Night Vision is a "planetarium" program that will display the heavens from any location on earth. Viewing options allow the user to control which sky objects to display, which font to use, and manipulation of various star parameters. Time may be set to run at multiple speeds, including backwards. Star charts may be printed.
Night Vision is written in 100% pure Java. This allows it to run on any computer that offers a recent Java Runtime Environment. (Includes PCs, Macs, Unix, ...) So if you have a PC at work and a Mac at home, you can run Night Vision on both!
Version 2.0 adds a toolbar, which facilitates program operation and adds new time change functionality.
A view of Night Vision
The vertical scrollbar at the right side of the window controls the altitude, or the angle from the horizon to the center of the view (center of window). With the scroll at the top the view is straight up (the zenith). Moving the scroll to the middle shows the view along the horizon, and moving it to the bottom shows the view through the earth (the nadir). Tinting will indicate where the earth blocks the view. (This horizon indication can be turned off.)
The horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of the window controls the azimuth, or direction along the horizon. With the scroll in the center, the view towards the horizon is to the south. Moving the scroll to the right moves the view to the west, then the north. Moving the scroll to the left moves the view to the east, then the north. Thus north can be achieved by moving the scroll either to the far right or the far left.
The scrollbar at the left side of the window controls the zoom (or magnification) of the view. To zoom in, move the scroll up. To zoom out, move the scroll down.
The scrollbar at the top of the window rotates the view around its center.
Night Vision should run on any computer that contains a recent Java Runtime Environment (Java 1.3 or later). Most computers come with Java already installed. To check if Java is installed on your computer (and its version) issue the following command from a command window:
java -version
Windows users can access a self-installing package that has Java already
included (see below).
For computers without Java (or if pre-1.3), various versions are available
for most operating systems. A good place to start is Sun's
Downloads website.
Java is normally free for most operating systems.
DST update: The rules for Daylight Saving Time in the US have changed for 2007. For Night Vision's automatic DST adjustment to work correctly for US locations, it is required for Java to be at the following versions: 1.3.1_18 or later, 1.4.2_11 or later, 5.0 Update 6 or later, or 6.0 or later.
A minimum recommendation is at least a 200MHz Pentium or comparable processor with 64MB of RAM. Most systems created this millennium should have no problem running Night Vision.
Night Vision has been designed to be readily translable into other languages. See the online help for information.
Windows users can click here (8.4MB) to get a self-installing package that includes Java (with latest Daylight Saving Time rules). If Java is already on your computer, click here (2.1MB) for a smaller self-installing package. (Clicking the link is sufficient on some web browsers. On others a single file will be downloaded onto your PC. Remember where you downloaded it to, find it, and then execute it to install.)
Mac OSX users can click here (1.7MB) to get a self-installing package.
Linux users can click here (2.2MB) to get a self-installing package. Note: The GNU Java that comes with many Linux distributions has not advanced to the level required by Night Vision. The Sun Java Runtime Environment should be installed.
Users of other operating systems, and those who like manual installation, can click here (687KB). (Download to a clean directory, unzip, and use a web browser to follow the directions in nvj.htm).
Night Vision is free for private, non-commercial use.
You can create star charts in your web browser using a special version of Night Vision that runs on the following web site: http://www.raben.com/nvsvr/chartinput.jsp.
You may Email me at:
Please prefix your Email subject line with [NV], as in
Subject: [NV] Like your program!so that it is easily distinguishable from SPAM and is less likely to get inadvertently deleted.
This page last updated March 5, 2008