"This is Major Tom to ground control... I'm stepping through the door... And I'm floating in a most peculiar way... And the stars look very different today... There's this wibbly, swirly, white thing underneath Ursa Major... Can anyone tell me what it is?"

You would expect the boffins at NASA to be able to clarify any detail regarding the night sky, but that's not something us amateur astronomers can necessarily boast. Which is exactly why we might need a package like Starry Night on hand, for those confusing "what on Earth is that?" moments. Or indeed, "what in space is that?"

Starry Night Enthusiast is smartly presented, being divided into two main sections; the Sky Guide and Star Map. The latter is your window onto the heavens, replicating the night sky from wherever you're based in the world and at any point in time from 4713 BC to 9999 AD. It's possible to scroll and zoom anywhere in space, with information popping up on planets and stars when you mouse-over them. A layman's description is provided, along with a small collection of facts and details, although if you want to know more there's a menu option to access an online database at LiveSky.com; this offers links to further data and also images.

Of course, navigating the vast expanse of the universe (there are 700 million light years covered here) can be a pretty intimidating prospect, which is why the Sky Guide is there to help. This not only provides a thorough introduction to the program, as well as a powerful search function, but also guided tours on various subjects. These are animated presentations which employ the Star Map to illustrate topics such as space records (for example, the solar system's stinkiest place - and no, it's not Grimsby, but Jupiter's sulphurous moon Io) and satellite voyages, including impressive images that said satellites have taken.

Overall the program is informative and easy to use, and that extends to planning a night's viewing using the events calendar. This is a daily listing of events which tells you when and where to point your telescope to witness, for example, the next meteor shower visible from your location. In fact, when you start the program, the upcoming night's events are automatically brought to your attention.

Starry Night 6 also allows the user to make his or her own videos. This is done simply by scrolling and zooming around the Star Map with the record function running. The resulting movie is exported as a Quicktime file, which you can then send to friends so they can marvel at your directing skills. This is a very neat feature, as is the fact that the Google Earth map is integrated into the Star Map, so you can click on a spot on our planet and be whipped off to the Web site for a satellite view.

Alongside the main program, Avanquest bundles a SkyTheatre DVD which holds an interesting hour of video on all things space related, and the Starry Night Companion, a 200-page introduction to star gazing. These are quality additions to the package.

This Enthusiast package is aimed squarely at the novice to intermediate astronomer. The presentation of the program is of a high standard throughout, and it's easy to use and stuffed with interesting content, not to mention useful features such as the ability to record your own Quicktime movies of space exploration. The extras such as the SkyTheatre DVD are an added bonus.