Celestia

I'll be doing a talk for new students on “Free software on MathLAN” again this year, and I've been preparing the CDs that I'll distribute -- Debian GNU/Linux installation disks, copies of TheOpenCD, and Ubuntu Linux live and installation disks. When I went to test TheOpenCD, I noticed that their contents list now includes an astronomical simulator called Celestia. It looked interesting, so I installed it and gave it a try.

Wow. That's an amazing program. I was just blown away by the progress that has been made, both in the rendering and in the repertoire of operations and options available to the user, since the last time I looked at an astronomical simulator for personal computers. I spent more than an hour yesterday evening visiting a couple of Saturn's moons and taking in the view from various perspectives. It was fascinating.

Celestia is available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux (under either KDE or Gnome). Make sure to download the full manual -- the on-line help omits some of the most interesting features and discusses others in such an abbreviated way that their power and range aren't apparent.