Stellarium Setup Guide: Improve Your DSO Target Finding in Stellarium

Stellarium is the best app for picking and planning your next target for deep sky astrophotography. But out of the box, Stellarium has a blotchy night sky that lacks many images of deep sky objects. This guide walks you through setting up surveys in Stellarium. 

Step 0: Install the latest version of Stellarium

Even if you have Stellarium installed, make sure it's the latest version. Stellarium does not auto-update, and old versions do not have the surveys we'll use in later steps. You can install the latest version of Stellarium here.

Note: The web-based version and mobile app do not support surveys. You'll need to download the desktop application.

Step 1: Enable HiPS Surveys in the Configuration Window

1. In the left-hand menu (visible if you move your mouse cursor to the bottom side of the left edge), open the "Configuration Window", or press F2. 
2. Navigate to the Extras tab
3. Check "HiPS Surveys" and close the Configuration Window.

Step 2: Turn on HiPS

1. In the bottom menu (visible if you move your mouse cursor to the left side of the bottom edge), toggle Hierarchical Progressive Surveys on

Step 3: Enable a Survey

1. In the left-hand menu, open the "Sky and Viewing Options Window", or press F4. 
2. I switch between two surveys: "NSNS DR0.2: [OIII], H-alpha and [SII]" and "NSNS DR0.2: RGB continuum", depending on wether I'm looking at narrowband structure or broadband structure. 
   
   Some notes:
   1. These surveys only go down to Dec -20. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, the best I've found is "DSS2 Red (F+R)".
   2. If multiple surveys are enabled at once, Stellarium will display the other survey(s) in areas the primary survey does not cover. 
   3. If you don't see these surveys in the list, make sure you're on the latest version of Stellarium. If you are on the latest version and it's a fresh install, populating the survey list can take a couple of minutes, depending on your internet speed.