Getting Started with Voyager and SkyGazer      

Settings Files

Voyager and SkyGazer ship with dozens of "settings files" that illustrate the features of the program, as well as showing astronomical events and concepts like eclipses and precession. Open these with the File menu > Open Settings command. Browse to the "Settings Files" folder, and open any of the ".vgr" files inside.

You can also create your own settings files by using the File menu > Save Settings As... command. When you save the settings file, you can enter a description for it; this description will be displayed when you reopen the file.

Here are a few of our favorite settings files:

In the Stars and Deep Sky folder:

Flying around the Pleiades.vgr - illustrates 3D star positions in space.
Bowls of the Dippers.vgr - shows stellar proper motion.
Alpha Centauri.vgr and Double Double.vgr - illustrates binary star orbital motion.

In the Earth and Moon folder:

China Eclipse.vgr and China Eclipse from Space.vgr - shows the 2009 Asian solar eclipse.
Lunar Libration.vgr and Earth and Moon.vgr - illustrates lunar motion, also using drop lines.

In the Comets and Asteroids folder:

Riding Comet Hale-Bopp.vgr and SL9 Jupiter Impact.vgr - views of comet orbital motion from space.
Asteroid Families.vgr and Trojan Asteroids.vgr - distribution of the Solar System's major asteroids.

In the Planets and Satellites folder:

Jupiter and Neptune 1613.vgr and Mars and Jupiter in 2223.vgr - planetary occultations, ancient and modern.
Pluto's New Moons.vgr and Jupiter's Outer Moons.vgr - new outer solar system discoveries.
Mars in Retrograde.vgr and Seasons on Saturn.vgr - changing aspects of the planets from different vantage points.

In the Spacecraft and Missions folder:

Voyager 1 Saturn Flyby.vgr - shows off Saturn from Voyager 1's point of view!
GPS Satelltes.vgr - some of our most important spacecraft.

 

Back: Changing the Horizon
Next: Moving Around the Solar System

 

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Copyright February, 2011

Carina Software & Instruments, Inc