When, RedShift 3 first opens the Sky Window displays a view of the sky above the local horizon of the Earth. The time and date are the current time and date set on your computer. The initial view is from London, looking directly South.

By default, the stars are shown as slightly colored images (the color denotes the spectral properties of the star). At this level of magnification, most galaxies and other deep sky objects outside of our galaxy are shown as star-like images. Planets are also shown as star-like images when distant. You can control how the sky, the stars, deep sky objects and planets are displayed using Filters.

Use the Display menu to hide or display groups of objects in the Sky window. Groups of objects which are currently displayed are checked in the Display menu. Click an unchecked group of objects (such as Constellations) to display them. By default, asteroids and comets are hidden.

You can also control how many stars appear in the sky, and which groups of objects are displayed using the Filters dialog (see Filter dialog and the Sky window).

Tips
Click on any object in the sky. This opens an Object Info window containing the name of the object and information about it.

Double click on any point in the Sky Window to re-center your view. Zoom your view in and out using the + and - keys on the keyboard.

Filters let you control the way you see objects such as planets, moons and stars. For example, you can choose to display the orbits of moons, control what magnitude of stars are visible in the sky, or magnify the image of a particular planet.

You can also control what objects you see in the sky.

Display or hide the Sun, the planets, moons, asteroids, comets, spacecraft, stars, deep sky objects, constellations and guides using the check-boxes in the Filters dialog box, or by checking and un-checking these objects in the Display menu.

The Filters dialog box is described in section FILTERS.