TheSky is an astronomy program designed to be used for various educational and observational purposes. It provides a large feature set including the following:

• The display of star charts using catalogs such as USNO, UCAC, the Hubble Guide Star Catalog, the Hipparcos Catalogue and the Tycho-2 Catalogue
  Tycho-2 Catalogue
  The Tycho-2 Catalogue is a catalogue of more than 2.5 million of the brightest stars.- Catalogue :The astrometric reference catalogue contain positions, proper motions, and two-color photometric data for the 2,539,913 of the brightest stars in the Milky Way, of which about 5000 are visible to the...
  
  .
• Planetarium features capable of depicting the sky in a realistic way, including the simulation of sky movement over time in order to predict the locations of different sky objects
• Automatic telescope
  Telescope
  A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
  
   and focuser control using ASCOM (standard)
  ASCOM (standard)
  ASCOM is an open initiative to provide a standard interface to a range of astronomy equipment including mounts, focusers and imaging devices in a Microsoft Windows environment....
  
  .
• Exposure of program functionality via the Component Object Model
  Component Object Model
  Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
  
  , allowing scripted
  Scripting language
  A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
  
   operation.

TheSky was originally developed for DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

 and has been upgraded multiple times to support new versions of Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

.

Some versions exist for Mac OS

Mac OS

Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...

.

The software is developed and distributed by Software Bisque

Software Bisque

Software Bisque, Inc. is an American company that develops software used in astronomy. It was founded in 1984 by current president and CEO, Stephen Bisque....

.