How to ID any Celestial Object.

[glsammy]

If you see any object in the sky at night and want to know it's id, have a look at this site:
Sky and Telescope - The Essential Magazine of Astronomy
You can enter your location details and it will show all visible objects.
You'll need to have the latest Java software installed to view.

[paulst]

You are right about Sky & Telescope, its an excellent site, ive used it several times and always find it useful paul

[glsammy]

Yes thanks Paul. I've made this a sticky, so anyone who wants to ID anything, doesn't have to search the threads!

[knobby]

This little program isn't too bad, i use it quite often, its a free download from
http://www.m31.spb.ru/StarCalc/

gaz

[Karlos78]

Hi

I use Starry Night Pro 5.0 a windows based program. With this software if you enter your location you are presented with a 3d image of the night sky right above your house in real time. It’s also possible to adjust for light pollution and the equipment you are using to give an indication of the amount of objects you should be able to see from your location. Sadly for most of us living in the UK the sodium haze prevents us seeing a lot of beautiful naked eye objects. Hope this helps, Starry night Pro is excellent but pricey at about £100. A stripped down version called starry night backyard is available for about £30, but I can't pass comment as I've never used it but I believe it is aimed at the casual observer.

Cheers
Karl

[Rosemarie Parks]

Starry Night Backyard is out of date now. It was offered as a free download on the CD that came with last September's BBC Sky at Night magazine. Back copies are still available. It is an excellent magazine, especially for novice astronomers.
Starry Night Enthusiast has better graphics than Backyard and is cheaper than Starry Night Pro, although the Pro version 3.1 can now be bought at half price, at around £45. I was given one free last year when I spent a few £s at a well-known telescope shop. I haven't even installed it yet because the Enthusiast is so fabulous.
Rosemarie Parks

[carlos_dfc]

Several FREE alternatives are available to download...

Stellarium, Winstars, and Distant Suns have a similr look to Starry Night (Stellarium prob the best of those)

Cartes du Ciel, HNsky, Asynx, give views that look more like a chart....

Cartes du Ciel is far and away the best of these - and I personally rate it as probably the best planetarium software INCLUDING those that you have to pay for.
I've personally seen open clusters (with 70mm binocs) that just weren't there on the charts shown by Starry Night 5 Pro - but they are charted by CdC.
Iy'll even interface with computerised GoTo telescopes - fantastic software.