Stellarium level 1

Stellarium software introductory course

Introduction to Stellarium, level 1 (personal computer).

Part of the Stellarium Training Series.

Learn how to use the Stellarium planetarium software on your computer in a basic fashion.

Fee: Free to Members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

 

Course Overview

Stellarium is a powerful planetarium application available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. The free software can be used to learn the sky and plan astronomical observing or imaging sessions. If logging observations, it be used to corroborate and confirm celestial objects seen. Educators, presenters, and outreach volunteers may use the software for demonstrations, presentations, and What's Up discussions.

main screen in Stellarium planetarium software

Participants will learn how to setup the software for a specific location, date, and time. They will learn how to view the simulated sky, zoom and pan, and search for and select celestial objects. Features such as gridlines, the meridian, sky settings, and red light mode will be explored. This will provide an amateur astronomer a basic overview of the Stellarium program.

Class sizes are limited. A waiting list will be kept if additional participants wish to sign up.

This 2-hour training course is not for the paid Stellarium app on smartphones or the Stellarium web app.

Over 300 RASC members have been trained on level 1 Stellarium!

 

What You'll Learn

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to use Stellarium in a basic fashion.

  • view the sky from any location on Earth
  • set the date and time to now, a past date, or a future date
  • accelerate, slow, or reverse the flow of time
  • view constellations and stars, coordinate grid lines, and special reference lines
  • view planets, surface details, and planetary moons
  • view deep sky objects including double stars, galaxies, and nebulae
  • search for celestial objects by name or catalogue number
  • use Stellarium in night mode to preserve your dark adaptation
  • save your view preferences 

 

What You'll Receive

When you take the software training course, we will provide an electronic document, a PDF version of the Introductory Stellarium Quick Reference Guide.

screen snap of the Stellarium quick reference guide

It covers the basic features of the software and how to operate the program with the mouse and keyboard.

 

Outline

  • Starting and Quitting the Stellarium Program
  • Toggling Full Screen Mode
  • Using the Side and Bottom Toolbars
  • Using the Mouse and Keyboard to Control Stellarium
  • Setting the Location
  • Setting Date and Time
  • Panning the Sky
  • Selecting, Centring, and Deselecting
  • Searching for an Object
  • Zooming, Various Methods
  • Controlling Time Flow
  • Viewing Stars and Constellations
  • Viewing Planet Labels and the Ecliptic
  • Viewing Grid lines and Compass Points
  • Changing the Other Sky Settings
  • Changing Other Visual Options
  • Flipping and Rotating the Field
  • Viewing Deep Sky Objects
  • Saving Settings or Preferences
  • Getting Additional Help

 

Prerequisites

You must have a Windows, Mac, Linux computer. 

You must have Stellarium for the desktop downloaded, installed, and working before the start of the class. It is free. https://stellarium.org/

This training is not for the paid Stellarium app on smartphones or the Stellarium web app.

You must have the Zoom meeting software installed and working. It is free. https://zoom.us/download

You must register for the Zoom session. Upon registering, the Zoom meeting details will be sent to you. It is strongly recommend you have a Zoom account or profile as it allows for a rich training experience. Set up a personal account for free.

It is recommended you have an external mouse for your computer.

It is best, when participating in a computer training course, that you have two screens. Connect your laptop to an external monitor, if possible. If you do not have two computer screens, consider running the Zoom on your smartphone or tablet to monitor the instructor's shared screen.

You must be comfortable with using your computer operating system and pointing device.

It is assumed participants have some minimal knowledge of astronomy, the sky, celestial objects and planets. We will not teach astronomical concepts. This is tool training.

Open mind.

 

Who Should Attend

This course is for members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. It is one of the many benefits of membership.

If you are not a member of RASC, please join!

This course is intended for amateur astronomers who wish to gain a basic knowledge of the Stellarium planetarium application. Little or no previous experience with Stellarium is assumed.

