Advanced Telescope Supplies

Advanced Telescope Supplies

Software Bisque offer a range of astronomy software packages that can be used for acting as a visual guide to observing including printing your own star charts, through to full observatory control, locally or via the internet.
The Sky is available for Windows and Macintosh PC platforms. Windows versions will run on Win95/98/2000/SE/NT systems.

Computer controlled mount users will find The Sky's point and click interface is a delight to use.

Simply point to the object you want to look at with the mouse cursor, click on the telescope icon, and the telescope will reposition to that object.

The Sky includes most object catalogues, with literally millions of entries being a simple mouse click away.

The core program to the Software Bisque suite is The Sky. Both PC and Macintosh Versions have the following features:

Standard Feature (Levels II, III and IV)

Brief Explanation

Planetarium Display

Input any date (from 4,712 B.C. to A.D. 10,000) and any time to show a graphical representation of what the sky looks like from your location.

TheSky can show the position of all of the planets, the Moon, comets, asteroids, man-made satellites, 19 million stars and about 100,000 deep-space objects (galaxies, clusters, nebulas, etc.)

Eclipse Finder

Searches for lunar and solar eclipses, enabling you to animate solar and lunar eclipses and view their geometry. Even display a solar eclipse's path of totality on a map of the Earth.

Moons of Jupiter and Saturn

Shows the positions of Jupiter's Galilean moons and Saturn's moons at any given time, allowing you to set the moons into motion.

Moon Phase Calendar

Display or print a monthly calendar (for any month) with the phase for each day and text showing the moon's significant phases. Also print the rise and set times for the Sun and Moon for each day of any month.   Great for planning observing sessions!

3D Solar System Mode

View the planets, comets, and minor planets from anywhere in the solar system.   Watch comets race around the sun. Plot comet and minor planet's paths through the solar system. Lock On and/or View From any object during a time skip animation.

Record Movies

Create and play back fascinating QuickTime^® Movies using output from TheSky's animation.

Daytime Sky Mode

Simulate the daytime sky and view beautiful sunrises, sunsets, or solar eclipses.

Planet Report

Generate a report that shows information (such as right ascension/declination and altitude/azimuth) about the planets.   This report also shows the daily rise/set times of the moon and sun, as well as beginning and ending twilight times for the current month.

Full Screen Mode

Show only the Virtual Sky with no toolbars or windows. Great when using TheSky with the telescope.

Night Vision Mode

Changes the computer screen to red to preserve dark adaptation.

Mirror Image

Invert the virtual sky to simulate the sky as it might appear through a telescope.

Chart Mode

Display the virtual sky similar to a printed star atlas.

Multiple Map Projections

Show the Celestial Sphere using stereographic, orthographic, Mercator (fields of view up to 360° ), Azimuthal equal-area, Azimuthal equal-distance or gnonomic (for plotting meteor showers) cartographic projections.

Star Chart Output

Copy star charts to the Clipboard as Metafiles (Windows) or PICT pictures (Macintosh) to paste into other applications. Spruce up your next astronomy club newsletter by including a professional-looking star chart!

Compute Angular Separation

Display the precise angular separation between any two objects on screen.

Time Service Settings

Use the NIST Time Service to set your computer's clock accurately.

Free Screen Rotation

Rotate the Virtual Sky in any angle when matching star fields.

Field of View Indicators

Overlay eyepiece, CCD Camera, Telrad^©, or photographic film Field of View Indicators (FOVIs) for comparing star fields.

Integrated Telescope Control

Built-in control for almost every commercially available telescope, including "goto" and encoder-based models.

Display Artificial Satellites

Using standard Two-Line Element data from the Internet, you can plot the positions of any satellite (such as the Space Shuttle or GPS satellite) in "real time" or animate its motion against a starry background.

Import and Display New Databases

Quickly turn plain ASCII text into graphical database.

Stellar Proper Motion

Watch the motion of the stars over hundreds, or thousands of years. Proper motion "vectors" show the path that the stars will follow over time.

Milky Way Isophotes

Displays the outline of our galaxy and its different regions of brightness.

Display Earth's Shadow

When simulating lunar eclipses, the Umbra and the Penumbra of the Earth's shadow is displayed against the starry background. This "object" is also very handy for minor planet hunters who need to search dark areas of the sky that are directly "opposite" the Sun.

Galactic Equator

Shows the position of the Milky Way's equator as well as the North and South Galactic Poles.

Overlay Pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey

Overlay pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey directly on the graphical sky display. Check out RealSky for more information about this incredible feature.

