Too many stars!!!

[Oleg Goldshmidt]

Shachar Shemesh <shachar at shemesh.biz> writes:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm trying to use kstars via a projector in order to create a
> realistic sky map of the day of her birth in her room. I've resolved
> most of the technical problems involved (I still need to pick the
> correct projection type and figure out how to position the projector
> completely vertical), but there is another problem I'm facing. In its
> default mode, kstars simply displays too many stars.
>
> When you click it in order to move the display around, it shows just
> the major stars, and that view has about the right amount of stars for
> us to paint on the ceiling and walls, but when stationary, there are
> simply too many stars in the view.
>
> I've tried to find a way to limit the view to "only the most bright
> stars", to no avail.
>
> If anyone has any idea (an idea that recommends a different program is
> also okay), please say so.

I admit that although I am a (former) astrophysicist I gave kstars
only the briefest of looks in the past. I just fired it up because you
made me curious. A really neat idea, by the way.

Go to Settings -> Configure Kstars and try to reduce "star density"
(in the "catalogs" tab). As far as I can tell, this effectively limits
the magnitude of shown object. I think it is somewhat limited, and it
does not let you just set a numeric value for the faintest
magnitufde. Does it help?

Also, in the same screen you can disable "deep sky" catalogs.

After a few minutes of playing with that I think I see only a rather
small dfference between the number of stars while moving and
stationary. The moving settings, by the way, are in the Advanced tab
of the configuration window.

I might have goofed or done something you don't want to do.

-- 
Oleg Goldshmidt | pub at goldshmidt.org