NOV 21, 2005 - Free Planetarium Programs is what it says, and that makes it an indispensable stop along the frugal stargazer's way. Most of these downloads are for Windows machines only, but there are a few for Mac OSX and Linux. I've tried several of the freeware programs here, and can testify from experience that there are some very good ones among them. Some are also very unusual, quite different from the standard sort of astronomical software. Take, for example, The Electric Astrolabe, which is both a practical stargazer's guide as well as a cybernetic implementation of an ancient astrologer's tool: you can't buy a rival program, giving the lie to the old saw about getting what you pay for. Try out any of these that catch your fancy, and you might find yourself delightfully surprised. And if not, well - then you got what you paid for.
