Getting Started

Installing and Registering

Navigating the Sky

Displaying Objects on the Sky Chart

Finding Objects and Information

Setting and Animating the Time

Changing your Location

Changing the Horizon

Settings Files

Moving Around the Solar System

Showing the Orbits and Paths of the Planets

Displaying Asteroids and Comets

Setting Up Your Telescope

Controlling Your Telescope

Updating Your Software

Getting Started with Voyager and SkyGazer      

Installing and Registering your Software

Voyager 4.5 and SkyGazer 4.5 are distributed on CD, on DVD (Voyager only), and as a web download. For Windows, there is an installer program that you run to install the software in the Windows program folder on your hard disk. For the Mac, you copy the Voyager or SkyGazer folder to the Mac OS X Application folders.

Note the the DVD version of Voyager 4.5 may take a long time to install - up to 45 minutes on some machines. This is normal; the installer has to copy 3 gigabytes of data to your hard drive. The CD and download versions, and SkyGazer, should install in just a few minutes.

You'll be asked to enter your serial number and register your software the first time you launch it. This unlocks the program's full database, and requires an internet connection. If you don't have an internet connection, we can register you over the phone.

You can register the same serial number on up to two machines, and re-install/re-register an unlimited number of times on the same machine.

After registering, Voyager and SkyGazer will ask if you wish to update your asteroid/comet/spacecraft data, and/or check for program updates. We suggest that you do this monthly. This will ensure that the positions will ensure of your solar system object are accurate and up to date.

Downloading and importing asteroid data may take a few minutes, since there are so many known asteroids (over 400,000 as of this writing!). Importing comet and satellite data should only take a few seconds.

If you get a "failed to download" error message while updating, the Minor Planet Center and/or Celestrak web sites may be down; these are where Voyager and SkyGazer get their asteroid/comet/satellite orbit data. If this happens (which is rare!), just try updating again later. You can also un-check the "Asteroids", "Comets", and "Spacecraft" options if you only want to download program updates.

 

Back: Getting Started
 Next: Navigating the Sky

 

Copyright February, 2011

Carina Software & Instruments, Inc