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	Celestron StarSeeker 130mm GoTo Reflector Telescope
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The developers of our award-winning Starry Night® software are pleased to announce the release of version 6.2.3, which is available now for purchase. Users of earlier version 6 software can upgrade for free! Version 6.2.3 is the most robust version yet, with performance-enhancing features such as Smooth Window Fading and Transparent Floating Windows. And Version 6.2.3 is compatible with Windows Vista! Starry Night® has never been better! So don’t delay, get the new version 6.2.3 today!

Starry Night® has never been better. So don’t delay, get the new version 6.2.3 today!

Increase your in-the-field observing success with Starry Night Pro version 6. Use the Events Finder to choose targets, or make your own Observing List for a specific night or for specific objects of interest. Print out three-view starhopping charts customized to your equipment that effortlessly guide you to challenging objects. With extensive data sets, advanced telescope control, and comprehensive observational tools, Starry Night Pro is a powerful program designed for the serious astronomer. Transform your computer into a sophisticated virtual observatory.

New Features for Version 6.2:

• We have drastically updated the Apollo Space Missions files and models in this 6.2.3 release. We have added new orbit 'segments' describing in detail the outbound, orbital, and inbound segments of these Moon missions. It is now possible to display these segments individually and accurately set the time to match the times of these events. Information about these individual mission segments is now displayed in the Info Panel. We have included the Lunar Landing craft along with their descent paths and full 3D models. We also include new Favorites files with interesting pre-set views of several of these Moon missions.
• New Appulse Event Searching alerts you when the Moon is near bright planets
• New Apollo Space Missions feature lets you explore the trajectories of the Apollo spacecraft not available anywhere else!
• 6 New Earth Horizon Panoramas let you observe from several interesting new locations
• 65 New 3-D Asteroid Models let you explore these intriguing celestial bodies
• New Meteor Showers Update makes your meteor shower observations even better New Extrasolar Planets Update helps you learn even more about planets beyond our Solar System
• New Equipment Database Update means you can use the software with a growing list of equipment
• Extended Constellation Descriptions provide more detailed information on all 88 constellations
• Smooth Window Fading (Win XP, Vista) and Transparent Floating Windows (Vista) will enhance your experience

Other Features:

• Create Observing Lists of astronomical objects using a variety of filters such as magnitude, altitude above horizon, type or database. Quickly see what objects you have observed and which ones you still need to hunt down
• Find targets effortlessly with three-view starhopping charts customized to your equipment
• Select your equipment from expanded default database of over 300 Orion, Meade, Celestron and Vixen scopes, binoculars, SBIG, Apogee, FLI and Starlight Express CCD chips and more
• Take advantage of improved Digital Settings Circles Support for non-motorized telescopes such as Orion SkyQuest IntelliScope, NGCMAX, Lumicon Sky Vector, Discovery Digital Star Finder, Orion SkyWizard III, and Celestron Advanced Astromaster
• Control your robotic telescope focuser with Computer Controlled Focuser Support (Windows only). Supported models include AstroOptik telescopes, Astrophysics GTO mount, Finger Lakes focusers, Gemini equipped mount, JMI Smart Focus, Meade LX200 and Autostar, Optec TCF-S, and PCFocus.
• Smoothly track and follow satellites with the Meade LX200 GPS telescope (Mac only)
• Recognize 1000+ craters, valleys and more instantly with surface feature outlines for the Moon
• View the locations of 160+ extrasolar planets
• Enjoy 8 additional photorealistic Earth horizon panoramas
• Watch the sun set over Gusev Crater horizon panorama created with data from Mars Rover Spirit
• Explore 10+ Moon panoramas taken by Apollo astronauts
• Select from multiple surface maps of Earth, Moon and Mars
• Customize the sky with 3 additional cloud panoramas
• Mimic effects of the atmospheric scattering
• Customize the look and feel of the controls
• Follow the paths of over 25 interplanetary probes through the solar system
• Zoom in on 3-D models of comets, asteroids, satellites and spacecraft
• Plan observing sessions with Event Finder that instantly displays celestial events, such as lunar and solar eclipses and conjunctions, for months far into the future
• Browse a library of over 100 Starry Night files that demonstrate events such as eclipses, planetary alignments and close-ups of galaxies and planets
• And much more.
• Controls most popular brands of robotic telescopes, including Orion SkyQuest Intelliscope, Meade LX200 and Autostar, Celestron Nexstar series and all ASCOM compliant scopes:
• Synchronize your telescope’s internal gaze direction with Starry Night
• Home Scope moves your scope to home position for easier computer-to-star alignment
• Park, unpark and set the park position of your scope, which is ideal for scopes placed in a permanent location or in one position for several days. Simply unpark the scope and start observing immediately without having to perform a star alignment again or recalibrating
• Quickly center the Starry Night view on the onscreen telescope position marker
• Configure slew limits prevents the telescope from moving outside a user-defined horizon in both altazimuth and equatorial configurations. This helps protect your valuable equipment from hitting the mount or tripod of the telescope.
• Simulates telescope handbox control
• Nudge your scope by seconds, minutes or degrees
• Displays scope altitude and azimuth readout
• See the sky from any location in the universe up to 700 million light years away
• Visit 16,000,000 stars
• Access 500+ million stars online
• Explore PGC Catalog of 980,000 galaxies
• View Zwicky catalog of 9134 clusters
• Select objects from dozens of databases for double stars, quasars and pulsars
• Automatically download Digitized Sky Survey images
• View Milky Way in 12 wavelengths, from infrared, radio to X-ray
• Create custom constellation sets
• Add your own horizon panoramas
• Add custom field of view indicators to match your telescope eyepiece, binoculars, CCDs or DSLRs
• Rotate FOVs directly onscreen
• Turn on more than one indicator at a time, especially if you are using a primary scope and a finderscope
• Flip the view to match your telescope, finder or binoculars
• Store comments and images on individual targets in the Log Book
• Export positional data for any object over a specific time span and interval from Ephemeris Generator
• Build your own databases
• Display dynamic Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams
• Activate night vision mode for in-the-field use
• Deepen your explorations and understanding of the universe with over 100 interactive multimedia SkyGuide tours
• See how stars and constellations change over time from 99,999 BC to 99,999 AD
• Create QuickTime™ VR movies

