Products

Voyager 4

for Mac OS X and Windows

"I have to say that I am absolutely stunned with the quality of the product!!! The huge amount of work that must have gone into its design - so many facilities that work just so smoothly! I had been using Starry Night - but the sophistication of Voyager 4 leaves it for dead! I simply cannot get over just how many control functions there are - and how each produces an instantaneous result! … Carina Software must be immensely proud of its Voyager team - their product is certainly the most awesome and treasured application I've ever had on my machine!" Chris Cooper, Australia, 14 November 2007

"I'm happy to note that I've been with Carina Software from the beginning as far as Voyager planetarium software is concerned. As a former planetarium director of some 30 year's experience, it has always been my favorite planetarium-oriented computer program." Carl J. Wenning, Illinois State University, 28 November 2007

"I will be citing the software in a journal article I am writing … You have an awesome piece of software that made my project much easier." R. A. Venglarcik, 24 January 2008

"This is an awesome program. I am just learning about astronomy and this program is what I have been searching for. I am 41 and it allows me to show my children what is 'out there.' Thanks for a great, easy to use, and very affordable program." Henry Bourne Joy IV, Harbour Springs, Michigan, 27 January 2008

"I just switched from a PC last month and Voyager 4 is my first OS X program. As an amateur astronomer I look forward to exploring all of Voyager's features. So far (after installing and 'playing around' with it last night) everything looks really great!" Bob Satterwhite, 23 January 2008

Carina Software is proud to introduce Voyager 4 for Mac OS X and Windows. This release of Voyager represents the biggest leap foward in the product line since it was first introduced more than 15 years ago. Carina Software offers Voyager 4 in a CD-ROM version, and in a CD/DVD-ROM version. For a detailed description of the differences between these two versions, click here.

Voyager 4 includes a rich set of new features and capabilities; the following overview describes the major features of the program that have been updated from Voyager III. Both Mac OS X and Windows users can download a free beta demo version of Voyager 4 from our Demo Download page.

This chart uses an Elliptical projection to show a 360° panorama<br>of the Milky Way. Click to enlarge. (Mac OS X)

A close-up of the Moon's terminator region.(Windows XP)

A highly magnified view of Mars at opposition in 2005, showing its path against the background stars.(Windows XP)

The constellations, Milky Way, and horizon can be rendered as simple geometric shapes as well as with photo-realism. Click to enlarge. (Mac OS X)

Texture-Mapped Horizon Display

Voyager 4 gives you a photorealistic textured horizon display - create a digital panorama of your own horizon, and show a realistic sky as it appears from your back yard!

Realistically Rendered Stars

Stars are drawn with photo quality using a model based on real CCD star images. You can adjust the size and intensity of star images - or you can choose to display stars simply as circles, to generate an "old fashioned" star chart.

High-Resolution Planetary Surface Maps

Planets and moons are rendered realistically, using the latest imagery from NASA's Clementine, Magellan, Mars Global Surveyor, Galileo and Cassini missions, with super-high-resolution maps of the Earth, Moon, Mars, and Venus.

Digitized Sky Survey Deep Sky Object Images

Color images of hundreds of Messier and Caldwell deep sky objects from the second-generation Digitized Sky Survey are embedded directly in sky charts. Thousands more are displayed as detailed contours or outlined symbols.

Panoramic Digital Milky Way Rendering

Voyager 4 renders the Milky Way in high detail using a digital 360-degree panorama generated from an actual photographic survey of the Milky Way. Milky way boundary areas can be shown using simple geometric outlines as well.

New Chart Projections for Display of Wide Fields

Voyager 4 can unwrap a 360-degree panorama of the sky onto your computer screen, using the same Mercator, Elliptical, Gnomonic, and Sinusoidal projections that are used to show maps of the Earth. This is something no other astronomy program can do!

Sky Chart Export to Web-Friendly Formats

Earlier versions of Voyager let you export sky charts as Macintosh PICT files. Voyager 4 can export charts as JPEG or TIFF files as well, for easy display on web pages or import into other documents.

The trajectory of the Voyager 2 spacecraft through the Saturn system in 1980, showing moon orbits. Click to enlarge. (Windows XP)

The East and West Trojan asteroids, in relation to the planets and the Ecliptic plane. Click to enlarge. (Windows XP)

A rare triple transit by Jupiter's moons Io, Ganymede, and Callisto on March 28th, 2004, showing moon shadow cones.

