My Favorite Mac Freeware App

My favorite free Mac application is currently Stellarium. Stellarium is “a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.”

It’s an amazing program, with plenty of advanced features hiding under a polished, easy-to-use interface. And, it’s 100% open source and free.

Stellarium shows you exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. I’ve made a minor hobby out of learning stars and constellations, and have enjoyed keeping track of the planets in the night sky. In my experience, Stellarium is the best way to learn the names and positions of celestial objects.

Here in Vermont, our cold winter night skies are often amazingly clear. You can typically see the bright banner of Milky Way, along with many dim stars that are hidden in haze and light pollution elsewhere. It’s the perfect time of year to stargaze.

See Stellarium here: http://www.stellarium.org/

Read about how to see Jupiter, Mercury and Mars “nestled together in the predawn skies” by clicking here.