Review of Celestia

Celestia is a space simulation software and was developed by Chris Laurel. It is licensed under GNU/GPL version 2.0 and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Celestia is also one of those programs included in NASA and ESA's space education programs.

1. Setup file size: 33.8 MB

2. Installation file size: 63.4 MB

3. Version: 1.6.0

4. Author: Chris Laurel

5. Website:www.shatters.net/celestia

6. Build date: 2009-06-20

7. Other similar software: Stellarium, Orbiter, Kstar

8. OS compatibility: Windows, Linux, Mac

Interface:

Celestia has a good interface with all the required menus which helps users to run it smoothly. It has an option to change the magnitude of objects and do all kinds of rotating and zooming. Keyboards shortcuts are easy to find and use. There are also menus like tours, star finders and solar system browser which helps a lot. There is also a help menu for providing informations related to Celestia.

Working/Function:

Celestia is a space simulation program which renders high quality planetary objects in real-time with the help of OpenGL. It also allows to a person to travel within the solar system or outside of it to other galaxies and stars. It makes traveling through stars possible with its huge catalog of stars, planets and other objects. There is a good demo for first-time users and also tour guides to various planets and stars. One can also find lots of add-on and scripts on net to increase its use. These add-ons includes tours and space voyages, informations on newly found stars and planets and other educational materials.

Pros:

1. Good interface and menu system

2. Lots of add-ons and scripts

3. Large catalog of stars, planets and other objects

4. Useful demo for first time users

5. Lots of keyboard shortcuts

6. Low on system resources

7. High resolution images

Cons:

1. Depends heavily on Internet for add-ons

2. Lacks catalogs of black holes, supernovas and neutron stars.

Conclusion:

Celestia is a very good educational software for space simulation which is included by NASA and ESA in their space education programs. With huge collection of add-ons and involvement of whole community, it is a powerful software in comparison to its competitors and promises to be a great source of information on space and universe.