computer science

Stellarium (software)

Stellarium (software) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stellarium (software) rather than just read about it. In short: Stellarium is a free and open-source planetarium, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or any later version, available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. A port of Stellarium called Stellarium Mobile is available for Android and iOS.

Key takeaways

Stellarium (software) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stellarium (software) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stellarium (software) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stellarium is a free and open-source planetarium, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or any later version, available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. A port of Stellarium called Stellarium Mobile is available for Android and iOS. These have a limited functionality, lacking some features of the desktop version. All versions use OpenGL to render a realistic projection of the night sky in real time. Stellarium was featured on SourceForge in May 2006 as Project of the Month.

History In 2006, Stellarium 0.7.1 won a gold award in the Education category of the Les Trophées du Libre free software competition. A modified version of Stellarium has been used by the MeerKAT project as a virtual sky display showing where the antennae of the radio telescope are pointed. In December 2011, Stellarium was added as one of the "featured applications" in the Ubuntu Software Center.

Planetarium dome projection The fisheye and spherical mirror distortion features allow Stellarium to be projected onto domes. Spherical mirror distortion is used in projection systems that use a digital video projector and a first surface convex spherical mirror to project images onto a dome. Such systems are generally cheaper than traditional planetarium projectors and fish-eye lens projectors and for that reason are used in budget and home planetarium setups where projection quality is less important. Various companies which build and sell digital planetarium systems use Stellarium, such as e-Planetarium. Digitalis Education Solutions, which helped develop Stellarium, created a fork called Nightshade which was specifically tailored to planetarium use.

VirGO VirGO is a Stellarium plugin, a visual browser for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Science Archive Facility which allows astronomers to browse professional astronomical data. It is no longer supported or maintained; the last version was 1.4.5, dated January 15, 2010.

Stellarium Mobile Stellarium Mobile is a fork of Stellarium, developed by some of the Stellarium team members. It currently targets mobile devices running Symbian, Maemo, Android, and iOS. Some of the mobile optimisations have been integrated into the mainline Stellarium product.

Screenshots

Legacy Eleanor Catton, the New Zealand author who wrote the 2013 Booker Prize recipient novel The Luminaries, stated she used star charts from Stellarium and Sky & Telescope while writing the novel to help reconstruct the sky within the timeframe the novel is set in.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stellarium (software)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stellarium (software) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stellarium (software) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stellarium (software) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stellarium (software)

In research: Stellarium (software) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stellarium (software) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stellarium (software) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2001 software, Cross-platform software, Free astronomy software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stellarium (software) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stellarium (software) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stellarium (software) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stellarium (software) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stellarium (software) in simple terms?

Why does Stellarium (software) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stellarium (software)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stellarium (software).