The menu button in the toolbar allows access to many important features and commands in Our Galaxy.
The top section of the Menu has 4 sub-menus:
The Orientation sub-panel has options to:
• Reset the view’s orientation to the default face-on view at the default distance
• Set the view to be face on, centered over the centered object
• Set the view to be edge on, parallel to the plane of the Galaxy
The Center sub-menu has options to:
• Center on the galactic core
• Center on the Sun
• Center on the selected object
You will find these commands useful before zooming in closer to an object.
The Labels sub-panel has options affecting what labels are displayed in the view. You can independently turn on labels for Stars and Deep Sky Objects, specifying the maximum magnitude of the objects labeled. You can also turn on labels for Spiral Arms, Constellation Sectors and Constellations .
When enabled, the Constellation Sectors option divides the galaxy image into 16 labelled sectors. These show which part of the spiral arms you are looking at when viewing in a particular constellation.
There is also an option in this section for showing either common names for objects or their catalog names. Only the best known objects have common names.
The Visibility sub-panel has options controlling the visibility of certain elements in the app.
Enabling the Galactic Axes will display a set of 3-D axes. This can be very useful for seeing your orientation when either zoomed in very close or zoomed out very far. It will help you keep track of which way is north or south and which direction is toward the center of the Galaxy.
There are also options here to show an outline of the major components of the Galaxy:
• Thin Disk
• Thick Disk
• Stellar Halo
• Galactic Bulge
• Dark Matter Halo
These are described more fully in the Help section Overview of the Galaxy.
Finally, this section has an option for whether to scale deep sky objects. Compared to the size of the Galaxy, most deep sky objects are fairly small. If you display them at the same scale as the galactic image, they will be mostly invisible when looking at the galaxy as a whole. By scaling the objects up to a larger size you are able to see them.
The actual amount of scaling depends upon the object type and the distance from the object. It ranges from 15x for planetary nebulae to 1x for galaxies and OB associations. There is also a minimum size enforced so the object is still visible when viewed from far away.
If you really want to see the objects at their true size, turn scaling off.
The commands in the Action section should be self-explanatory. There are actions to:
• Remove all stars from the view
• Remove all deep sky objects from the view
• Remove all the object labels from the view
• Record Movie
Our Galaxy has the ability to record a screen video directly from its own user interface. This is a great way to share a short demo with others.
Choosing “Record Movie” from the Menu will ask whether you want to record the screen only or record both screen and microphone. The later allows you to comment as you make the recording.
After the recording starts, a red stop button appears along the side of the screen. Tap this button when done and a simple preview/edit window will appear. You can preview the recording and trim it as needed. When you are satisfied, tap or click Save to save the recording to your Photos, or use the Share button to share the recording with others.