Like Astronomer, Starsphere is able to plot and draw a map as seen from one of the 60 pre-selected city locations or from a chosen position at any latitude and longitude, viewed at any time. While these maps are plotted much more quickly than those in Astronomer, they are not very detailed, but this may not be important if you simply want to observe the position of the main constellations and the patterns that they form. Starsphere gives a map of the entire night sky rather than through a window and this view can be rotated through 18 increments to show how the patterns change with the passage of time. The decision is clear; is the loss of detail compensated for by this effective rotating planetarium effect?

Starsphere can plot 355 stars in 45 constellations as opposed to Astronomer's 1090 stars in 79 constellations. The program is very simple to use as all the options are menu-driven and the one touch system makes the selection of options pleasant and quick.