south jersey skies: a new digital sky

You can see the night sky on your computer at home, and more universes.
In the past 20 years, the development of \"virtual sky\" computer applications has been strong.
The simplest of these can show the sky on your display, because it appears from anywhere on the surface of the Earth at any time in history.
They can show you how celestial bodies move and speed up with whatever you like.
They can precisely locate the future and past planets and other objects, and how they change over time.
Business shows such as Star Night and Sky have more powerful features.
When you want to see planets moving between background stars day after day, you can choose to have objects leave visible tracks behind them.
You can download-to-
For example, the date orbit parameters of satellites, comets and asteroids, and make their own predictions about the location of the International Space Station in the sky.
These apps will take you to other planets and show you what the sky will look like if you live there and the scenery is loyal to every world.
If you have a compatible telescope, you can even drive it with your computer.
You can choose a specific date, like August 21, 2017, and check out the next huge total solar eclipse in North America multiple times as you need it.
You can fly into orbit and watch the shadow of the moon crawl across the continent as different parts of our country witness this wonderful event.
Most companies offer a cheap starter version of the software, so you can try it out and see if you like the indoor skywatching.
Another option is to download a free, open one
Stellar Arium source program, etc.
These features are not as powerful as commercial programs, but they do have an amazing number of features.
If you want to try it, it\'s easy to find all these apps and more with Google.
Feel free to ask me if you need some advice;
Contact details are at the end of this article.
Normally, you will see the results of such a digital Sky app on your desktop monitor.
But over the past 15 years, there has been an exciting alternative in Planetarium around the world.
Imagine sending a beautiful view of the night sky on your computer to a video projector instead of a monitor.
Insert a Special
Design the fisheye lens into a projector.
Put it in the dome theater like those that often show IMAX movies, and aim the projector at it.
The result is a modern planetarium.
Digital Sky plans to fill the dome with stars.
Most new planetarium is being installed
Dome digital video projector as its main projection system.
This has expanded their capabilities, and even many old Planetarium have begun to turn to this form, including the Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia and the Hayden Planetarium in New York.
We did it at Rowan University. Our 40-
The foot dome is a bit too big for a video projector to do the job in enough way, so we used two projectors, each creating half the sky.
The control software seamlessly mixes two images on the dome.
We have just completed the installation of the Spitz SciDome HD system and will adjust it in the next few weeks to prepare new programs.
The SciDome system uses a special version of the starry night in image production. Two high-
Power computers are a must.
One is to control the various applications and the other is to render the beautiful image in the right form and pass it on to the HD video projector.
Let and Rick Edelman achieve this innovation, an alumnus who built the planetarium about 10 years ago and has supported school programs for years.
The University of Rowan was fortunate enough to have such a generous donor.
We currently plan to open a new planetarium to the public in the medium term for a short \"Sneak Peek\"April.
We hope that you will visit us at the end of April or sometime in the beginning.
But if you can\'t, we will be fully operational from next fall.
In the next few weeks you will hear more about the new Edelman Planetarium. ---
Keith Johnson is busy. and happily)
Convert and create these new projects at the Edelman Planetarium at the University of Rowan.
He\'s happy to answer questions at 856. 256-
4389 or johnsonk @ rowan. edu.