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Relative to the solar system, the stars move and change
very slowly. This is because their enormous distance from us
makes their relative distance to each other seem fixed.
Starry Night shows the stars as fixed points (on the
Celestial Sphere).
You may wish to not display the stars at various times,
perhaps because you are only interested in seeing the
planets or deep sky objects. Toggle the stars on or off by
clicking Stars on the Display Palette or by selecting it
from the Display menu.
- Note: to change the number,
brightness and magnitude of stars that are drawn please
see the Magnitudes
dialog section in the
Customizing Starry Night chapter.
Star Options
To change the manner in which stars are shown in Starry
Night open the Options dialog by selecting "Options..." from
the Settings menu, then pick "Stars" from the popup menu.
Alternatively, click the options
button for Stars in the Display palette.
Show Stars: This checkbox toggles the stars on and
off.
Show Star Colors: Checking this box will display
the stars in an approximation of their apparent colors.
Fewer Stars While Scrolling: To improve
performance, you can check this box so that higher magnitude
stars are turned off while scrolling.
Labels: Checking this box turns
on star names, and allows you to adjust the way star labels
are displayed. You can adjust the font and font size of the
star names by using the Font and Size popup menus, and
adjust the color of the labels by using the Set Color
button.
Standard Names: Pressing this radio button
instructs Starry Night to display the most commonly used
name for a star. If the star has a proper name, this is the
name that will be displayed. If not, Starry Night will then
search through the database and display either the Bayer
letter (if there is one), the Flamsteed number (if there is
one), or the SAO number.
Custom Names: Pressing this radio button allows
you to select the kind of name displayed.
Proper Name: Checking this box will display a
star's proper name (if it has one).
Bayer Letter: Checking this box will display a
star's Bayer letter (if it has one).
Flamsteed Number: When this box is checked, a
star's Flamsteed number will be displayed (if it has
one).
Show Magnitudes: When this box is checked, a
star's magnitude will be displayed.
Include Constellation: When this box is checked,
the name (in abbreviated form) of the constellation a star
is located in will be added to the Bayer letter or Flamsteed
number.
Number Of Labels: This slider adjusts the total
number of named stars that are displayed in the current
window. As you zoom in through the stars, new star names
will replace ones that have moved out of view. With the
slider all the way to the left, only one star will be named;
the brightest star of the current view.
- Note: If you're viewing with
lots of labels on, you may want to turn on Labels Show
Arrows in the Preferences dialog box. When this box is
checked, labels will be accompanied by arrows, which
point to the labeled object. When these arrows are on,
Starry Night will activate a "name-avoidance algorithm",
which attempts to keep labels from overlapping one
another.
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