EDITORIAL INFORMATION

The secrets of astronomy revealed to the complete beginner! Fifty breathtaking space simulations, nine guided tours and an amazing photo gallery provide the first-time view of the mysteries of space and the explanation of the major astronomical concepts. The tours and simulations are accompanied by the commentary written by Jacqueline Mitton, a renown astronomy expert. All space movies are created using amazing Redshift 2 solar engine, and provide a very high degree of accuracy, unheard of in a low price point software.

(Extracted from the press release).

OUR REVIEW

Maris's new CD-ROM will no doubt delight those who, knowing little on the marvels of the Universe, wish to approach its mysteries step by step. And what a way to approach them! Graphics, photographs, video, sounds, music specifically designed for this program... You don't need to know a word about space. Discover Astronomy, just like its title claims, does everything for us. Imagining a more pleasant way to stage our astronomical initiation is difficult indeed. Starting with an impeccable introduction, we will discover the history of the Universe, what the objects in it are like, paying a special attention to the different bodies in the Solar System, etc. The issues dealt with in this CD-ROM have been developed with the utmost care, and the latest reports supplied by observatories and satellites alike has been taken into account. Everything is explained with a great clarity and simplicity: no complicated technical words have been included, so that this program can be viewed as a true television documentary for the general public.

The program can be acessed via different menus: to navigate we will only use the mouse, marking what we want to see and hear at any given moment. If we follow a logical order (though this is by no means necessary), we will end up having a complete, wide basic knowledge of the most important aspects of astronomy, a sufficient background to later study in depth other programs specifically designed for the observation and study of the sky, like for instance the already mentioned program Redshift 2. Who knows, the contents of this CD-ROM are apt both for children and adults, so maybe some of them may discover his new vocation here.

We'll need an IBM PC 386-486 compatible or better, with 8MB RAM, a CD ROM unit (double velocity), Windows 3.1 or better, and a 256 colours VGA graphics card. Maris Multimedia includes also a free trial version of Redshift 2, which we can use to see its characteristics.