Research proven solutions for grades 9-12 astronomy education.
Easy To Use
With 20 years of development, Starry Night is optimized for a user-friendly experience.
Scientifically Accurate
Starry Night gives you powerful, accurate, customizable tools to inspire and engage your students.
Interactive Sky Simulator
Hands-on activities that encourage questioning, experimentation and exploration
Teacher Resources
Flexible teaching models, pre- and post-assessment resources, and professional development.
Built in Student Lessons
Computer exercises, with interactive simulations, fully mapped to top astronomy textbooks.
K-12 Correlation
Built-in Lesson plans correlated to state and national standards that meet your curriculum needs.
One small step for curiosity, one giant leap for education
Lesson Plans
Step-by-step lessons plans correlated to state and national standards that meet curriculum needs. Correlations for all 50 U.S. states and all Canadian provinces.
Scientifically Accurate
Accurate visualizations and simulations that allow students to make precise observations of Moon phases, motions of the Sun and planets and much more.
Hands On Exercises
Interactive computer exercises and hands-on activities encourage questioning, experimentation and exploration and accommodate diverse learning styles.
Assessment Resources
Pre- and post-assessment resources are included along with each astronomy lesson, and provide recommendations for improving student performance.
Key Skills Development
Starry Night Middle School provides opportunities to develop key student skills: observation, data collection, analytical thinking and discovery.
Lesson Extensions
Learning extensions are also provided to connect the astronomy lessons to additional topics in math, physics, language, social studies and technology.
All this and a bag of lightspeed too!
Everything from the big bang to the crispy crunch
We put the rocket in space science software
New! Teachable Moments
Fresh and relevant auto updates of new lessons, exercises, simulations, and phenomena.
Exercise Enhancements
Exercises are enhanced with Guiding Questions, Key Concepts, & Did You Know's, to help illustrate phenomena.
Universal Search
New dynamic user-optimized interface, with "Universal Search" for objects, Starry Night files, SkyGuide references, options, events, and more.
High Performance Graphics
The incredibly rich and detailed Starry Night software OpenGL graphics that have set the industry standard for excellence in astronomy software.
Extragalactic 3D Database
New & Exclusive - The Starry Night Extragalactic 3D Database includes over 200,000 galaxies encompassing over 1 billion lights years of space.
Space Missions
New and updating space missions with 30 detailed and accurate 3D models of spacecraft & trajectories for a real flight time experiences.
3D Suns
Every star is now accurately rendered as a 3D body with classification-appropriate color, texture and relative radii.
Updated Messier Catalog
An updated Messier catalog with new breathtaking high resolution images of your favourite star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.
Analemma Simulations
The Sun's analemma can now be drawn accurately on any planet's surface.
3D Exoplanets
Exoplanets as 3D bodies with proper location, size, orbit and planetary texture. Land on the surface, see a sunset from the surface of Kepler-62e!
Scientific Precision
The most precise planetary positions available (using JPL ephemerides) plus an expanded asteroid catalog with highlighted families and groups.
H-R Diagrams
Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams tell about star age and mass, plotting star luminosity on a vertical axis vs. star temperature on a horizontal axis.
Horizon Panoramas
54 streamable photorealistic horizon panoramas, from Antarctica, to Stonehenge to the Egyptian Pyramids, and much more!
Ephemeris Generator
Ephemeris values are handy for knowing where an object will be in the sky at a particular time. You can export and print it out.
Graph Tool
The Graph offers a way of examining changes in an object’s qualities over time. It is possible to plot more than one object on the Graph at one time.
Updated Surface Maps
We've got new maps of many planets and moons including Vesta, Ceres, and, of course, our favorite dwarf planet Pluto!
System Requirements:
