Stellarium Advanced

Stellarium Training Series

Learn how to use advanced functions and powerful planning features in the Stellarium planetarium software on your computer.

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

 

Course Overview

Stellarium is a very rich planetarium application available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. In this advanced level 3 course, we build on features exposed in the level 2 course and look at creating and using custom landscapes. We also explore many of the powerful planning features in the program including the Astronomical Calculations window.

Stellarium software showing advanced features

Participants will learn how to control sidereal time display, show labels for planetary features, use custom landscapes, filter the object display, check the observability of objects, and use many of the Astronomical Calculations planning functions.

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

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

 

What You'll Learn

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

  • control sidereal time rate 
  • view star alignments
  • display labels for planets and the Moon
  • use custom landscape files made by others
  • utilise personal custom landscapes
  • filter for deep sky objects 
  • work with the Observability plug-in
  • work with the Astronomical Calculations window

 

What You'll Receive

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

screen snap of Stellarium quick reference guide

It covers many of the advanced customisation and planning features of the software.

(Not exactly as shown.)

 

Outline

  • control time by sidereal rate
  • show star alignments by constellation
  • show labels or nomenclature for planets and the Moon
  • use custom landscape files made by others
  • show photos for a personal custom landscape
  • prepare the image files for a custom landscape
  • create an initialisation file to load a custom landscape
  • package landscape files to share with others
  • filter deep sky objects by class
  • enable and use the Observability plug-in
  • access the Astronomical Calculations window
  • determine what's up in the sky for a given evening
  • determine when an object is at maximum elevation
  • plot the path of solar system objects
  • look up appulses, conjunctions, and oppositions

 

Prerequisites

That this is an advanced course, it is assumed participants have taken the level 1 introductory course and the level 2 intermediate course or if self-taught have demonstrable knowledge of the basic through intermediate features.

You must have a Windows, Mac, Linux computer. 

You must have Stellarium 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.

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 existing Stellarium users wanting to control the software at an advanced level, use custom landcapes, and use the powerful session or event planning features.

 

Ahead of the Course

Ensure Stellarium is working on your computer.

Ensure you are comfortable activating or deactivating plug-ins.

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.

Test the Zoom meeting software.

 

Upcoming Course Dates

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

  • TBD

Please register in advance for the software training course.

If available space is consumed, we will 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 12 online participants per session.

 

Any questions? Contact the adminstrator (stellarium AT rascto DOT ca).

Return to the Stellarium Training Series hub.