In addition, The Sky, Level IV Version 5.0 offers unmatched telescope control and pointing refinement using Bisques optional T-Point module. This sophisticated software allows users to remotely position most computer controlled telescopes with sub arc minute accuracy....an essential tool if you have CCD imaging in mind!

The sample screen image above shows how T-Point can help robotic telescope users model and refine the accuracy of their telescopes' pointing. The Sky can also be integrated with CCDSOFT, software Bisques CCD camera control and image processing software to allow astrometric and photometric measurments to be taken from almost any CCD image.

To learn in detail about all of Software Bisques products, please see the Bisque web site

Advanced Telescope Supplies offers The Sky, Version 5.0 level IV for $A520* plus GST, delivered to anywhere in Australia by post. We can also deliver any other software Bisque product (software only) at a 10% discount to the $US list *prices. (*Price assumes $A 1.00 equal to $US 0.50 and will change with $A to $US)

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Standard Feature (Levels II, III and IV)	Brief Explanation
Planetarium Display	Input any date (from 4,712 B.C. to A.D. 10,000) and any time to show a graphical representation of what the sky looks like from your location. TheSky can show the position of all of the planets, the Moon, comets, asteroids, man-made satellites, 19 million stars and about 100,000 deep-space objects (galaxies, clusters, nebulas, etc.)
Eclipse Finder	Searches for lunar and solar eclipses, enabling you to animate solar and lunar eclipses and view their geometry. Even display a solar eclipse's path of totality on a map of the Earth.
Moons of Jupiter and Saturn	Shows the positions of Jupiter's Galilean moons and Saturn's moons at any given time, allowing you to set the moons into motion.
Moon Phase Calendar	Display or print a monthly calendar (for any month) with the phase for each day and text showing the moon's significant phases. Also print the rise and set times for the Sun and Moon for each day of any month. Great for planning observing sessions!
3D Solar System Mode	View the planets, comets, and minor planets from anywhere in the solar system. Watch comets race around the sun. Plot comet and minor planet's paths through the solar system. Lock On and/or View From any object during a time skip animation.
Record Movies	Create and play back fascinating QuickTime^® Movies using output from TheSky's animation.
Daytime Sky Mode	Simulate the daytime sky and view beautiful sunrises, sunsets, or solar eclipses.
Planet Report	Generate a report that shows information (such as right ascension/declination and altitude/azimuth) about the planets. This report also shows the daily rise/set times of the moon and sun, as well as beginning and ending twilight times for the current month.
Full Screen Mode	Show only the Virtual Sky with no toolbars or windows. Great when using TheSky with the telescope.
Night Vision Mode	Changes the computer screen to red to preserve dark adaptation.
Mirror Image	Invert the virtual sky to simulate the sky as it might appear through a telescope.
Chart Mode	Display the virtual sky similar to a printed star atlas.
Multiple Map Projections	Show the Celestial Sphere using stereographic, orthographic, Mercator (fields of view up to 360° ), Azimuthal equal-area, Azimuthal equal-distance or gnonomic (for plotting meteor showers) cartographic projections.
Star Chart Output	Copy star charts to the Clipboard as Metafiles (Windows) or PICT pictures (Macintosh) to paste into other applications. Spruce up your next astronomy club newsletter by including a professional-looking star chart!
Compute Angular Separation	Display the precise angular separation between any two objects on screen.
Time Service Settings	Use the NIST Time Service to set your computer's clock accurately.
Free Screen Rotation	Rotate the Virtual Sky in any angle when matching star fields.
Field of View Indicators	Overlay eyepiece, CCD Camera, Telrad^©, or photographic film Field of View Indicators (FOVIs) for comparing star fields.
Integrated Telescope Control	Built-in control for almost every commercially available telescope, including "goto" and encoder-based models.
Display Artificial Satellites	Using standard Two-Line Element data from the Internet, you can plot the positions of any satellite (such as the Space Shuttle or GPS satellite) in "real time" or animate its motion against a starry background.
Import and Display New Databases	Quickly turn plain ASCII text into graphical database.
Stellar Proper Motion	Watch the motion of the stars over hundreds, or thousands of years. Proper motion "vectors" show the path that the stars will follow over time.
Milky Way Isophotes	Displays the outline of our galaxy and its different regions of brightness.
Display Earth's Shadow	When simulating lunar eclipses, the Umbra and the Penumbra of the Earth's shadow is displayed against the starry background. This "object" is also very handy for minor planet hunters who need to search dark areas of the sky that are directly "opposite" the Sun.
Galactic Equator	Shows the position of the Milky Way's equator as well as the North and South Galactic Poles.
Overlay Pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey	Overlay pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey directly on the graphical sky display. Check out RealSky for more information about this incredible feature.