SkyTools2. All You Need?

Uncle Rod

Is there such a thing as an astronomy program that’s powerful, useful, easy to use, and attractive? I didn’t think so. Not until I tried Greg Crinklaw’s SkyTools 2, that is. “ST2” is one of the most professionally executed amateur astronomy programs I have ever seen. It looks good and feels good.

What’s SkyTools 2? As I’ve pointed out on more than one occasion, astronomy software generally falls into one of three categories: planetariums (a “realistic” night sky on your monitor), computer atlases (A super Uranometria that lives on your hard drive) and planner-loggers (giant databases that help you generate lists of objects to observe). SkyTools falls squarely into the latter category. It does have elements of the other genres—it can do very attractive atlas charts or even draw you a picture of the entire sky—but it is really a mega database. Planners are not the type of software most amateurs gravitate to at first, but as they enter the “advanced” ranks, many begin to find planners more helpful than something that paints a pretty sky on the screen. Frankly, with more and more amateurs embracing goto technology there’s less and less need for charts—computer-printed or otherwise. I’ll often work through a list of dozens of objects without glancing at a chart all night long.



I think planners are the wave of the future in astronomy-ware, but I realize that people are reluctant to leave behind the beauties of Starry Night or The Sky for something they perceive as nothing more than a dull and dry Access database loaded up with the NGC objects. But most folks change their minds in a hurry once they get a load of what these programs can do. Don’t believe it? I certainly don’t have room here to list all of SkyTools’ features, but here is a very abbreviated summary:

• Innovative graphics display, the “NightBar,” shows the duration of darkness and object altitudes/observability.
• High-speed database engine.
• Order list objects by optimum viewing times.
• Display “current events”—important sky events for the evening.
• Takes your obstructed horizon into account when computing rise/set and optimum viewing times.
• Monthly events calendar.
• Over 1,000,000 deep sky objects included in the database.
• Hubble Guide Star Catalog.
• Access charts and object data directly from your observing lists.
• Print finder charts automatically customized for your telescope.
• Night vision (red) mode.
• Download user-developed observing lists from the Internet.
• Download new comet, asteroid and novae/supernovae data.
• Download star fields from the (huge) USNO star catalog if you need to go beyond the included GSC.
• Easy to use, fully-searchable observing logs.
• Generate photo-realistic star charts (or print “classic-style” maps).
• Bit-mapped stars can be used on charts.
• Star colors represent B-V colors.
• Smart labels eliminate overlap on charts.
• Rendered (pretty) planets.
• Telescope-binocular simulations create views representing your conditions and instruments.
• User can assign notes and images to objects.
• Fully customized printing for charts and lists.

Geez, Louise! And, again, this is just a small sample of what ST2 can do. But the question is always: “How well and simply does it do all this?” It’s easy to pile features on, but if the program is clunky--hard to navigate, slow and unstable--all the features in the world won’t save it. The answer to the question is, “darned good.” I was impressed from the moment I put the CD in the drive. One of the things astronomy-software program developers have neglected is installation. Often you’re merely told to copy files off a CD to a directory somewhere on your hard drive. Not SkyTools 2. The installation procedure is fully automated and very professional-looking. In just a few minutes, I had the program settled in on my antique 566mhz PC.

Once the program was running, I was presented with the display shown in figure 1. I was a little surprised. Where the heck were the Windows menus? You know, “file,” “edit,” etc., etc.? Was Greg Crinklaw gonna make me learn a new way of doing things? Aw for--! I was…err…”miffed,” yes. But I persevered, and it became evident that SkyTools doesn’t have the familiar Win-menu bar because it doesn’t need it.

Greg has been able to simplify and organize to the point where you just click on stuff you want to use or view. Menus appear if they are needed, then they get out of the way. Want to view the month’s events calendar? Just click on the little calendar icon. Interested in data on an object? Click on the object. Need a chart? Again, just a click or two away. In just a few minutes I was able to make my way around ST2. Oh, I did have a little help: the program includes an excellent “help” system. Manual? Don’t need no stinkin’ manual. The program does not include the now de rigueur .pdf manual file common to must astro-software. And you don’t miss it. Everything you need to know is accessible via Help, and this is much more usable really than an Acrobat file—or even a printed guide.

The opening screen, “Observing Lists,” is your home base, and the place where you’ll spend most of your time, but other screens, available via tabs, give you access to “Current Events,” “Special Events,” and “Ephemerides.”

Below the tabs, you’ll find an extensive icon-bar. This allows you to do things like search for objects to add to your lists, check-out an evening’s sky events, configure the program and turn on the SkyTools’ red night-vision mode. I like icons, and was happy to see that these icons are well-thought-out for the most part. Nothing’s more frustrating than trying to remember what a programmer is trying to represent with some odd-looking little picture.

After the icons, you come to a row of hypertext links. These take you to windows that allow you to select location, day/time and observer. Initially, I was a little puzzled by this feature. Why have a mixed metaphor--hypertext instead of just a few more icons on the bar? But this actually works well, since the hypertext for location actually tells you the current location—same for day/time and observer.

Next up onscreen is what Mr. Crinklaw calls the “NightBar.” This is a graph that displays altitude along its Y axis and time along its X axis. A look at this instantly shows when twilight begins and ends, when the Moon rises/sets, and when your object of interest (selected from your list) is best placed for observing. A graph of this type is a splendid idea that has appeared in a few other astronomy programs over the years (most notably David Chandler’s Deep Space), but in a much less attractive and less fully-realized form. If there’s one SkyTools feature that people really love and comment on, it’s this NightBar.

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Added:  Friday, August 01, 2003
Reviewer:  Rod Mollise
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