This view of the night sky from Arizona in 447,000 B.C. shows Aldebaran and Capella as a double pole star. (Windows XP)

New Engine

High-Precision Planetary Ephemeris

Voyager 4 computes planetary positions using the latest JPL lunar and planetary ephemerides for times within 10,000 years of the present. You can optionally include corrections for light time, aberration, dynamic time, and other effects to reproduce the ephemerides in the Astronomical Almanac to sub-arcsecond precision.

Astronomical Computation Over a Milion-Year Timespan

Voyager 4 accurately models the precession of the Earth's axis and the motions of the stars back to the dawn of humanity. When simulating the skies more than 10,000 years from the present, Voyager 4 extrapolates lunar and planetary positions forward and backward realistically over a 500,000-year timespan from the current epoch.

Import of Updated Asteroid, Comet, and Satellite Orbits

Voyager 4 can import the latest orbit data for asteroids and comets from the Minor Planet Center, and the Lowell Observatory ASTORB database. Voyager 4 also imports satellite orbit files in the standard NASA TLE (Two Line Element) format, to ensure accurate satellite position predictions.

Minor Outer Planet Moons

Voyager 4 includes orbit models for the minor satellites of the outer planets, as well as more-well-known "major" satellites. Watch Saturn's "shepherd" moons orbiting outside the delicate F-ring; view the chaotic mix of Jupiter's "temporary" outer moons orbiting in retrograde around the planet.

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), with background stars plotted from the Guide Star Catalog 2 (GSC2).(Mac OS X)

A view of the Milky Way in Cygnus, showing the North America and Gamma Cygni Nebulae. Click to enlarge. (Windows XP)

The Lagoon Nebula (M8), with background stars plotted from the SKYMAP, Hipparcos, and Tycho catalogs, but not the GSC2. (Mac OS X)

The Lagoon Nebula again, including background stars from the GSC2 - compare to image on the left! (Mac OS X)

New Data

Improved Stellar Database

Voyager 4's basic stellar database is comprised of a combination of data from NASA's SKYMAP catalog, and the older the Hipparcos, Tycho-1, and Tycho-2 catalogs. It is a complete and comprehensive compendium of data on more than 2.5 million stars brighter than magnitude 12. Data for more than 38,000 variable stars, and over 100,000 double stars - including more than 1300 binary systems with orbits - are integrated into the main stellar database. View the components of binary stars such as Alpha Centauri, or the "Double Double" in Lyra - orbiting each other over hundreds of years!

Guide Star Catalog 2.3

The Voyager 4 DVD-ROM expands the basic stellar database by including all stars from the second-generation Guide Star Catalog brighter than magnitude 18 - a total of more than 155 million stars. (The original GSC, still used by most other planetarium programs, contains one tenth as many stars.) Unlike its predecessor, the GSC2.3 contains color and proper motion information in addition to just position and magnitude, and represents a much more complete and statistically-even sampling of the sky in both hemispheres.

Updated Deep Sky Object Data

Voyager 4's deep sky object database has been completely rebuilt, using data from 21st-century sources wherever possible. The Voyager 4 DVD-ROM contains the complete 2003 version of the Principal Galaxy Catalog, containing data on nearly one million galaxies.

Supports Current "Go-To" Telescopes

Voyager 4 includes support for the latest computer-controlled telescopes from Meade and Celestron, including the entire Meade LX-200, LX-200 GPS, and Autostar lines, as well as the Celestron NexStar, and NexStar GPS series. Many older models, including simple encoder systems, are also supported. (Please note that most users will require a USB-to-Serial adapter for telescope communication; we reccommend the Keyspan series.)

System Requirements

The Mac OS X version of Voyager 4 has the following computer system requirements:

512 MB of memory (1 GB reccommended)
600 MB of hard disk space
PowerPC or Intel 1 GHz or faster processor (2 GHz or faster reccommended)
Mac OS X 10.3 or higher
DVD-ROM drive

The Windows version of Voyager 4 has the following computer system requirements:

512 MB of memory (1 GB reccommended)
600 MB of hard disk space
Pentium 1 GHz or faster processor (2 GHz or faster reccommended)
Windows 2000, XP, or Vista
DVD-ROM drive

Please note that the system requirements above are preliminary, and may be subject to change in the final released version.

Pricing and Availability

The Mac OS X version of Voyager 4 is shipping as of January, 2006. The Windows version is shipping as of August, 2007.

For a complete product price list, go to our Order Products page. Discount upgrade pricing is available for current Voyager III users. Educational pricing is also available.

For more information, send e-mail to information@carinasoft.com, or call us during West Coast business hours at +1 (925) 838-0695