Stargazing 3D/2D Universe Model (DSO, stars etc.)

[Arman777]

Hey all,

I am looking forward to knowing some software/sites that show an extensive collection of the DSOs. I want it to be 3D, but it can also be 2D. I know/tried some of these,

Stellarium - 2D
Celestia - 3D
https://www.legacysurvey.org/viewer#IC 2095 - 2D
Gaia Sky (I have tried to download it, but some problems occurred, however, I'll try to download it again)

I like Stellarium, but there's only one problem. DSO's image quality (provided via DSS) is lower than the DESI (legacy survey). So for the DSO objects, DESI seems to be the best site.

If you know some excellent software or sites, feel free to share :)

Note: Btw I am using Linux so some software might not be compatible. So I cannot try Space Engine...I am also not even sure Space Engine provides DSO ..

 

[collinsmark]

I'm not sure if you know this, but Stellarium can use and has access to a whole boatload of sky surveys. I'll try to tell you what I know.

Disclaimer:

• I don't use this feature very often. I am in no way an expert on any of this. Sky Surveys are a relatively recent feature in Stellarium, and may contain bugs as far as I know. I barely know what I'm talking about. I might be an idiot.
• You'll need an Internet connection, at least at the beginning, and maybe every time you use this. I'm under the impression that none of these selectable sky surveys get stored on your hard drive, but again I might be an idiot (so I'm not sure).
• Stellarium is always changing, so what I'm describing is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of this post.
• I'm using Stellarium on a Windows 10 PC. If you're using Stellarium on a Mac or some other platform, I'm not sure how well any of this translates.

Preparation:

Normally, out of the box, Stellarium renders nearly all the its stars itself, and only uses images in the immediate surroundings of deep sky objects (DSOs). This is the mode you want for the rest of this. Stellarium gives you the option of replacing the rest of the sky with its default "DSS Survey," but you don't want this for what I'm about to describe below. Make sure you are not enabling Stellarium's default DSS Survey. From what I can tell, if Stellarium's "DSS Survey" is enabled (i.e, the button is highlighted), it overrides everything I'm about to describe later. Here's how to make sure it's not enabled.

1. On the left menu, click on "Configuration window [F2]" if it's not open already.
2. Click on the "Extras" tab.
3. In the "Show additional buttons" section, make sure the "DSS survey" box is checked. This will cause a new button on the bottom menu (the floating menu on the bottom of the screen) to appear. It says "DSS" and is located right next to the "Planet labels" button that looks like Saturn.
4. Make sure the DSS button is not highlighted. If it's highlighted it means you are using the default DSS Survey that will override everything below. So if it's highlighted, click on it to un-highlight it.
5. (optional) If you want, go back to the configuration menu and uncheck the "DSS survey" if you want to get rid of that DSS button to eliminate clutter. Your choice.

Enable your chosen Sky Survey:

1. (optional) Select your favorite deep sky object (or at least one you know will be included in the particular Sky Survey that you're interested in), and zoom in as you normally would like to view it.
2. On the left side of the screen, click on "Sky and viewing options window [F4]" if that window is not already open.
3. Click on the "Surveys" tab. A list will start populating (again, make sure you're connected to the Internet if it doesn't). This might take a while. The list is big. It's an impressive list. Be patient.
4. Check the checkbox for whichever Sky Survey you want to use. Note: Not all surveys cover the whole sky. If you're just testing this feature out, I suggest checking the box for "unWISE color for W2 and W1 bands"; it loads pretty quickly and covers the whole sky. (As another option, "DSS colored" works pretty well too.) Some sky surveys take a lot longer to load than others.
5. The deep sky object that you had selected (and possibly everything around it) should temporarily disappear to be gradually replaced by the image in your selected Sky Survey. Be patient though; it might take awhile.
6. If it's not replaced immediately, look at the lower right part of the screen, and you should see a progress bar indicating the progress of your selected Sky Survey.
7. (if necessary) If nothing happens, press <CNTL>+<ALT>+D. This toggles between normal viewing and the chosen Sky Survey. (I'm not sure, but you might need to do this just to get things rolling.)
8. (if necessary) If still nothing happens, make sure the Sky Survey you chose is one that contains the object you're viewing (some sky surveys only contain part of the sky, or only particular objects). Also, if you haven't already, go back to the section of this post labeled "Preparation:" and make sure that the "DSS" button is not highlighted. (if that button is highlighted, it overrides everything).

Toggling between normal viewing and your chosen Sky Survey:

• Press <CNTL>+<ALT>+D.
• According to the help menu [F1], this triggers "Toggle Hierarchical Progressive Surveys" It effectively just allows you to switch back and forth between normal and Sky Survey views.

Again though, this is different than that "DSS" button discussed in the "Preparation:" section of this post. That button can allow you to switch between your chosen Sky Survey and Stellarium's default "DSS Survey." But that's probably not what you want. Probably.

Oh, god, what have I done:

OK. So let's say you've played around with this for awhile and you hate it. Here's how to go back and undo Sky Surveys.

• On the left side of the screen, click on "Sky and viewing options window [F4]" if that window is not already open.
• Click on the "Surveys" tab. A list will start populating.
• Make sure nothing on that list is checked.