As you can see in the screenshot above, this program will display stars, constellations – with outlines and illustrations – and nebulae, planets, the works. You can display the ground, which changes lumination with the time of day. You can also display cardinal points of orientation, zoom in and out, change from current time to any time future or past, and turn all these features off and on. There’s also a “red” button which changes the graphics to red…this is handy for using the program in the dark on a laptop, so you don’t ruin your night vision.

You can find this program, which is a free download, at www.stellarium.org. For other neat stargazing and aurora resources that I’ve found useful, click on the Northern Lights link at the top right of this screen.