To move the camera around in a circle until I've covered the required 360° span. On my phone, the photo program simply directs me On a Google phone (I used a Pixel 3a XL),Įither the 'panorama' or 'photo sphere' mode can be used. Stellarium will take care of darkening it for the night-time views.Ĭreating the panoramic photo is fairly simple with a smart phone.

It is not necessary to have a full sphere 360x180° panoramic photo.

Panorama should cover 360° horizontally (i.e.

Horizon should be level and vertically centered.

The panoramic photo file requirements are fairly simple:

Longitude are also set correctly to match the location where the landscape panorama was shot. The stars will not be correctly plotted in the sky against the landscape selected unless your latitude and

The landscape you select can be set as the default one used by Stellarium, but remember that If you need to install the custom landscape for multiple users on the same machine, files can be shared but administrator access willl be needed and the files will need to be manually installed ( described separately). See below for a basic example set of files (location is the 'footballįield' at the observing site of the Orange County Astronomers). Next click on 'Install a new landscape from a ZIP archive', and browse to the. Click the 'Landscape' tab and click on the 'Add/Remove Landscapes.' button at the bottom of the With Stellarium open, use the 'Sky and Viewing Options Window' selection from the pop-out menu on the left Stellarium can handle installing these files once the. Two files - a graphic scene file (.png) and a text (.ini) information file must be in a folder in your userĭirectory. Stellarium provides a way to add the custom landscape from a. Orange County Astronomers member who is observing from from our Anza site, you can just download the files. The following assumes that you are familiar with Stellarium and an image processing program. When your horizon includes obstructions such as buildings or hills. Customizing that landscape for your ownĮnvironment is not hard, and handy for visualizing the sky in your position. It allows for placing the sky above a realistic landscape. Planetarium program which is handy for planning a night of observing. Stellarium (web site - ) is a free/open-source

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