NationStates Jolt Archive

Google Earth? Pft. Don't be so close-minded. Why confine yourself to terra firma when you have an entire universe to roam?

Celestia (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/) is a free 3D astronomy program that lets you navigate the heavens. Unlike other software that gives you a grounded, planetarium-style view, Celestia lets you zoom through space, examining planets, moons, asteroids, and other deep-space objects freely. You can speed up time, label features like constellations and orbits, search a huge database of stars, and even travel to distant galaxies, leaving the Milky Way nothing more than a distant, hazy light.

Also, if the considerable database contained within the program is not enough, you can download (http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/) hundreds of user-created objects and textures.

Words just don't do it justice, so take a gander at these pictures, instead:

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/69/cometdm6.png http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/8256/dactylvc7.png http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/589/earthyl5.png http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3811/galaxiesyf4.png http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/7011/jupiterof3.png
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/5811/marscd9.png http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6326/moonwd3.png http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/6210/planetzc3.png http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/406/saturnoe5.png http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8215/spiraleo1.png

More pictures (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/gallery.html)

You can download a free copy of Celestia here (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/download.html) (14 MB). Enjoy...

Google Earth? Pft. Don't be so close-minded. Why confine yourself to terra firma when you have an entire universe to roam?

Celestia (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/) is a free 3D astronomy program that lets you navigate the heavens. Unlike other software that gives you a grounded, planetarium-style view, Celestia lets you zoom through space, examining planets, moons, asteroids, and other deep-space objects freely. You can speed up time, label features like constellations and orbits, search a huge database of stars, and even travel to distant galaxies, leaving the Milky Way nothing more than a distant, hazy light.

Also, if the considerable database contained within the program is not enough, you can download (http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/) hundreds of user-created objects and textures.

Words just don't do it justice, so take a gander at these pictures, instead:

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/69/cometdm6.png http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/8256/dactylvc7.png http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/589/earthyl5.png http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3811/galaxiesyf4.png http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/7011/jupiterof3.png
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/5811/marscd9.png http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6326/moonwd3.png http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/6210/planetzc3.png http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/406/saturnoe5.png http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8215/spiraleo1.png

More pictures (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/gallery.html)

You can download a free copy of Celestia here (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/download.html) (14 MB). Enjoy...

Sounds too good to be true

Google Earth, eat your heart out :D

Yeah, it's cool. I downloaded an extra pack that adds something like 2 million extra stars...

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3664/theuniverseisbigau1.jpg

Makes you feel a little small and insignificant. ;)

coooooool *downloads and pretends shes an astronaut*

First Gabbly, then this? You rock, Rhaomi! :D

First Gabbly, then this? You rock, Rhaomi! :D
;)

Wait, you didn't show us this before? Cuz I already have this on my computer, and it's coolness, so I figured it was from Rhaomi...Maybe some other forum.

Wait, you didn't show us this before? Cuz I already have this on my computer, and it's coolness, so I figured it was from Rhaomi...Maybe some other forum.
Nah, I did a forum search and turned up zilch.

Nah, I did a forum search and turned up zilch.

Hmm, fair enough.

Stil, coolness. (b^_^)b

coooooool *downloads and pretends shes an astronaut*

There's another cool one called Orbiter (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html), that actually lets you fly a space shuttle. It's free too.

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/images/thumb73.jpg

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/images/thumb72.jpg

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/images/thumb71.jpg

Takes a bit of patience to work out though :)

There's another cool one called Orbiter (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html), that actually lets you fly a space shuttle. It's free too.

Takes a bit of patience to work out though :)

:eek: *downloads that one too*

There's another cool one called Orbiter (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html), that actually lets you fly a space shuttle. It's free too.

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/images/thumb73.jpg

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/images/thumb72.jpg

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/images/thumb71.jpg

Takes a bit of patience to work out though :)

First Gabbly, then this? You rock, Rhaomi! :D

Indeed he does! I have celestia, and can I just add that you can download the death star for it!

