![]() ![]() Celestia runs on Linux, Windows, and Max OSX The basic download includes an enormous catalogue of stars, galaxies, planets, planetary moons, comets, asteroids, and even some historical spacecraft with which to explore the universe, but additional star catalogues and plug-ins are available for download. With this application you get to travel to any one of more than 100 000 stars in the Milky Way in three dimensions, or if you so choose, to points beyond the Milky Way.Īll motions in Celestia are totally seamless, and with an exponential zoom, you can effortlessly explore the Universe in a vast range of scales- from galactic clusters to the area you can see from your spaceship window. While Celestia is primarily a planetarium program, it does not confine you to the surface of the earth. Very realistic atmosphere, sunrise and sunset.Images of nebulae (full Messier catalogue).Constellations for 20+ different cultures. ![]() ![]() Asterisms and illustrations of the constellations.Extra catalogues with more than 210 million stars.Default catalogue of over 600,000 stars.The following is a list of features taken from the Stellarium homepage: Stellarium runs on all major operating systems, and in all cases, the rendered views are almost indistinguishable from what would be seen through a telescope, binoculars, or with unaided vision. You can also use it to see what the sky looks like at any time in the past, present, or future, and from anywhere on Earth. Stellarium is a planetarium program that keeps track of the motions and positions of stars, planets, comets, and other objects. While there are hundreds of planetarium software suites available, Stellarium is the only free software that is also used in commercial planetaria all over the world today. In fact, almost any situation in which gravity is the dominant force can be simulated accurately.ĪstroGrav is available for both Mac and Windows, and a free, but fully functional trial in several languages is available for download. Comprehensive editing capabilities that allow for the manual insertion of additional objects, or the importation of any of several hundred thousand comets and asteroids.Īpart from the solar system, you can also explore the gravitational effects of exoplanet systems, the collision of globular star clusters, or even watch the evolution of planetary systems from accretion discs.Astronomical, metric, and imperial measurement units.Ecliptic, equatorial, galactic, and horizontal celestial coordinate grids.Simulation time steps that can be set to fractions of a second, to several thousand years.Extensive tabular data with more than 30 editable fields for each object selected.Multiple views that can be animated at the same time with orbits that are calculated dynamically.The software takes the effects of general relativity into account and uses superb interactive three-dimensional rendering that allows you to rotate, and zoom into parts of the solar system while you watch it evolve.ĪstroGrav includes a background of more than 100 000 stars, all the constellations, and planetarium-style viewing points from anywhere in the world. All movements of solar system bodies are based on their gravitational interactions with other bodies, meaning that you get gravitationally correct motions of asteroids, planets, and comets. AstroGravĪstroGrav is a solar system simulator with a difference. If stargazing is your passion, you'll definitely feel at home here.You may also like to later check out other articles in this series, including one covering free stargazing apps, and another the best premium astronomy apps currently available on the market. Since Stellarium for Mac is a multiplatform and open-source app, there's a huge community supporting it. There is also an IRC channel full of passionate people who are willing to help out, so you may have to ask for help but there are options if you get stuck. The interface lacks descriptions and there are no tutorials available, but there's a PDF guide available for download on the developer's Web site. You can click on the star/galaxy to learn more about it and it'll show you its current angle, position, and how far it is, etc. One of the advantages of this app is that it works even when it's offline, which is perfect if you're taking your Mac far out of town. The application reminded us of the Night Sky feature from Google Earth. If you want to see more stars you can simply zoom in. Once you launch the app, you will be greeted with a night sky full of stars, which looks really amazing. The installation of Stellarium for Mac takes no time at all as it requires a simple drag and drop into the Applications folder. With Stellarium for Mac, users can now explore the galaxy anywhere, anytime. Stargazing is an amazing hobby, but the weather isn't always perfect for it. ![]()
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