Verifying a Death Sky in Stellarium, Step by Step
You do not need to take our word for it: any death sky can be checked in Stellarium in a few minutes — set the time, the place, the coordinates and the rule, and the result speaks for itself.
Set Stellarium to the recorded date, time and coordinates; turn on the equatorial grid; read the zenith (straight up); find the flagged star by its catalog ID and measure its angular distance from the zenith. Four steps, and the result is either confirmed or refuted.
What you need: free software and a record
Stellarium is free, open-source planetarium software, available as a desktop app and on the web. Pair it with one record: date, time (mind the time zone), the place’s coordinates, and the catalog ID of the flagged star. All of these appear on our case pages and certificates.
Step one: set time and place
Open the date-and-time dialog, enter the recorded moment, and set the time zone to the one in use at that place at that time; then set the location by coordinates. These two inputs orient the whole dome — they deserve the most care, and they are where mistakes most often hide.
Step two: read the zenith — step three: find the star
Press Z to look straight up, enable the equatorial grid, and read the right ascension and declination of that point; compare them with the numbers on the record. Then search the catalog ID, and the software will point straight at the star. Look at where it sits relative to the zenith — it should be the closest star in that neighborhood.
What if it does not match
Check the three usual suspects first: a wrong time zone (especially daylight saving or historical zones), coordinates entered with the wrong sign, or an “exact” time that is actually approximate. If none of those explain it, the difference deserves attention — send us a screenshot and we will check it; if we got it wrong, we correct it and say so. A system that can be refuted is a system that can be trusted.
FAQ
Is the web version of Stellarium enough?
Yes for the core steps: setting time, location and the equatorial grid. The desktop version handles historical time zones and fainter stars more completely for stricter checks.
Why is the nearest star I get slightly different?
Usually the catalog depth or filter rule differs: we restrict candidates to stars brighter than a given magnitude and above the horizon, while different apps show different catalog depths by default. The gap is normally tiny — the method matters more than one star.