Are you interested in astronomy? Do you yearn to learn more about the night sky or explore the depths of space from the comfort of your computer screen? If you answered ?yes” to any of these questions, First Light may be just the program for you. First Light is an engrossing planetarium, space exploration simulator on CD-ROM for Windows.

I had no problems installing and running First Light. It installs directly from the CD through Windows. First Light does not come with a printed manual; instead, the First Light User Guide is provided on the CD in the form of an Adobe Acrobat document. An Adobe Acrobat reader program is included on the CD, and is easily installed. The User Guide is comprehensive and easy to follow. In addition, First Light contains excellent on-line tutorials meant to provide a generalized understanding of basic astronomy. A 4-page ?First Light Quick Start Guide” containing installation instructions and a general overview of features is also provided. I found it easy to get around in First Light without having to refer back to the manual.

First Light contains a planetarium which generates images of the sky from any place on Earth; by clicking on "When and Where" you are able to enter latitude and longitude, or you can click on an image of a world map to select the viewing location (input of specific latitude and longitude will give you the most accurate view). The Planetarium display is the main portion of First Light, using a core database of 9,000 stars (expandable to over 16 million with the data provided on the CD-ROM). Additional objects can be added by the user. By changing the time, you are able to view the night sky from 4,713 BC to 10,000 AD. First Light prints excellent detailed star charts.

The tool bar provides shortcut buttons to features also available in the pull-down menus. Using these buttons you can easily toggle constellation lines, star names, planet names, and deep-space objects (e.g., galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters). From the Planetarium display, clicking on individual stars and other objects will give you specific information, including astronomical coordinates, distance from Sun, etc. I found the controls in First Light very easy to use, even for people just beginning to study astronomy.

Clicking on "The Sky Tonight" gives you an image of the sky from your selected viewing location as it would look right then. From this display, you have the options of Now, Sunrise, or Sunset. From this screen you can also access the calendar, which indicates phases of the moon and dates for important astronomical events (e.g., comets, eclipses, meteor showers, etc.) throughout the year. A nice feature of The Sky Tonight display is the Nightly Grabbag; clicking on this button opens a window with astronomy information and trivia (each day has different grabbag information). A 3D tool (Navigator) is provided for jumping around in the solar system to change your viewpoint.

To explore the planets of our solar system in detail, First Light has a "hover" mode which allows you to view the planets from space as if you were orbiting them; there is a zoom function to change the view. Clicking on the planet will allow you to explore information about each planet, including still pictures and short films. Some of the planets have symbols marked to indicate potential landing sites and important geographical features. Probably the most interesting feature of the "explore" mode is the ability to view numerous 3D short-films of the surface of Mars. While you cannot actually roam about the surface of Mars at will, several of these films give the sensation of seeing the topography first-hand.

Virtual Reality Laboratories, Inc. (VRLI) has a toll number for technical support, maintains a bulletin board at (805) 781-2257 (N-8-1), and has an Internet address (vrli@aol.com).

Bottom Line: Whether or not you are a beginner or advanced astronomy disciple, First Light has a lot to offer. The ability to customize the databases to add new/additional objects greatly enhances the program. Also, the educational aspects of First Light are substantial, making this a program that will be used time and time again.

System Tested On: IBM compatible PC (Gateway 2000) with a 80486-DX2 at 66 Mhz; Windows 95; Sound Blaster-compatible soundcard; 8 MB of RAM & 420 Mb hard drive; 2x CD-ROM drive; mouse

Minimum System: IBM 386 or higher processor (486-66 recommended), MS-Windows version 3.1 or later (except Windows NT - First Light does not run under Windows NT), 8 MB RAM, sound card (required for playback of video clips), VGA or SVGA graphics card (256 colors), CD-ROM drive, MS-compatible mouse and driver, math coprocessor (recommended)

Virtual Reality Laboratories, Inc., 2341 Ganador Court, San Luis Obispo, California 93401; phone (805) 545-8515