Celestia

You use Celestia to teach, demonstrate and explore the solar system. For planning an observation evening from your own location, a planetarium app is more suitable.

Choose the execution for your platform via the project. Check the version number and the included catalogues before installing additional models.

With local catalogues and models you can work without an online account. Download extensions only from a trustworthy creator and see which files you add.

Celestia is mainly a spatial explorer. For precise preparation of a observation evening, a programme with targeted observation functions often fits better.

A visual simulation depends on the catalogues and models used. Do not automatically consider added artistic models as accurate representations of real objects.

Celestia is especially suitable for exploring spatial relations. It provides something other than a star map: you move your point of view and thus investigate the location of objects.

Choose Celestia when you want to explore how objects lie in space relative to each other. Changing distance and point of view is at the heart of that approach. If you want to know what you see tonight from your garden, a sky map from your own location is a more direct entrance. Add additional catalogs only after you know the base, so that it remains clear which information is provided by extensions.