Of the 9000 or so stars visible with the naked eye only about 300 have any meaningful names. The default file provided with NightSky includes 100 named stars. A list of 262 named stars in brightness order can be downloaded.

Displayed star brightness can be selected using the slider at the bottom of the screen. Astronomers use a complex scale for apparent magnitude meaning that the dimmest visible stars are about 8.0 magnitude and the brightest is about -1.5.

The show menu allows you to display all or none names. The View menu selects the various display options and to select the display file. The real option toggles between showing the stars all bright and a more realistic grey scale.