Celestia - a 3D map of the known universe

[SBF_Dann_Boeing]

I don't think I've posted this here yet, but this is a very very cool space simulator that I've had for a while called Celestia. It is basically a detailed 3D database of the known universe that you can explore to your hearts delight. This of course includes all known bodies in the solar system, planets, comets, moons, and all, every known star, and every known extrasolar planet system, and every known galaxy.

One interesting feature is that you can make addons and create your own fictional star systems and planets, or download ones that people have already made. This program alone really changed how I thought about the vastness of space, zooming around the solar system and various stars. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in astronomy.

You can get it here (free of course):
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

And here is the website that has all the addons that people have created for it:
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/

To give you an example of what this program looks like, here are a couple planets I made:

Hidden/Spoiler:

The controls might be a bit hard to handle at first but once you get the hang of it, its quite a thrill.

[Lozza]

That is really awesome : D

EDIT: Even better you can make your own star system

[Raptor522]

I've seen this around, but haven't tried it. Though now I've heard someone recommend it, I think I'll try it out. Seems cool.

[Eaol]

Love this program-but how may I go about creating my own planet?

[SBF_Dann_Boeing]

There's a pretty detailed guide on the site:

http://www.lns.cornell.edu/~seb/celesti ... intro.html

Though I was able to pick it up just from looking through the files. Basically you have the .scc file which has all the data for the star system, including the planets' orbits, radii, textures, atmospheres, rings, moons, etc. You can also have an .stc if you want to make a new star, rather than using a preexisting one. Then you have the textures at various resolutions (lowres, medres, and hires, tho you don't need all of them). Put em in a folder, and then stick em in the addons, and that's pretty much it.

Here's an example of an SSC file that I made:

Hidden/Spoiler:

[code]"Planet" "Star"
{
Texture "Planet.jpg"
Color [ 0.29 0.20 0.14 ]
Radius 48567.385
HazeColor [ 1 1 1 ]
HazeDensity 0.3
Atmosphere {
Height 362.78
Lower [ 0.8 0.8 0.5 ]
Upper [ 0.7 0.3 0.3 ]
Sky [ 0.8 0.8 0.5 ]
Sunset [ 0.7 0.7 0.8 ]
CloudHeight 100.80
CloudSpeed 60.33
CloudMap "clouds.png"
}
EllipticalOrbit {
Period 16.1612
SemiMajorAxis 61.2521
Eccentricity 0.0167
Inclination 0.0001
MeanAnomaly 313.9702
}
Rings {
Inner 92238.21
Outer 215222.49
Texture "rings.png"
Color [ 1.0 1.0 1.0 ]
}
RotationPeriod 16.3295
Obliquity 0.90
Albedo 0.5
}

"Moon" "Star/Planet"
{
Texture "Moon.jpg"
BumpMap "Moon-bump.jpg"
BumpHeight 2.5
Color [ 0.60 0.41 0.30 ]
Radius 1799.53
HazeColor [ 0.10 0.91 0.51 ]
HazeDensity 0.9
EllipticalOrbit {
Period 0.3481
SemiMajorAxis 157183.9281
Eccentricity 0.0249
Inclination 0.2519
MeanAnomaly 26.3955
}
RotationPeriod 27.3250
Obliquity 0.0
Albedo 0.5
}[/code]

And an STC file:

Hidden/Spoiler:

[code]
899158 "Star"
{
RA 129.428958
Dec -59.679483
Distance 71.5482

AbsMag 4.5
SpectralType "G2V"
Texture "Star.jpg"
}[/code]

[plasmoidmonkey]

Downloaded to day: This thing is insanely fun.

[RogueKnight]

I might use this to make loadscreens for my maps....hm....