Virtual Moon Atlas is a software developed by Patrick Chevalley and Christian Legrand that allows you to visualize the Moon at any date and hour and can also be used to drive computerized telescopes to explore the Moon surface. The authors have made the software free for amateur astronomers, lunar observers and students who wish to practice selenography. The “Virtual Moon Atlas” is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
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A screenshot from Virtual Moon Atlas |
This software is the result of a collaboration between Christian Legrand, a passioned lunar observer, and co-author of the guide "Discover the Moon" published in English by Cambridge University Press and also published in French, German and Spanish, with Patrick Chevalley, author of the freeware "Cartes du Ciel / Sky Charts".
When the authors conceived the software they thought about something that could be easily used in astronomical observations, but also that could also be used at home to learn more about the Moon and its surface. It's interfaced with Patrick Chevalley's freeware "Sky Charts" which is also a good software to use with students.
This software can be used with students to study lunar formations just by clicking over a specific structure on the screen's lunar surface. It has a very big database that was compiled by Christian Legrand where one can find more than 9000 entries and a pictures library that has more than 7000 images.
The software allows the inversion of the Moon's image in N-S and E-W directions allowing to preview the exact image that is expected to be seen on the telescope.
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A screenshot from the same view of the Moon on Virtual Moon Atlas but on a telescope with an inversion N-S. |
It is possible to choose the language used by the software and database. To know more about the program follow the authors sugestion and read the complete manual or the quick user's guide or to look at the screens copies to see what are the possibilities.
A fantastic software...
Links:
Virtual Moon Atlas webpage
Virtual Moon Atlas download
Virtual Moon Atlas translations of the software
