Can we get native Apple Silicon support for Starry Night on MacOS? Apple has already flagged Starry Night 8 as being incompatible with MacOS 28 when the Rosetta 2 support that Starry night currently uses to run on new Macs is withdrawn in the fall of 2027. The loss of Rosetta 2 will mean Starry night will no longer run on any Mac desktop or laptop released since 2021.
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5 comments
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Keiron Smith Hi Kelly,
During its “2026 Platforms State of the Union" event, Apple announced that macOS Tahoe will be the last major version of macOS that supports Intel-based Macs. As Starry Night version 8 and earlier versions are compiled exclusively for Intel based Macs, this warning is informing you that this is the final version of macOS that will support your installed copy of Starry Night. If you update your Mac past its current version, your installed copy of Starry Night will no longer function on that machine.
While we will not be offering an update to Starry Night v8 or earlier, a new version of Starry Night (v9) will be fully compatible with the latest macOS and Apple Silicon based Macs going forward.
We expect to begin a phased release of Starry Night v9 by the end of this year (2026).
Thank you!
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Andre D Ficklin Hello,
Yes, I agree. I got the notification from Apple also. We won't be able to use Starry Night with the latest Mac OS. Is anyone working on this potential issue or will there be a brand new release of Starry Night? Fall is right around the corner.
v/r,
Andre
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Kelly Davies Perfect, I look forward to version 9, then.
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Andre D Ficklin Oh wow!!!! That's great news Keiron. You and I have corresponded in the pass for a couple of years about a new version of Starry Night. So this is wonderful new.
Is it too late for feature requests?
v/r Sir,
Andre
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Andre D Ficklin Feature Request for Starry Night 9 (adding to the current feature set of Starry Night 8):
1. A feature request for Starry Night 9 would be to expand the Eccentricity value in the Orbital Elements beyond the current fixed 1.2 value in Starry Night 8 to a value allowing for a near linear orbit, maybe 8 or beyond. I was able to partially track C/2025 N1 (3i/Atlas), but was limited by Starry Night 8's fixed eccentricity value of 1.2 where the eccentricity value for C/2025 N1 on JPL's Small-Body Database Lookup website was 6.137350. So I was unable to expand out the orbit. I received confirmation from Kieron on Starry Night's eccentricity limitation.
2. Allow Starry 9 to remain client based but with tight integration with either Starry Night Web or LiveSky.
3. The ability for Starry Night 9 to remain somewhat current with the latest images from space agencies and space observatories, i.e., JWST, Chandra, Hubble, and other modern space observatories, by having downloadable access to websites to easily import images.
4. The ability to export data into Microsoft Excel.
5. The ability to view all objects and orbits in 3D as we are able to in SkySafari, lesser advanced Client Based astronomy programs like Redshift, and Web Based astronomy programs like TheSkyLive 3D System Viewer (https://theskylive.com/3dsolarsystem).
6. Update the elements database with the latest elements, i.e., planets, Exoplanets, comets, astroids, and beyond, etc. for viewing and tracking purposes.
v/r,
Andre
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