Introduction
Greetings, all interested in astronomy! Meet
Planisphere, the powerful tool that provides a quick
answer to the question, "Is this the appropriate time for
me to view my
constellation (object) in the night sky?" Of course, if you know what you
are looking for :) Nubies can use Planisphere, too - to learn
constellation shapes, etc. Why use the computer
version?
Usage
You can buy a planisphere at most bookstores, but if you want
planisphere for another latitude, it can be a
problem. This program addresses this problem by allowing you to
set the latitude in a large range (25-80° N or S), display the
appropriate sky area on
your monitor, and, of course, print out it. This is all free. If
you are from north or central Europe and
plan to spend hollidays in southern Europe, with
planisphere you can recognize constellations, which
aren't visible at your higher latitude. If you have
appropriate tools (like Adobe Illustrator), you can
easy edit the PDF output too.
Features
- for use at 25-80° N or S latitude (the lower latitude, the
bigger map distortion at south/north)
- you can use custom definitions
of constelation shapes (to do this, use Constellation
Editor)
- multilingual user interface (English, German, Spanish, Portuguese,
Russian, Czech, Slovak). Would you like to translate this program
to your language? Please let me know. It is easy.
Note Chinese,
Japanese and Korean as well as bidi languages like Hebrew or
Arabic are exception and can't be used in this version.
- four colour modes - standard, black and white, inverse and
night vision
- automatic rendering according to window size (HW accelerated)
- export of cutting in PDF format - default or toner/ink safe
mode. It can be printed on any paper size.
Download
Minimal configuration:
- operating system W95 OSR2, W98, Me, NT/2000, XP
- 8 MB RAM
- ~ 3 MB free hard disk space
You can download program here: om_setup20.exe
(1,96 MB)
Additional files:
Additional language files has to be copied to a program's folder,
usually to the following path: "C:\Program Files\Planisphere".
Such newly added languages will not appear in a list of available
languages until the program is restarted.
Instruction for assembly
 In
order to assemble planisphere you need scissors, glue
and a pin. Print out your generated PDF file. If you want more
durable planisphere, glue the bottom plate onto a sheet of cardboard.
Next, cut out all the parts. In the image, individual parts
are made as transparent foils for better description. Fold the
top part (cyan) on the dashed line and insert filler (magenta)
covered with glue.
Deposit glue on the other side of the filler and press one side
of the top part to the other one. Attach the plates (cyan and yellow)
with a pin through the center (marked by a cross) so they are centered
and can rotate freely. The top part will stay slabbing. It can be partly
solved by the fortification process mentioned above, using cardboard.
Donation
Although this program is freeware, if you like it, you can support
its next development by sending some
money (~1-5 $). Or you can also send me a
real, snailmail tourist postcard from where you live!
Thank You in advance.
History
v2.0 (October '04)
- Milky way, ecliptic, RA/Dec coords, dividing months into days
- spanish translation from Mario
- added new set of constellation figures from Harald
C. Greier (used by "StarryNight Pro")
v1.2 (April '04)
- southern hemisphere support
- german translation by Philipp Salzgeber
- portuguese translation by Juliano Ferreira
- several improvements in PDF export:
- astro symbols are provided as outlines
- bug fix - non western languages are displayed in AR v6
correctly too
- bug fix - proper color of daylight saving time scal
v1.1 (September '03)
- XP styles support
- bug fix - proper rendering on nVidia video cards
v1.0 (March '03)
- first version
- english, russian, czech and slovak user interface
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