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Chapter 3 Navigating the Virtual Sky
This chapter explains how to scroll the Virtual Sky, change its field of view, or
display a specific area of the heavens.
Zooming the Display
When TheSky6 first runs, the field of view has the default value of 100°. This
is approximately the same field of view as the human eye.
You can “zoom in” or “zoom out” to see less or more of the sky. As the field
is narrowed, fainter, higher-magnitude objects are displayed.
The Zoom To Command
There are several ways to change the field width. One is to use the Zoom To
command from the Orientation menu (or from the pop-up that appears when
you right-click in the Virtual Sky). Choose from the list of seven preset
angles. You can also select one directly with the keystrokes listed below.
Designation
Field of View
Maximum
Naked Eye
Binoculars 50°
150°-360° (varies
with projection)
150°–180° (varies
with projection)
100°
50°
Finder 10°
10°
CONTROL+ALT+F
Telescope
1°
CONTROL+T
Minimum
30"
END
Wide Field
Keyboard
Shortcut
HOME
CONTROL+W
CONTROL+E
CONTROL+B
HOME and END are
easy to remember, because they represent the beginning
(lowest) and ending (highest) limits of magnification. The others correspond
(approximately) to the fields of view suggested by their names. For a simple
mnemonic, think “WEBFooT.”
Zoom Buttons
Another way to change the field width is to click one of the “magnifying glass”
buttons on the Orientation toolbar. Like Alice’s mushroom, one side
(“minus”) shows you more of the sky, the other side (“plus”) shows you less.
When zooming in, the incremental change is 20% of the current field width.
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