Image Credits
Starry Night uses images, maps, models and data from many people and institutions. Our thanks to all of them.
Images, Maps and Models
Grass horizon panorama
Jeff Donohoe
Lake horizon panorama
John Brownlow
Photograph by David Malin4 images
NOAO images: The material was made and developed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO, now NSF NOIRLab), which are sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Any opinions, findings or conclusions in this material are those of its makers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF or NOAO. Use of the material does not constitute or imply any endorsement by the NSF or NOAO or any NOAO employee or any individual, commercial product, process, or service.
The Digitized Sky Survey: copyright © 1994, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. All rights reserved.
NGC 6818
Robert Rubin (NASA Ames Research Center), Reginald Dufour and Matt Browning (Rice University), Patrick Harrington (University of Maryland), and NASA
M64
Adam Block, John Gleason
M61
M78
NGC 362
Hans-Henning Herder
NGC 3532
Steven Juchnowski
NGC 7000
Alessandro Bares
NGC 2024
Matthew T. Russell
NGC 2451
NGC 2516
NGC 4755
NGC 1535
Courtesy of R. Corradi, Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma
NGC 3918
Howard Bond (Space Telescope Science Institute), Robin Ciardullo (Pennsylvania State University) and NASA
NGC 6231
Scott Tucker
NGC 3521
ARC and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Collaboration
NGC 3293
Janet Cutler
Collinder 399
Ron Wodaski, author of The New CCD Astronomy
NGC 2264
Chris Anderson, Darklight Imagery
NGC 6752
Mischa Schirmer, La Silla, Chile
Buildings in Chichen Itza
Dr. Antonio de la Cova, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Iridium Flare
Olivier "Klipsi" Staiger
ISS Pass
Olivier "Klipsi" Staiger (archived page)
Iridium Flare
MIR and Shuttle photos
Copyright © 2002 Ron Dantowitz, The Clay Center Observatory at Dexter and Southfield Schools (HobbySpace satellite photos)
Spacecraft Photos
David Cash (archived page)
X-Ray Observatory
Neptune
Constantine Thomas, James Hastings-Trew
Uranus
James Hastings-Trew
Mars
James Hastings-Trew
Jupiter (Cassini-Juno 2018)
NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / SwRI / MSSS / ASI / INAF / JIRAM / Björn Jónsson (map)
Licensed under CC BY 3.0; map reprojected and tiled for Starry Night
Mars (Lowell 1901, historical)
Percival Lowell, Lowell Observatory, 1901, from The Solar System (1903); public domain
Mars (Lowell 1905, historical)
Saturn
Tim Wilson
Solar Corona
Philippe Duhoux
AllSky CCD Image and Associated Data
© 2005, Main Sequence Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope model
NASA/Christopher R. Meaney, NASA 3D Resources
Windows location map
Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com
Sky Cultures
These sky cultures are adapted from Stellarium and were converted to Starry Night's format in September 2026. The full credit, sources and licence text for each one are in its About window in Starry Night.
| Anutan | Dan Smale | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Aztec | Enrique Gómez Candelario; English translation by Rafael Rojas Segoviano | GNU GPL v2.0 |
| Blackfoot | Doina Bucur | CC BY-SA |
| Bugis | Doina Bucur | CC BY-SA |
| Hawaiian Starlines | Nainoa Thompson, after the teaching of master navigator Mau Piailug; implemented by Darren Kamalu, Christopher Blake and students of Kamehameha Schools Kapalama; artwork by Kealoha Kaneakua | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Inuit | Karrie Berglund, Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc.; illustrations by Johan Meuris | Text and data GNU GPL v2.0; illustrations Free Art License |
| Mandar | Doina Bucur | CC BY-SA |
| Maori | Dan Smale | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Northern Andes | Clan Quinatoa, Lundauco Valley, Imbabura, Ecuador; Andrés Alejandro Ayala Quinatoa; Servio Jr. Paladines; illustrations inspired by the Pasto designs researched by Estelina Quinatoa | GNU GPL v2.0 |
| Russian (Siberian) | Alexander Wolf | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Sami | Jonas Persson | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Samoan | Jake Fitisemanu, with Samoan cultural custodians; programming by Dan Smale | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Seri | Raúl Pérez-Enríquez; English translation by Alfredo Manríquez | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Ruanui sky: Tahiti and Society Islands | Christine Briant, Libor Prokop, Regis Plichart and Thibaud Guillaud-Saumur, with the associations Fa'afaite i te Ao Ma'ohi and Te Fare Hiroà no Vavau; translation by Maurani Walker | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Tikuna | Priscila Faulhaber, Fernando Vieira, Walmir Thomazi Cardoso, Youssif Ghantous Filho and collaborators | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Tongan | Dan Smale | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Tukano | Walmir Thomazi Cardoso; displays by Antonio Gumercindo Taques dos Santos (Ticão) and Youssif Ganthous Filho | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Tupi-Guarani | Paulo Marcelo Pontes | GNU GPL v2.0 |
| Vanuatu (Netwar) | Dominik M. Ramík, with elders of the Tanna communities | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Data Sources
- Spacecraft trajectories and comet orbits: JPL Horizons and the JPL Small-Body Database (NASA/JPL-Caltech).
- Asteroid and comet orbital elements: Lowell Observatory (astorb) and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
- Satellite elements: CelesTrak and Mike McCants.
- Planetary place names: Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature and USGS Astrogeology Science Center.
- Meteor showers: International Meteor Organization.