*downloads orbiter*

There's also Noctis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctis), but it's not nearly as pretty graphics-wise as Celestia or Orbiter (it's about 10 years old and it shows). It lets you travel amongst an entire galaxy and let you explore any planets you come across on foot, though, and is in my opinion the coolest concept of the three. It's worth a look.

http://www.tenzor.cz/oneman/noctis/SNAP0056.GIF

http://nullterminated.wordpress.com/files/2006/04/bright.PNG

You can download it from This site. (http://www.anywherebb.com/) Click "Noctis" along the top bar and the download link is just below the title picture.

There's a new version coming out soon which will be a lot more modern, though. :)

There's also Noctis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctis), but it's not nearly as pretty graphics-wise as Celestia or Orbiter (it's about 10 years old and it shows). It lets you travel amongst an entire galaxy and let you explore any planets you come across on foot, though, and is in my opinion the coolest concept of the three. It's worth a look.

http://www.tenzor.cz/oneman/noctis/SNAP0056.GIF

http://nullterminated.wordpress.com/files/2006/04/bright.PNG

You can download it from This site. (http://www.anywherebb.com/) Click "Noctis" along the top bar and the download link is just below the title picture.
Awesome... reminds me of Spore.

*downloads*

There's a new version coming out soon which will be a lot more modern, though. :)
Wait a sec... the last update on that is from 2003. Is this a dead project?

Yeah, it's cool. I downloaded an extra pack that adds something like 2 million extra stars...

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3664/theuniverseisbigau1.jpg

Makes you feel a little small and insignificant. ;)

Only two million? That's like a thousandth of a per cent of the Galaxy...

Call me back when this program is actually good.

I'm pretty sure this was on NSG before, I tried to download it then but it didn't get along with my computer...

Yeah. I found this program over a year ago. Pretty good stellar cartography program. I've seen better. Though you have to pay for those.

Only two million? That's like a thousandth of a per cent of the Galaxy...

Call me back when this program is actually good.
Well you can't really see most of the stars in the galaxy we call home because of all the dust that obscures them right along the inner disk. And we've never actually seen this galaxy from its axis so any images of it you do see are just conceptual works based on what we know right now. And doing even a 100 million stars would be a bit much, don't you think? Still, you could upgrade it if you really wanted to.

Only two million? That's like a thousandth of a per cent of the Galaxy...

Call me back when this program is actually good.

You're right, it is a tiny portion of the galaxy. However, they're all actual stars and not randomly created - every single one in the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues at the time the pack was created. It's the extent of our mapping of the galaxy.

So, if you want the whole lot, I guess we'll be waiting until we can see the galaxy on its axis, from a whole lot of different vantage points...which could be a very long time.


Wait a sec... the last update on that is from 2003. Is this a dead project?

Yes and no. Noctis IV is totally finished, but Noctis V is still in development. It's only one guy working on it so it's taking a while.

There's another cool one called Orbiter (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html), that actually lets you fly a space shuttle. It's free too.

Takes a bit of patience to work out though :)

Orbiter is seriously kickass. All that technical stuff...oy, it really gets my gears going.

Fine use of a rainy afternoon, IMHO.

;)

It's like you find all the cool stuff on the internet that nobody else knows of.... :eek:

Orbiter is seriously kickass. All that technical stuff...oy, it really gets my gears going.

Fine use of a rainy afternoon, IMHO.

And you can dock with the ISS then drag it into a terrifying plummet of death using your space shuttle. It works even better if you get your friends round and have them all scream like astronauts.

And you can dock with the ISS then drag it into a terrifying plummet of death using your space shuttle. It works even better if you get your friends round and have them all scream like astronauts.

I've never tried that before.

Hmmm....plummet of death. Sounds like fun. *puts on to do list*

And you can dock with the ISS then drag it into a terrifying plummet of death using your space shuttle. It works even better if you get your friends round and have them all scream like astronauts.

LOL. I'm not the only one that did that? I had the brainwave...heyyy, i'm docked with it...what if I put my engines on full blast?

I then undocked midway through and catapulted it out into space :)

I downloaded it a while ago. It's pretty awesome, IMO.
Never heard of Orbiter; I have 56K, so I wouldn't be able to download it, either. :( That is, until I go to the library.