Cartes du Ciel is a free open source planetarium software to use on Windows, macOS or Linux platform. It provides the ability to draw sky charts, making use of the data in many catalogs of stars and nebulae. The position of planets, asteroids and comets are also shown.
Its accompanying catalog was essentially finished by 1958. Carte du ciel, (French: “Map of the Heavens”) projected photographic mapping of some 10 million stars in all parts of the sky that was planned to include all stars of the 14th magnitude or brighter and to list in an associated catalog all of the 12th magnitude or brighter.
In the latest version 4.2 of Cartes du Ciel offers the following changes: – New default interface with two button bar. – New icon for the buttons, better suited for night vision filters. Use larger image for big buttons and high-resolution screen. – Add direct connection to Alpaca telescope.
The Sydney 'Star Camera' used in the Carte du Ciel project, original publication, 1892