Stellarium

I am currently enrolled in a professional development course entitled "Basic Astronomy For Educators." We meet every Thursday evening at the Casper Planetarium. Now, I have a pretty firm grasp on the fundamental astronomical information, but I am learning quite a lot about how to teach astronomy to school children. One of the tools our instructors presented to us is a  program called "STELLARIUM."

It's a "free, open source planetarium for your computer."

And it is amazing!

It includes tracking of the skies and its heavenly bodies: sun, moon, planets, constellations, deep space objects, and more. It has a programmable calendar and an adjustable clock and can be set to show the view of the sky from just about any location on Earth.

I set it for the place of my birth, the hour and minute, and immediately I was astonished to glimpse the astronomical alignments which occurred that very day.

I urge anybody with even the faintest glimmer of interest in the sky above to check it out. It's free, and its a whole lot more interesting and educational than your average digital distraction.

Download it now for free.

Here's the link:
http://www.stellarium.org