Astronomy software, any astronomer's out there ?

Jon_01

I looking for 2 bits of software and this maybe a bit OT this section ?

Something for body movement modelling, where you can set the mass of a object and then set the path,speed and mass for other objects and run the simulation in different speeds. I know there must be software for this, I can remember running a version on the ZX 81 in the stone age, so it surly must be around for pc's ???

Do any of the astronomy packages allow you to view an object as it would look from a set distance ? ie can you get a view or say Saturn showing the rings etc and then have it tell you what distance you would need to be to get that view ?

Thanks...

slicksurf

For the first bit, not so sure, there are basic models, but ultimatly the more detailed maths based models are Matlab based. I use this for modeling complex systems and is widley used by professionals\academia. Probably overkill for what you want. There are really basic ones like http://www.sciencefair-projects.org/solarsystem/solarsystem.html but never really used it. Or this http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/astro101/java/binary/binary.htm.

For the second one, how about Skymap pro? Seems to fit what your looking for http://www.skymap.com/smp_samples.htm

Good luck in your hunt.