Celestia is a free astronomical software to explore outer space, stars, planets, and lots of galaxies. You can point to any astronomical object, and Celestia will take you there. You can see moon, Mars, and all other planets from up and close. You can see how the earth looks from outer space. You can even take a journey to ISS, and try docking with that. Celestia is completely free, and open source. Celestia works on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
I was just searching around internet to see if there is some good website that shows good pictures of outer space, and I came across Celestia. When I read about Celestia, I was completely amazed. It is such an amazing free software, that I was surprised I had not heard about Celestia before. Celestia was made in 2001, and it soon grabbed the attention of space lovers. Till now, millions of people have downloaded Celestia, and it is widely used as astronomical software in Schools and offices.
Celestia is a lot different and much better than software used in planetariums. Such software only show Earth from outer space, and a limited number of planets. Celestia on the other hand is much more elaborate and comprehensive. You can see complete details of all the planets in solar system, and explore lots of other planets, stars, and galaxies.
One great feature of Celestia is that it allows third party add-ons. As a results, many developers have made some really interesting add-ons for Celestia. All such add-ons are centrally organized in CelestiaMotherLode. In fact, already more than 10GB worth of add-ons are available.
Key Features of Celestia:
- Free space simulation software for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Provides realistic, dynamic, real-time view of solar system, galaxies, and universe.
- Over 10,000 galaxies to visit, including Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda spiral galaxy, Whirlpool galaxy, and more.
- Experience travelling in space in any direction, at any speed.
- Travel to any time in history or in future; view past events and possible future collisions.
- See the entire space in panoramic 360° view.
- Explore the Earth’s surface using a virtual spacecraft; view its magnetic field and the glowing and shimmering of the Aurora.
- Meet ISS or the Hubble Space Telescope.
- Experience peering through the Hale Telescope on Palomar mountain.
- View Earth’s magnetic field from the space.
- Great medium to learn about space-related things and ongoing projects.
- Explore spacecrafts, space stations, space fleets, and more.
- Observe lunar or solar eclipse in a spectacular way.
- Discover Earth’s layers by peering deep into its internal structure.
- Position yourself above many planets and watch amazing things like drifting moons, fading clouds, casting shadows, etc.
- Examine erupting volcanoes.
- Discover facts about new planets.
- Observe the massive Black Hole.
- Count dozens of moons around various planets.
- Visit Halley’s comet.
- See how the Earth will get swallowed by the Red Giant Sun after billions of years.
- Experience the alien civilization.
- Travel Hollywood and visit StarWars, Hoth, and Endor.
Ans this is not it; there’s a never-ending list of features Celestia has. You can refer its documentation here and explore more about this free space simulation software. Download now and experience travelling space sitting at home.
Also check out official iPad NASA app reviewed by us.
