the Moon and planets and contains a data base of solar and lunar eclipses from the 2000 to C. to the 4000 d. C. (shareware, Mac).

Stargazer's Delight: Program of planetary type that makes our available the sky seen from any position of the planet, the planets, the galaxies, all the constellations (shareware, Mac).

Starry Night Backyard: It simulates the aspect of the sky from any location of the Solar System. Of easy use, express and fluid, the photorealistic renderizadas scenes are of an incredible beauty (shareware, Mac).

TSOL (The Simple Observing Log): Data base in which information can be kept from the observations. It allows to the planning of observations through forms and the registry of which they have become (freeware, Win9X/Mac/PalmOS).

TUMOL (The Ultimate Messier Object Log): Application that allows to record and to organize the observations of the objects Messier; also he provides a description of each one of them along with letters for his location and photographies (freeware, Win9X/Mac/PalmOS).

Education and multimedia

CLEA Project: Project CLEA develops laboratory exercises that exemplify the modern astronomical techniques using digital data and images in color. They are appropriate for the last cycle of the Secondary Education, the Baccalaureate and the first years of University. Each exercise includes the program, manual of the student and the manual of the professor (freeware, some for Mac).

PCs in Space: Interactive programs of sciences of the Earth and the Space, designed to be used by people with minimum knowledge in computer science. Recommended for Primary and Secondary education, they are independent programs:

  1. Exploring the Solar System: Hubble uses the scientific instruments of the space telescope to explore our Solar System. Constantly new images are included to guide the students discoveries in the last. This program multimedia is accompanied of mathematical exercises related to sciences of the Space.
  2. Exploring the Sun: Images of the NASA, NOAA and NSO that help to explore our the simple Sun USA instructions to guide the students through a basic information on the Sun, along with two scientific experiments and an amused test of multiple answers. The information that appears is very basic, but it makes the set very attractive of present images of the Sun.
  3. Exploring the Universe: This program uses the last data of the space telescope Hubble to show students and professors the most recent and exciting discoveries on the Universe. It is an interactive tutorial on the Universe that combines exercises of mathematics with images of the telescope Hubble. It is possible to be used as it helps for education and it can enrich any subjet related to sciences of the Space. It is very easy to use and it only requires the handling of the mouse.
  4. The Hubble Space Telescope First Servicing Mission: It is a tutorial that uses images of the NASA to describe and to explain the mission of the space telescope Hubble. It tries to be a technical guide with reference material. The information that appears has depth, but what it makes more interesting they are the present images.
  5. Exploring the Earth: This module is a vocabulary and a lesson of geography from the space using images of the Landsat and of other spaceships of NASA and NOAA. It is easy to use and it guides the students through the accidents of earth, visible sea and air from the space. The information is very basic, but, like in the previous ones, its interest is in the present photographies and some entertainments.

In English (all the programs, freeware, Win3.X/Win9X/Mac).

Newton's Aquarium: It consists of a set of programs of Physics that helps the students to understand the Law of the universal gravitation of Newton (shareware, Mac).

Tools and utilities for the observation

Moonclock: Graphical representation in real time of the visual aspect of the Moon in any date, hour and location. Sample elongación, limb, right ascension and declination, illuminated percentage, heliocentric latitude and length, distance, radio… (shareware, Mac).

Other programs for Mac can be in the pages dedicated to software of the magazine Sky & Telescope, like for example, Moon Tool, Planet Facts, AAO-Clusters and Nebulae, ASTROCAL 68K or AstroCal PPC.

 

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  Copyright © 2003 Javier Sánchez Quirós