If you are competent at the basics in Stellarium you're welcome to attend but the course may prove largely a review for you. Watch for our future higher level Stellarium training sessions where we will explore advanced features and capabilities such as custom landscapes, creating telescope-eyepiece or camera profiles, and connecting to an equatorial mount. We're also planning power-user courses for EPO volunteers.

 

Ahead of the Course

Ensure Stellarium is working on your computer. Start it, drag in the sky display to pan, click on a star or planet, and quit the program.

See the companion video (on Blake's YouTube channel) on downloading and installing Stellarium for more information.

If available, attend a webinar for an overview of Stellarium.

Procure a second monitor for your computer if possible for the fullest, richest training experience. See our companion video on how to set up your monitors for the training.

Install and test the Zoom meeting software. If you need assistance with this, let us know, and we can setup a test meeting in advance of the training.

 

Upcoming Course Dates

With sufficient interest, we may frequently run the introductory Stellarium course, once or twice a month. Courses will be scheduled on or near a full Moon.

  • Wednesday 2 August 2023, 7:30 PM Mountain time zone. FULL. Sorry. Waiting list forming.

Please register in advance for the software training course.

Register (your interest) with our online form. The form will prompt you to indicate the next course date you're interested in. You may leave this as "next" to be added to a future course.

When available space is consumed, we form a waiting list. If insufficent participants sign up, a course may be cancelled and participants offered the next available date. Minimum: 6. Space is limited to 10 to 15 online participants per session.

 

Completed Courses

For interest sake, these are the dates and times for the previously-run level 1 courses.

  • Mon 30 Nov 2020, 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Mon 28 Dec 2020, 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Mon 22 Feb 2021, 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Mon 1 Mar 2021, 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Sat 10 Apr 2021, 10:00 AM Pacific Time. Complete.
  • Mon 26 Apr 2021, 7:30 PM Atlantic Time. Complete.
  • Mon 31 May 2021, 7:00 PM EDT. Complete.
  • Mon 12 Jul 2021, 7:00 PM EDT. Complete.
  • Tue 13 Jul 2021, 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.
  • Wed 11 Aug 2021, 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.
  • Mon 16 Aug 2021, 7:00 PM EDT. Complete.
  • Tue 17 Aug 2021, 7:00 PM EDT. Complete.
  • Thu 26 Aug 2021, 7:00 PM EDT. Cancelled.
  • Wed 20 Oct 2021, 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.
  • Mon 15 Nov 2021, 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Wed 26 Jan 2022. 7 PM-ish EST. Complete.
  • Tue 15 Feb 2022. 7:30 PM MST. Complete.
  • Wedy 23 Mar 2022. 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Wed 13 Apr 2022. 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.
  • Tue 17 May 2022. 7:00 PM EDT. Complete. 
  • Thu 19 May 2022. 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.
  • Thu 16 Jun 2022. Time TBA. Complete.
  • Tue 20 Sep 2022. 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.
  • Tue 11 Oct 2022. 7:00 PM EDT. CANCELLED.
  • Tue 6 Dec 2022. 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Thu 8 Dec 2022. 7:30 PM MST. Complete.
  • Wed 1 Feb 2023, 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Thu 9 Feb 2023, 7:30 PM MST. Complete.
  • Mon 6 Mar 2023, 7:00 PM EST. Complete.
  • Tue 4 Apr 2023, 7:30 PM MDT. Completed.
  • Tue 11 Apr 2023, 7:00 PM EDT. Cancelled.
  • Wed 10 May 2023, 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.
  • Thu 11 May 2023, 7:00 PM EDT. Complete.
  • Tue 6 Jun 2023, 7:30 PM MDT. Complete.

 

Any questions? Contact the administrator (software-training AT rasc DOT ca).

Return to the Stellarium Training Series hub.

Author: 
hotair@computer-ease.com
Last modified: 
Wednesday, August 2, 2023 - 5:56am