Virtual Sky 4.XX
Celestial and local horizon (editable) maps; graphics showing the situation of the celestial equator, Jovian and Saturn systems, planetary disks, eclipses, views from the nine planets and day and night zones. Calculates the planets visibility on the day, conjunctions, moon phases, seasons, up until 24 different events for each planet. Shows a current phase lunar map, offering the possibility of searching features by name. Also calculates and shows the passes of artificial satellites et cetera...
Optionally, The SAO star catalogue is also available for download.
Lets you choose among English and German. See a screenshot.

Home Planet 3.1/2
A multi-functional application, opens with an animation showing the progression of the sunlighten face of the globe and also includes, for instance, an option to visualize the orbit of an extended database of artificial satellites; as well as tools to observe the Earth in real time from the Sun or Moon, and vice-versa; a planetarium, et cetera...
An incremental update to release 3.1 now adds a natural colour Earth image database for use in the Map and View From displays. The images are based on the cloudless Earth databases created by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from the MODIS instrument onboard the Terra satellite.
See a screenshot.

C2A (Computer Aided Astronomy)
«C2A (Computer Aided Astronomy) is a French stellar cartography program which plots detailed views of star fields. The purpose of it is to take into account the major databases available so as to prepare observations of faint fields as well as works in astrometry.
C2A allows one to access the SAO star database (included in the installation package), Guide Star, Tycho-2, USNO-SA1.0 and USNO-A2 (these catalogues are not included in the program due to their massive size), it is also able to display field images transferred from the ESO DSS (Digitized Sky Survey) server over the Internet.
Regarding the deep sky, C2A is offered with two catalogues: the Revised New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue as well as one catalogue of deep sky objects based on RNGC and NGC2000. It also allows reading and plotting the pictures of the B-T Atlas, a unique catalogue of 6600 deep sky objects with 4649 associated images (not included with the program).
C2A possesses numerous functions (planetary positions, asteroid and comet tracking/plotting, ephemeris tables, local visibility conditions/graphic for any given object etc…).
It was conceived to offer great precision regarding the calculation of planetary positions in astrometric coordinates (and not in apparent coordinates), a facility required to compare the position of solar system objects with background stars. This is particularly useful for observing occultations.»
The author also offers separate downloads of updated orbital elements files (for comets and asteroids) and a few tools (such as compilers of the Guide Star Catalogue and of the Tycho-2 Catalogue, for those owning the CDs).
Offered in French and English, this is a neat application, still in development, promising to progressively get even better. A DOS version is furthermore available for those owning old machines/computers with few resources.
See a screenshot.

Nuit 6.X
Conceived under a philosophy of simplicity allied to efficiency. For when you face the question "how's the sky tonight? Let me take a look..." and choose to do a stress relieving casual observation.
This program will not let you down, neither will he run you mad trying to figure out how to plot a chart amidst piles of menus and options... as many may.
It was idealized to naked eye observation and it draws stars until mag 5, the brightest planets and the most popular Messier objects - a frugality inversely proportional to its speed.
Buttons are provided to give you quick access to the local horizon on all cardinal points, and ephemeris of the Sun, Moon and planets are also offered. Additionally you may choose to input new objects, such as comets. A summary table of daily events and a tool to find planetary conjunctions complete the set.
A DOS version is equally available. In French. See a screenshot.

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SkyORB
«SkyORB computes sun, moon and majors planets rise and set time and positions from any place in the world, renders local sky with up to 26000 stars (HYG Database Mag 8) in real time and constellation charts and stars names, nebulas, comets and asteroids with an user modifiable MPC database.
Also a 3D rendering view of space with the majors planets is available.
SkyORB can detect solar / lunar eclipse, solstice and equinoxes days, renders sun clock, orbits view (in false scale) or real view (using real physics / orbital parameters for distance and planets dimensions).
See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above, BeOS and Windows CE; 5.5MB, 3.4MB, 641KB
Homepage || Download Windows || BeOS || Win Ce || FTPsearch

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SkyMap Pro 9
The demonstration version of SkyMap Pro comprises the program and manual, together with a small database of 30,000 stars (down to magnitude 7.5) and 10,000 deep sky objects. The program is fully functional, with the exceptions: the observing log and observation planning tools are not present; solar eclipse maps are not available, although local circumstances of solar eclipses are. See a screenshot.

Demoware; Windows 95 and above; 8.6 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch

The Milky Way for SkyMap Pro 6 and above A basic failure of SkyMap, in both the demonstration and full versions, is the inability of plotting the Milky Way. José R. Vieira, a Brazilian amateur astronomer, has brilliantly solved this problem by creating a set of files which work as external catalogues and allow the program to plot the Milky Way according to 5 levels of luminosity. To proceed with the installation, a rather simple task, just download the Zip file and follow the instructions described in the included "ReadMe.wri". See a screenshot. Freeware; requires the previous installation of SMP6 or above; 580 KB. Download

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Distant Suns 4
Very complete, this program is a planetarium like evolution, allowing to observe the universe from anywhere in the solar system; also includes a lunar map, ephemeris, a calendar and a wide number of tools.
It is offered without any restrictions. Simply with an amount of data smaller than the full Cd-rom version - now on release 5. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 4.4 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch

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SkyGlobe 3.6
Classical DOS planetarium. Although not particularly accurate by current standards, it is still a splendid application since the way it uses the display and the simplicity of operation remain virtually unbeaten. See a screenshot.

Shareware, without restrictions; DOS; 355 KB.
Download || FTPsearch

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CyberSky 3.31
Despite the fact that its shareware version only shows stars until mag. 5, the latest version of CyberSky is extremely practical to use and it has irreproachable graphics. See a screenshot.

Shareware, without restrictions; Windows 95 and above; aprox. 1 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch

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Adastra 3.X
Freeware version of Coeli-Stella 2000. Somewhat poor and confuse, it is a planetarium more. For collectors. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 2.6 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch

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Stella Theater
Japanese planetarium currently named Planetarium Pro, you may get its previous version as shareware without restrictions. In practice, almost only the name changed.
It portraits elegant night sky graphics. Bellow you will find a link to version 1.53 (in English). There are more recent releases but, as far as we know, in Japanese only. See a screenshot.

Shareware, without restrictions; Windows 95 and above; 1.4 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch

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Starry Night Backyard
Application similar to Distant Suns, with a graphical simulation of the sky, namely of the crepuscular gradients, which is probably the best we have ever seen.
Available on the WWW in its "backyard" reduced version, Starry Night is an educational program, ideal for the visual observer and for those intending to start familiarizing with the night sky, and stellar identification.
You are allowed to use the program for 15 days; after which you must purchase a registration key, otherwise it will stop working. There is also a Mac version. See a screenshot.

Shareware, stops working after 15 days; Windows 95 and above; 13.5 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch

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Earth Centered Universe 3.XX
ECU was the program I got more mails of users appalled because I did not mentioned it. Here it is. Currently in version 3.XX, it has been around for a while. Supports telescope control. You may use it freely for a month, after that the program stops. See a screenshot.

Shareware, stops working after 30 days; Windows 95 and above; aprox. 1 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch

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Other freeware programs in this category (links to the homepages)

Stellarium (French & English)

Stardrive

EasySky (Trialware. Available in German and English)

Kagayaki III (Demoware)

Other shareware programs in this category (links to the homepages)

Stellaris