In the next article we are going to take a look at Winstars 3. It is a planetarium software for Gnu / Linux, Windows, macOS and Android. Comes with OpenNGC, EDD and Gaia DR2 catalog support. With these it allows users to access more than 1.700 billion stars, 30.000 galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. It is completely free for Gnu / Linux users.
In Winstars 3 you can control the observation direction with the mouse. Offers a 3D interface and a 3D schematic of the planetary orbits. It will also allow users to control a wide range of telescopes.
WinStars is a 3D simulator that accurately represents the celestial objects of our Universe. This software allows you to travel around the galaxy and its surroundings. You will also have a constant update of the latest news and scientific discoveries. WinStars will incorporate new functionalities and tools dedicated to a greater knowledge of our Universe.
General features of Winstars 3
- Gaia Catalog DR2 with more than 1700 million stars. In order to use it, it requires an Internet connection.
- More than 30.000 galaxies, nebulae and star clusters (Catalogues OpenNGC+EDD).
- This program offers a perspective that is managed with a mouse or touch screen.
- It will allow us to represent in a very simple way the sky setting on a certain date.
- We can observe the 3D rendering of almost 10% of the known universe.
- Offer psychological therapy to employees downloadable modules that follow the latest evolutions in astrophysics.
- Calculate the visible astronomical phenomena from the observation site.
- Offer psychological therapy to employees detailed data about each object available.
- Calculate the positions of the main natural satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune. Also comets and asteroids.
- Represents the celestial equator, the equatorial and azimuthal coordinate grids.
- Customizable landscapes.
- It also has resources on the internet: update of the orbital parameters of comets and asteroids, visualization of the digitized sky DSS (Digitized Sky Survey), terrestrial cloud cover in real time, visualization of the visibility of artificial satellites, etc.
- It gives us the possibility to control a good range of telescopes.
- Automatic Updates of the software on a regular basis.
- We will find this program available in the languages: German, Spanish, French, English and Russian.
Install Winstars 3 Planetarium on Ubuntu 19.10
Installing Winstars 3 on Ubuntu requires several steps. The first thing we are going to need is to install some dependencies like the ones described in their website. Next we will see how to proceed to install this program on Ubuntu 19.10.
To begin we will have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write the following command.
sudo apt update
After updating the available software, we will install the dependencies required by Winstars 3 running the following command in the same terminal:
sudo apt install libfreetype6 libpng-dev libpng16-16 zlib1g zlib1g-dev libquazip5-dev libquazip5-1 libharfbuzz0b libharfbuzz-dev freeglut3 libssl1.1
After installing the required dependencies, with the following command we will download the installer file to our team from Winstars 3:
wget https://winstars.net/files/version3/winstars_installer.bin
When the download is complete, we will have to execute the following commands one by one from the same folder where we have the installer saved. With them you we will give the appropriate permissions and start the installer to complete the installation process:
sudo chmod a+x winstars_installer.bin sudo ./winstars_installer.bin
The installer window is very easy to follow. That is all we will need to be able to run the application, since Winstars 3 will be installed by default in the directory / opt / WinStars3 Ubuntu 19.10 system.
Once the installation is finished, we only have to move to the installation folder:
cd /opt/WinStars3
Once in it, we can run the following command to open the application:
sudo ./WinStars3.sh
Uninstall Winstars
It can uninstall or update Winstars 3 executing the following command in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T), from the installation folder of the program:
sudo ./MaintenanceTool
The installation steps shown in this article cannot be followed in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS due to glibc 2.27 requirement. For more information about this program, you can consult the project website.