Introduction

_images/winstars3.png

WinStars 3 is a planetarium for almost any platform. Employing 3D technology to display our solar system in a realistic manner, users may tour the planets, follow a space probe on its long voyage, or observe a celestial event from a distant world, as well as receiving the latest astrophysical news from a live feed. Updates add new features and functionality, transforming it into an advanced educational tool for discovering our Universe.

Features

  • Gaia DR2 catalogue with more than 1.7 billion stars (internet connection needed).
  • More than 30,000 galaxies, nebulae, star clusters (OpenNGC + EDD Catalogues).
  • A direction of observation which is easily controlled by a mouse and in real time.
  • A precise representation of the observable sky from a point on the Earth’s surface on a given date.
  • A 3D interface to give more realism to celestial objects.
  • Virtual textures to display high resolution surface details of planets.
  • Travel throughout the solar system, to over 200,000 stars, the edge of our galaxy and beyond.
  • Follows the latest scientific news by downloading additional modules.
  • A calculation of notable astronomical phenomena visible from an observation point on the earth.
  • Detailed information about each object.
  • A calculation of positions of the principal satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, of comets and of asteroids.
  • An outline of the celestial equator, the ecliptic, and a grid of azimuthal and equatorial coordinates.
  • A 3D outline of the planetary orbits.
  • Сontrol a large range of telescopes.
  • Internet resources are also available: updated comets and asteroids’ elements, querying of DSS (Digitized Sky Survey) servers to obtain a photograph of that portion of the sky being displayed by the program, a notice of the visibility of artificial satellites, etc.
  • Automatic updates.
  • Available languages: english, french, german, spanish, russian