Cartes du Ciel
Free desktop planetarium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cartes du Ciel ("CDC" and "SkyChart") is a free and open source planetarium program for Linux, macOS, and Windows.[2] With the change to version 3, Linux has been added as a target platform, licensing has changed from freeware to GPLv2 and the project moved to a new website.
| Cartes du Ciel | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of Version 3 beta 0.1.0 | |
| Developer | Patrick Chevalley |
| Stable release | 4.2.1
/ 24 November 2019 |
| Preview release | |
| Written in | Object Pascal |
| Operating system | Cross-platform (Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux) |
| Type | planetarium Educational software |
| License | GPLv2 |
| Website | Cartes du Ciel homepage |
| Repository | |
CDC includes the ability to control computerized GoTo telescope mounts, is ASCOM and INDI compliant, and supports the USNO's UCAC catalogs and ESA Gaia data,[citation needed] along with numerous other catalogs and utilities.[3]
The "red bulb" feature is useful when using software outside on a laptop on a dark night.[4]
According to the programmer, Patrick Chevalley, it was released as freeware because "I’d rather see amateurs spend their money for a new eyepiece than for astronomy software".[5]
Chevalley has also created a lunar atlas program, Virtual Moon Atlas, which is also free and open source software.[6]