Starry Night Pro version 6 includes:

• DVD-ROM of Starry Night software for Windows and Macintosh
• Exclusive SkyTheater” DVD with over an hour or original movies about space
• Starry Night Companion, a 192-page illustrated astronomy book
• New, comprehensive 210-page User's Guide

What happens if I only have OpenGL 1.4 and not OpenGL 2.0? Will Starry Night version 6 run?

In Starry Night version 6, the graphics default settings are not any more graphics-intensive than version 5.

The 2 things that are new and may not be supported are:

1. The daytime sky shader. This is also OFF by default. All this does is give that pretty gradient sky look during daytime/twilight.
2. Animated horizons. Again, this is OFF by default, and Starry Night will automatically determine if it'll work on your machine (and then disable -gray out- this option). If it IS enabled and it does not work well, this option will be automatically disabled the next time the program is started up.

The ONLY new features which require a better video card than Version 5 are the two eye-candy features listed above. Overall, the other graphics in the application will not be affected if you only have an OpenGL 1.4 card.

To run Starry Night Pro version 6 you need:

A DVD-ROM drive is required for the installation of Starry Night Pro version 6 on your computer.

Windows: Requires Windows XP, 500 MHz or higher processor, 128 MB RAM and 2 GB of hard disk space. 64 MB OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky and animated grass). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024x768. DVD-ROM drive required for installation.

Recommended Graphics Card: 128 MB nVidia GeForce 6600 (or higher) or ATI Radeon X800 or higher.

Macintosh: Universal Binary runs natively on Intel and PPC Macintosh computers. Requires OS X 10.3.9 or higher, G3 450 MHz or higher processor, 128 MB RAM and 2 GB of hard disk space. Will not run on OS 9.x or earlier. 64 MB OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky and animated grass). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024x768. DVD-ROM drive required for installation.

Basic support for joysticks recognized by Windows XP and Mac OS X.

Requirements for Video DVD: Home DVD player and TV, or computer with DVD player.

Starry Night 6.2.3 will run on a Windows Vista computer provided the latest graphics card Vista drivers supporting hardware-accelerated OpenGL are installed. At present, there are Vista drivers that do not support hardware-accelerated OpenGL to the extent required by Starry Night. This is beyond our control.

The following graphics cards have been successfully tested against Starry Night on Windows Vista using latest manufacturer's drivers:

nVidia: 7600, 7300, 6600, 6200
ATI: X1900, X1650, X1550, X1300, X800 (non-AGP only)

By no means is this an exhaustive list. We are certain there are many more cards that will work and we will add more cards to this list as we are able to fully test them.