| Let's take a brief detour and discuss astronomy software. There are many choices out there. One of my personal favorites is a product called Red Shift. I have used version 3.0 for about a year and a half. (Red Shift 4.0 was recently released). It does most of the things I expect from an astronomy package. It will show you a pretty realistic view of what's up in the sky at any time in any direction. You can customize it for your location and tell it what objects to show. It contains a wealth of information about all the objects in its database. Information such as type, size, distance, brightness, etc. I use it often to plan my viewing sessions and also while researching this newsletter. If you have yet to purchase an astronomy software title, Red Shift is definitely one to consider. |