At this time, we (the American Museum of Natural History) offer our Digital Universe (the "Data") for free download.

The Data is free but is offered WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY of any kind. We provide the Data "as is" and take no responsibility for any damage resulting from the use of this Data. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of this product is with you. Any user should be notified that this Data is untested and in its initial phases of development for public consumption.

Individual Users An Individual User may download the Data and distribute verbatim copies of the Data provided that this license and disclaimer of warranty accompanies that distribution.

Institutional Users An Institutional User is one that would use the Data for public display. We require that all Institutional Users notify us of your use and possession of the Data.

Partiview, itself, is not terribly demanding of computational resources. The size and display characteristics of the Data are what determine the resources required. If in doubt, load the data that accompanies the Partiview Users Guide first to be sure your computer can run Partiview with larger data sets.

Partiview requires the following to run on your computer. This is a PRELIMINARY LIST. We do not yet have enough of a user base to determine with certainty the conditions under which Partiview will run.

• An accelerated graphics card (we use NVIDIA GeForce 2 and above, but we also have reports of favorable results using Oxygen 3-D cards).
• Enough resources to load the data into memory (without using virtual memory).
• Currently runs on Linux, IRIX, and Windows. A port to MacOS is under development.

There are Known Issues and Troubleshooting information in the Partiview Users Guide.

See the latest additions to this list here: http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/hp/vo/partiview/requirements.html

Because this program is untested and is in its initial development phase for public distribution, we can only provide minimal support for this product at this time.

AMNH/Hayden is developing Partiview and the Digital Universe data into a more user-friendly program that will be more suitable for public release. Until we have completed this task, we will be unable to focus on support and/or technical help. However, we will be happy to hear from you via email (partiview@haydenplanetarium.org) and will attempt to answer your concerns in as timely a manner as is possible. We appreciate your understanding.

Follow these steps below to install the atlas properly and start Partiview with the Milky Way Atlas loaded. To install the viewing software, Partiview, please see the Partiview readme file.

1. Download the Milky Way Atlas from haydenplanetarium.org. Save the zipped file in the same folder that contains the Partiview executable file.
2. Unzip the archive file (un-tar if you're usung the Linux or IRIX).
3. The file will expand to a few start scripts (milkyway.csh, milkyway.bat) as well as the ./data/milkyway folder where the data files are located.
4. Start Partiview with the Milky Way Atlas loaded by double clicking on milkyway.bat file if you're using Windows or running the milkyway.csh file if you're using Linux or IRIX.
5. Partiview should start with the Milky Way Atlas loaded. If it doesn't, then it's likely that the data are not in the correct place on your computer. Make sure that the Partiview program is in the same folder as the milkyway.bat and/or milkyway.csh files as well as the data folder.

• The Partiview Home Page is the top-level page for Partiview at AMNH.
• The Partiview Users Guidel will introduce you to some of Partiview's features.
• Explore other data sets at Hayden Planetarium's Digital Universe.
• If you have problems, check the Partiview Troubleshooting Pages in the Users Guide.
• Email us with your comments and/or questions at partiview@haydenplanetarium.org.