Ratings for free planetarium and

Software Name	Ease of use	realism	all sky view	prints star charts	Solar system mode	screen capture	movie capture	full screen mode	telescope control	Night vision mode	runs scripts	instruction manual	On line support	enhanced purchase version	Overall rating**	Notes
WinStars 2	4.7	5	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes	4.4	Many imports from the internet if connected: DDS images, weather, satellites, etc. Internet updates. Interchangeable landscapes, downloadable or make your own. The bright stars twinkle. Many features, but easy to use. Can not do full sky view and "print" sends the current screen to your default image viewer. No way to print black on white sky maps.
Stellarium	4.5	4.5	yes	no	no	no	no	yes*	no	no	yes	yes	yes	no	4.6	*has only full screen mode. Very realistic with landscape, atmosphere, and star twinkle. There is an online forum for discussion of Stellarium and a full printable manual in pdf.
StarCalc	4	2	yes	4	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	4.5	Simple to use but lacking Help file as well as instruction manual. Prints good stars charts.
Cartes du Ciel (Star Charts)	4.3	4	yes	yes	no	yes	no	no	yes	yes	no	yes	no	no	4.7	Many features and very flexible. Useful for the serious armature astronomer. A little complex to use. Prints nice star charts. Produces calendars and object lists for the current field of view. Multi language selectable.
Digital Universe	3.5	4.7	no	no		no		yes	no	no	yes	yes	yes	no
Celestia	2	5	n/a	no	no	no	no	yes	no	n/a	yes	yes	extensive	no	4.8	Celestia is not a sky map program. Celestia allows realistic tours of the solar system and beyond. The learning curve is steep, but well worth it. A great program to introduce students to space. Extensive online support via forum. Many are producing add-ons for Celestia.
Star Gaze	4.5	1	no	4	no	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	4.2	Very simple and simple to use. Good for a quick look at the night sky. Prints a fair sky map.
Hallo Northern Sky	4.5	1	yes	yes	no	yes	no	no	yes	yes	no	no	yes	no		Imports DDS images. Many add-ons from web site. Extensive Help file. Some interesting features.
Asynx Planetarium	4	1	yes	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no	online			4.0	Limited features. Fairly simple to use. Prints acceptable sky charts.
Open Universe	3.5	4.7	no	no	yes	no	no	no	no		?	no	?	no		No planetarium mode. Free fly through solar system. There is a problem with the text on the control screen.
Spica	3.8	1	yes	no	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	4.0	Does not print sky maps directly, but has options for save of screen in color and black and white which can be printed. Has nice Jupiter and Saturn moon position display
Deep Space	3.4	1	yes	no	no	no	no	yes*	no	no	no	no	yes	yes	3.3	*has only full screen mode. DOS program
C2A	4.5	1	yes	yes	no	yes	no	no	yes	yes	no	no	limited	no	4.2	Fairly easy to use. Imports DDS images of star field. Printed star map is acceptable, but bright star dots are too big. Everything is in English accept the Help files.
Stellaris	5	1	no	no	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	yes	no	no	no		Very different multi screen. Extensive Help file. Does not have print feature.
AlphaCentaure	5	1	yes	no	yes	no	no	no	no		no	no	none	no		Many useful features.
Adastra Freestar	2.5	1.5	yes	yes	no	yes	no	yes	no	no	no	no	no	yes	2.5	Not for beginners. Not intuitive operation. Has some interesting features, but somewhat limited. You realize immediately that they want you to buy the purchase version Stella 2000.
Astrofly	4.2	1	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	2.8	3D fly thru of stars
SkyChartIII	4.8	3	yes	yes	no	yes*	no	no	yes	yes	no	no**	no	yes	3	Copy to clipboard *Does have help file
Home Planet	4.4	2.5	yes	no*	yes	yes	no	no	yes	no	no	no***	limited	no**		Can copy to clipboard, but no direct print. There are 2 versions, Lite and Full. **Extensive help file.