Screen shots

The following CyberSky screen shots show off just some of the program’s many features.

Winter Triangle

This screen shot shows a map of the sky centered on the Winter Triangle, an asterism made up of three stars in different constellations: Sirius in Canis Major, Betelgeuse in Orion, and Procyon in Canis Minor.

Winter Triangle

Most of the symbols on the map are stars. Their colors indicate spectral type, which is a measure of a star’s temperature. The gray lines that connect many of the stars are constellation figures. The yellow dashed circles show the positions of open clusters. The Moon and the planet Saturn are visible in the upper-left corner of the map.

Hyades

This screen shot shows a map centered on the Hyades, an open cluster located about 150 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.

Hyades

You can display basic information about almost any object you see on the map by moving the pointer over the object. After about a second, a small ToolTip window appears near the pointer. Here you can see this feature being used to identify the star Aldebaran and view its magnitude and distance.

Proper-motion vectors

This screen shot shows the Hyades, just like the previous screen shot, but here proper-motion vectors have been added to the map. These short lines show the direction and speed that each star is moving.

Proper-motion vectors

The stars that are part of the Hyades were all born in the same interstellar cloud of gas and dust, so they all move as a group. The brightest star on the map, Aldebaran, is moving in a different direction, which is a good indication that it’s not part of the cluster. Aldebaran actually lies less than half-way between us and the Hyades, and is not connected with the cluster at all.

Milky Way

CyberSky can display the outlines of the Milky Way, as shown by this screen shot. The Milky Way is a faint band of light that extends around the entire sky, made up of the combined light of countless stars that make up our galaxy.

Milky Way

You can choose to display up to five sets of outlines, each of which encloses regions of the Milky Way that have roughly the same level of brightness.

Solar eclipse

This screen shot shows how CyberSky displays a solar eclipse. A solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes in front of the Sun.

Solar eclipse

CyberSky draws the glow we see around the Sun due to the haze in the Earth’s atmosphere. This makes the Sun stand out on the map. If you don’t like this effect, you can turn it off. The program also draws the sky in a darker color when the Moon passes in front of the Sun. You can turn this effect off as well if you don’t like it.

Lunar eclipse

This screen shot shows what a lunar eclipse looks like in CyberSky. A lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow.

Lunar eclipse

The cross-section of the Earth’s shadow at the distance of the Moon appears on the map as a darker-colored circle surrounded by a lighter-colored ring. The dark, inner part is called the umbra, and the light, outer part is called the penumbra. A total lunar eclipse happens when the Moon completely enters the umbra, as it has here.

Jupiter’s moons

CyberSky can display the positions of Jupiter’s four brightest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. This screen shot shows Jupiter and three of those moons.

Jupiter’s moons

Io, which is just to the right of Jupiter, is casting a shadow on the planet’s disk. The moon’s shadow appears as a small gray dot.

Europa, which is to the left of Jupiter, is passing through the planet’s shadow. When a moon passes through Jupiter’s shadow, it isn’t visible from the Earth. CyberSky still draws the moon so you know where it is, but it draws it in a darker color so you know that it’s in the planet’s shadow.

Saturn’s moons

CyberSky can display the positions of Saturn’s eight brightest moons: Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, and Iapetus. This screen shot shows Saturn and five of those moons.

Saturn’s moons

The gap between the two major parts of Saturn’s ring system is called the Cassini division.

CyberSky accurately displays the orientation of Saturn’s flattened disk and of the planet’s ring system.

Path of Mars

CyberSky can display the paths of Solar System objects—the Sun and Moon, planets, asteroids, and comets—with respect to the background stars or the horizon. This screen shot shows the motion of Mars over the course of about eight months. The small crosses along the planet’s path mark its positions at 10-day intervals.

Path of Mars

As Mars travels through the constellation Aries, it appears to slow down and then reverse direction for a while. This temporary backward movement, called retrograde motion, happens when the Earth overtakes Mars in its orbit around the Sun.

Solar System view

This screen shot shows an overhead view of the positions of the planets in their orbits around the Sun.

Solar System view

You can use the check boxes to show or hide individual objects as well as orbits and labels. The program adjusts the view’s scale so that all of the selected planets fit within the view. You can use the scrollbars to see the planets from another perspective.

Because this view appears in a separate window, you can watch the planets revolve around the Sun and see them move across the sky at the same time in the program’s main window.

Night-vision mode

This screen shot shows how CyberSky looks when you use the program’s night-vision mode. When you turn on the program’s night-vision mode, the user interface and map are drawn in shades of red on a black background.

Night-vision mode

Dim red light has the least effect on your ability to see faint objects. By using night-vision mode and reducing the brightness of your computer screen, if necessary, you can preserve the dark adaptation of your eyes while using the program outdoors. The colors used during night-vision mode can be customized.