X-Stellarium

X-Stellarium is the portable version of Stellarium and helps you learn about planets and stars, by providing you with an array of details regarding them.

This software application does not require installation, meaning you can drop the program files to any location on the hard disk, in order to easily run it from there, by double-clicking the executable. In addition to that, it is possible to use X-Stellarium on any computer you have access to, by copying the aforementioned files to a USB flash drive.

It is also important to keep in mind the fact that this utility is not going to update with new entries the Windows registry and Start menu/screen.

In order to make navigating through the Universe easy, this tool is always displayed in full screen mode and it supports the “drag and drop” function, as well as zooming in and out with the scrollwheel.

Clicking on an outer space object displays information pertaining to it, including type, magnitude, longitude, latitude, geometric and apparent hour angle, distance from Earth and apparent diameter.

It is possible to toggle Azimuthal and Equatorial grids, ground, cardinal points, deep-sky objects and planet labels. Moreover, you can show or hide constellation lines, labels, boundaries and art, switch between projections (equal area, fish-eye, cylinder, perspective etc.) and choose a landscape from a long list of built-in places (Jupiter, Neptune, ocean, Garching etc.).

This program also enables you to view and read up on different sky cultures, such as the Arabic, Aztec, Chinese and Navaho ones.

In conclusion, X-Stellarium proves to be a very interesting and educational piece of software, with a good response time.