Starrynight vs TheSky

[Dale Liebenberg]

Hi All,
I use Starrynight for my image planning via Planner.
Starrynight is now very long in the tooth, slow, hogs recources and has bad response time. But it integrates well with planner.
With the release of TheSky X professional due within days, I am considering purchasing it.
I was wondering if anyone has experience with both SN and TheSky. Are they similar in the way they integrate with ACP? Are there any advantages and disadvantages in switching?

Dale

[Bob Denny]

There is no integration between TheSky X and Planner. I am awaiting the future version of TheSKy X which supports "scripted operation". However, you don't absolutely need integration with the planetarium. YOu can right click and enter targets manually into Planner's target list. But using a Planetarium is much more convenient!

Starry Night may be old, but they are still updating it regularly. I just talked to the head guy there at Simulation Curriculum, Dave Whipps, and they are actively supporting and improving it. Simulation Curriculum is the new company, just spun off from SPACE.COM. They are so happy... being a division of a New York media outlet was not a good thing!

I still like SNP a lot. I don't use Pro Plus as I don't use the All-Sky Image (which will really slow it down on a small machine). The only thing I don't like is that it starts up so slowly :-) But once it's running it is a dream to use.

[Douglas Joyce]

Bob, of the current versions of Starry night Pro plus and the sky which do you think integrates best with ACP expert?

[Bob Denny]

I'm a big fan of Starry Night Pro, but if you have a rotator and off-axis guider then you need a Field of view Indicator for "composing" your images to "get" a guide star and TheSky X is the answer.