Celestia
 |
|
| Original author(s) | Chris Laurel |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Chris Laurel, Celestia developers |
| Initial release | 2001 |
| Stable release |
1.6.1 (10 June 2011)
|
| Repository | sourceforge |
| Operating system | AmigaOS 4, BSD, Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows |
| Size |
Linux: 27.7 MB AmigaOS 4: 44.4 MB macOS: 38.7 MB Windows: 32.8 MB Source code: 52.6 MB |
| Type | Educational software |
| License | GNU General Public License |
| Website | celestiaproject |
Celestia is a 3D astronomy program created by Chris Laurel. The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) and allows users to travel through an extensive universe, modeled after reality, at any speed, in any direction, and at any time in history. Celestia displays and interacts with objects ranging in scale from small spacecraft to entire galaxies in three dimensions using OpenGL, from perspectives which would not be possible from a classic planetarium or other ground-based display.
NASA and ESA have used Celestia in their educational and outreach programs, as well as for interfacing to trajectory analysis software.
Celestia is available for AmigaOS 4, Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. Celestia is free software released under the GNU General Public License.
There are three graphical front-ends available: GLUT, GTK+ or Qt.
Celestia's final update came in 2011. Since then, some of its development team have gone to work on either Celestia.sci, a cosmological visualizer or SpaceEngine, a similar software but featuring more realistic graphics.
Celestia displays the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) of 118,322 stars. Celestia uses the very accurate VSOP87 theory of planetary orbits. This makes it possible to provide a solar and lunar eclipse finder and to display the orbital paths of planets (including extrasolar planets), dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, comets, artificial satellites, and spacecraft. The user can vary the number of stars that are visible on the screen and have them drawn in different styles.
...
Wikipedia