I just noticed that Stellarium can show exoplanets found within the "Goldilocks-Zone" of stars that
have been deemed 'habitable' by the 'powers-that-be' - or the SETI-Project. So I have mine set to show
these particular exoplanets marked in green on the screen. Look on the lower-left on this screenshot
below the description of K2-18 -



And just by luck while exploring Stellarium, I found the latest possibly habitable-exoplanet just discovered - Ross 128 - which I
found in 'Stella' a day before it was all over the astro-news feeds I read. So here's Ross 128, as well as
another nearby one as well. Ross 128 also has the distinction of being quite close to us. Only 11.03 LY's distant from our Earth.

Here's the screenshot -




So Ross 128 is our nearest known neighbor we've found (yet) that might have life on it. Or we could start a colony on. Or, in our inimitable fashion, provoke a war with. So here's a couple of these articles that came in my email on the day after I 'discovered' Ross 128 in Stellarium.

A Potentially Habitable Planet has Been Discovered Just 11 Light-Years Away.pdf

and

Invite Ross 128 Over This Thanksgiving - Sky&Telescope.pdf

I'll say this: When it comes to keeping-up with the latest findings, Stellarium is breaking the 'speed-of-light barrier!' 'Stella' was on top of these emails by at least 24 hours!

I had no visual reference to how exoplanets were distributed, from our perspective, in the sky. Unill I took a look at the Kepler-series. And I thought something must be wrong with my eyes when I found the Keplers' staring at me from the screen -




And if I zoomed in on this structure -




Note the interspersed 'Green-Goldilocks' Planets' within? If there are people like us on one or some of these - Wow!! I wonder if they speculate on the possibility of other Solar-Systems and the possibility of life in the Universe! They're in for a bit of a shock at some point. And it leaves me to speculate if on a world there, they might not be asking similars questions while looking at an indescript G2V class star - and see it, too, has planets in their name for a 'Goldilocks & The Three Bears' zone...

So, folks, I'm always finding out new things to try with my version of Stellarium. Just as the developer's team is always creating new ones. If you haven't yet taken a look at the 'beta' versions of 'Stella' that are posted quite frequently - about once-a-week - you well might enjoy doing so. For instance, a new 'beta' awhile ago added place-names for the topography (features) on the surface of the planets and their Moons. This took place after Alex Wolf - a member here - left a mysterious statement and screenshot on various astronomy-forums around the net. Alex is one of the Developers' team. And I had downloaded the latest 'beta' as I always tend to do. So I had a hunch. And I went to 'Stella' and loaded it. And I clicked on Mars and started to zoom-in. Imagine my surprise when this is what I saw.....




Wow! Just 'WOW!'

If you have any questions on such things - feel free to ask me. Either here, or in a PM. As for looking at the 'beta' versions of Stellarium, caution is needed to avoid not change or throw-out your settings should you decide to download a 'beta' and install it. And do look at the complete Changelog. This docement shows you all the revisions contained in the 'beta' since the last full-edition - 0.16.1 - of Stellarium was posted. You'll be amazed! Here's a link to the latest 'beta' and the current 'Changelog,' too:

https://launchpad.net/stellarium/trunk/0.90.0

The latest version at the time of this writing is 0.90.0.15499. Check back often! And mind which you download if you do - 32win or 64win or the .dmg

Have Fun!

Dave