Whereas Stellarium is the best star-chart software I know, Celestia is a 3D star/galactic map that lets you travel around the known stars and view from any angle. Each of those programs does a fantastic job at what they do, and they do completely different things, each completely awesome.
Favorite thing in Celestia: from the starting point of our solar system, focus on a known constellation, framing it in the screen so that it appears the way that you remember seeing it when you look up in the sky. Then zoom forward towards it and watch the stars shift in three dimensions, completely obliterating the constellation as you think of it.
"Favorite thing in Celestia: from the starting point of our solar system, focus on a known constellation, framing it in the screen so that it appears the way that you remember seeing it when you look up in the sky. Then zoom forward towards it and watch the stars shift in three dimensions, completely obliterating the constellation as you think of it."
Oooo ... cool! That could be really useful for SF writing.
I've used that too, and it is - however, what I *really* want is a program that will take my star maps (of my sf universe, which I've plotted in 2D for certain subsectors) and convert THAT into a stellarium representation, so I can then surf the night skies of my galaxy far far away.
Hm. Come to think of it, there *is* a fantasy astro-plotting program from www.profantasy.com. But its more like looking at a 3D map tank than the constellations from a planetary POV. Interesting, though.
Thanks for the reminder about this kind of sfw - maybe I'll get some just on general principles. My older version is on a long-dead puter.
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ysabetwordsmith
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Date: 2008-07-25 04:40 pm (UTC)Equally awesome, in a different way, is Celestia.
Whereas Stellarium is the best star-chart software I know, Celestia is a 3D star/galactic map that lets you travel around the known stars and view from any angle. Each of those programs does a fantastic job at what they do, and they do completely different things, each completely awesome.
Favorite thing in Celestia: from the starting point of our solar system, focus on a known constellation, framing it in the screen so that it appears the way that you remember seeing it when you look up in the sky. Then zoom forward towards it and watch the stars shift in three dimensions, completely obliterating the constellation as you think of it.
Wow!
Date: 2008-07-25 04:53 pm (UTC)Oooo ... cool! That could be really useful for SF writing.
Re: Wow!
Date: 2008-07-26 07:11 pm (UTC)Hm. Come to think of it, there *is* a fantasy astro-plotting program from www.profantasy.com. But its more like looking at a 3D map tank than the constellations from a planetary POV. Interesting, though.
Thanks for the reminder about this kind of sfw - maybe I'll get some just on general principles. My older version is on a long-dead puter.