Wont you love to sit at your computer and have a look at the entire planet? I certainly will and Stellarium is a software that makes it possible for me. It is like a open source planetarium which exists in your computer. It gives us a 3d view of the sky, the one which we see from our naked eyes, binoculars or telescope.

When you start the application, it will go into full screen, and depending on the time of the day, we will see the sun shining or the sky which is full of stars. A landscape which can be customized is also displayed to make the experience much more realistic. Apart from showing the stars in the sky, it can also draw constellation lines and boundaries, planet hints, atmospheric fogging around the moon etc. There is a time toolbar which can be used to travel ahead or backward in time at a variable speed. You can also space travel with this by zooming in and out of the sky. Some of its features are

• Drawing of 88 constellations with there names
• Mythological figure of the constellations
• Star Twinkling
• Shooting Stars
• Skinable Landscape
• Time Control
• Simple Interface

This software is used in planetariums too and it would be wonderful to watch the view it gives through a projector. Just use this software and the experience it will create will be amazing. Do you know any similar software ? Share your views with me.