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Author Topic: BEST astronomy program available  (Read 4399 times)

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Offline macto

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Re: BEST astronomy program available
« on: July 30, 2004, 03:19:39 PM »
I have to agree with scholle, this is not a particularly useful program.  In its current state, it isn't useful for making real observations.  I would be hard pressed to find a use for it in the introductory astronomy courses I have helped to teach.

Simply put, it is eye candy.  It is very nice eye candy, but that doesn't change its nature.  What the Amiga really needs at this point (judging form the Amiga OS 4 and Morphos software list) is substance — something which you'll use for a few years without getting bored with it.  A real planetarium application may fit the bill, but I have serious doubts about the user base being large enough to justify that type of software.
 

Offline macto

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Re: BEST astronomy program available
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2004, 03:13:08 AM »
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I ran through a few of the demonstrations on the website and did find a few of interesting ones.  Is it a good educational tool?  In most cases those demonstrations would have had equal effect if you used a couple of photographs.  In a couple of cases this program, or a video, would have been more effective (the orbit of Pluto/Charon come to mind).  It is important to note that the useful demonstrations involve the dynamics of the solar system.  The orbital paths were also interesting, because they are more meaningful in a 3-D context.

The survey data that you pointed out would be interesting as an educational tool, but I have reservations.  These reservations are based upon how well we know the distances to the data represented.  (I will say a bit more on that later.)

Accurate?  I would need more information.  In general, I wouldn't trust any demonstration involving observations outside of the solar system.  There is very little data concerning the distance to stars.  When we do have data, it is because they are near by, belong to a multiple star system (binary, open or globular cluster), or are a particular class of star.  It is important to note that distances in the last two cases should only be regarded as pretty good approximations.  As for the historical appearance of the solar system (ie. anything more than a few centuries in the past or future), my understanding is that we have very little precise knowledge due to irregularities in mass distributions and such.  These irregularities may not make a large difference, but they may be significant in the context of archaeoastronomy.

Ultimately the question is, is this program useful for the Amiga?  Seeming as it is a toy for personal gratification, and that relatively few amateur or professional astronomers are interested in that form of gratification, I would say no.  People will tend to use this type of program for a short period of time, become bored with it, then move on.  A sky almanac/atlas program is a tool.  As long as the user is interested in astronomy, and as long as the program suits their needs, it will have a use.  Even so, I would have extreme reservations on how useful a digital planetarium would be on the PPC Amigas/Pegasos when other critical applications are missing.