Record your journey though the Solar System
What you need: Gaia Sky; Windows 7, 8 or 10 Time required: 45 minutes
Gaia Sky is a new, free astronomy program that lets you navigate the Solar System in glorious three dimensions from the comfort of your PC. It’s named after the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite, from which it gets its
data. One of its standout features is the option to record whatever you do within the program, then replay this to see your journey through the cosmos. We will show you how to set it up and use all of the program’s best features.
STEP 1
Before downloading the program you need to check your Windows version, so right-click Computer (either on the desktop or Start menu), then click Properties and look at your ‘System type’ 1 . You’ll see either 64bit (common) or 32bit Operating System written. Next, go to www.snipca.com/22410, then click the relevant Windows installer link 2 for your PC version. Now click the downloaded setup file, then click Run, Yes, then keep clicking Next until you need to click Finish.
STEP2
By default, Gaia Sky doesn’t launch, nor does it add a desktop shortcut. To add one, press the Windows key, then type gaia sky 1 . On Windows 7, drag and drop the program’s icon to your desktop. On Windows 8 and 10, right-click the search result 2 , then click ‘Pin to taskbar’ or ‘Pin to Start’ 3 (depending on what you want do), then open the program. You’ll first see a small screen on which you need to confirm your default settings.
STEP3
Most of the default settings are fine, but select ‘Fullscreen mode’ 1 , then click ‘Check now’ 2 to check for an updated version of the program. If you have a new PC, then change the ‘Graphics quality’ dropdown menu to High. Leave it at Normal 3 if you have an old PC because highresolution graphics can put a strain on it, which can make the program slow. Finally, tick ‘Do not show this dialog again’ 4 , then click ‘Launch application’ 5 . The program takes a few minutes to open (even on a new PC), so be patient.
STEP4
When it launches, you’ll see a view of Earth as seen from the Gaia satellite 1 . Click and drag your mouse in any direction to rotate your view; click your mouse again to stop rotating. Zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on your mouse; click your mouse to stop. On the right, you’ll see info about Earth 2 , which changes as you rotate and move around. If the program crashes for any reason, skip to Step 10 to see how to get it working again.
STEP5
Click Controls 1 to reveal a control panel with many sections (green text) 2 . Each of the sections can be expanded by clicking the ‘+’ icon 3 or used as a pop-out menu by clicking the pop-out icon. For example, the default rotation and zoom mouse controls are very sensitive. To change these, click the Camera pop-out icon 4 , move the three sliders (‘Camera speed’, ‘Rotation speed’ and ‘Turn speed’) 5 towards the left, then click Close.
STEP6
The buttons in the ‘Type visibility’ section 1 let you turn certain elements on and off. For example, click ‘labels’ 2 and ‘constellations’ 3 to see those options on screen. To search for another celestial body, press Ctrl+f to bring up the search box 4 , type the name of a planet or moon, then press Enter. When the program stops moving, scroll your mouse wheel up to zoom in.
STEP7
Once you’re comfortable with these steps, you can record your journey through the Solar System, then play this video file whenever you want. Click the Record icon 1 to start recording, move wherever you want (by searching, clicking and dragging, or using your mouse wheel), then click the Record button again to stop. To see what you’ve recorded, click the Play button 2 . Your videos will be denoted by a long number (your most recently recorded video appears) 3 . Select the video you want to watch, then click Run 4 to watch your journey.
STEP8
Another brilliant feature of Gaia Sky is the option to see how a planet and its corresponding sky looked/will look at any given point in the past or future. To do that, click the pen-shaped icon in the Time section 1 . Now type any other date (in the past or future) 2 , change the time 3 and click OK 4 . You can now navigate across the cosmos using your mouse. Click ‘Set current time’ 5 to return to the present.
STEP9
By default, everything on your screen remains static. If you want to see a planet (such as Earth) rotating on its axis, click the Play icon beside Time 1 , then click the ‘+’ icon 2 to make time move quickly. If you go really fast, you’ll notice the sun, moon and other planets moving in the background. Expand the Lighting menu 3 to see sliders 4 that let you control the brightness, size and ambient light of stars.
STEP 10
The program sometimes crashes but there’s an easy way to get it 10 working again. First, open your Task Manager (by pressing Ctrl+alt+del), select Gaia Sky in the list of running processes, click End Process/task at the bottom right, then click End Process/task again to confirm. Try restarting the program. If this method doesn’t work, open your C Drive, go to the Users folder, then click the folder with your user name 1 . Now select the folder named ‘.gaiasky’ 2 , press the Del key, then click Yes to confirm. You’ll now be able to open the program. ●