Sky and Telescope - July 2015 - 67

your observations of objects. Of the numerous observing
planners on the market, Knightware's Deep-Sky Planner
6 (DSP 6) is the most mature, having been continuously
updated for more than 20 years.
Deep-Sky Planner 6 is available on CD-ROM or as a
digital download from the company's website. The ﬁ le is
only 59 megabytes, so it doesn't take long even with sluggish download speeds.
Having used previous versions of the software, I
was eager to try DSP 6 because author Phyllis Lang has
added some useful new features and improved on the
existing ones. Particularly welcome was the program's
new ability to automatically download images for nearly
all the objects in an observing list.

Getting Started
If you're new to planning programs, your ﬁrst look at
DSP 6 may be a little daunting. What comes up on your
display is a blank screen with a fairly standard Windows
pull-down menu across the top. Beneath it is an icon
bar, and below that are additional menus with a clear
astronomical bent: Instrument, Camera, Eyepiece, Filter,
Barlow/Compressor, and Observer.
So where to start? As with most astronomy programs,
begin by entering the particulars of your location and
equipment. Most important is location, which is opened
by selecting the Options > Location Manager. A new
window opens, with two primary categories: Location By
Area at left, and All Locations at right. If you're located
in the United States, for example, ﬁnd it in the left
column and click the arrow beside it, which will then
display a list of U.S. cities.
Once you choose your city, a window with the location's particulars ﬁlled in will appear. Make sure everything is correct - latitude, longitude, time zone, etc.-
make any changes if needed, then click OK and you're
done. If your city is not on the list, you can select "New
Location" and enter the particulars of your site manually.
Next up is inputting your equipment. Select Equipment/Observer > Instrument Browser from the pull-down
menu at the top of the screen. Now click the "New" button
at top left of this new window and key in your scope's
statistics. Do the same for other gear you're using in each
category. The program requires this data because DSP 6 is

As with all planning programs, the ﬁrst thing you'll need to do is
input your location and your equipment. You can select your city
from an extensive built-in list or ﬁnd your area in the Map (Web)
tab, which is a link to Google Maps.

a planning and logging program. Entering this information means DSP can insert it in log entries automatically,
meaning less typing in the ﬁeld.
Your basic setup is complete, so it's time to get to
know the program. The main purpose of DSP 6 is to
help you build observing lists by choosing objects from
its database. There's no lack of objects to choose among
here. DSP 6 includes more than 1.25 million entries in
its deep-sky and star databases: 841,000 star clusters,
galaxies, nebulae, and 411,000 stars.
Before making an observing list, note that Knightware
provides a sizable library of Observing Plans on its website. Nearly 350 plans are available, encompassing every-

The program oﬀers you many options to narrow down your observing list, with options to ignore objects that never
rise from your site, or target only objects within a designated constellation. Additionally, DSP 6 can download a
Digitized Sky Survey image of nearly any deep-sky object you want to observe.

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Sky and Telescope - July 2015

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