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Planetarium software is
application software Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...
that allows a user to simulate the
celestial sphere In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphe ...
at any time of day, especially at
night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends ...
, on a computer. Such applications can be as rudimentary as displaying a star chart or
sky map Sky Map is an Android planetarium software application. History Sky Map was designed and developed by a group of Google engineers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as part of their 20% time. It's now "donated and open-sourced". Licensing On J ...
for a specific time and location, or as complex as rendering photorealistic views of the sky. While some planetarium software is meant to be used exclusively on a personal computer, some applications can be used to interface with and control telescopes or planetarium projectors. Optional features may include inserting the
orbital elements Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are considered in two-body systems using a Kepler orbit. There are many different ways to mathematically describe the same ...
of comets and other newly discovered bodies for display.


Comparison of planetarium software


See also

* Space flight simulation game **
List of space flight simulation games This is a sourced index of commercial, indie and freeware space flight simulation games. The list is categorized into four sections: space flight simulators, space flight simulators with an added element of combat, space combat simulators with ...
*
List of observatory software The following is a list of astronomical observatory software. Commercial software * MaximDL * XEphem Non-commercial software {{columns-list, colwidth=30em, * Aladin Sky Atlas * Astropy * Cartes du Ciel * Celestia * Google Sky * Hallo North ...


References

Educational software Entertainment software Astronomy software Planetarium technology {{software-stub