Wednesday, January 28, 2009

New year - New stuff

Wecome back to a new year - the "International Year of Astronomy" to be precise. To get you in the mood I gathered a couple of cool astronomy applications that work well projected - use a Wacom tablet or eBeam to manipulate them. Of course they are free!

Stelarium - A computer based planetarium. Very cool. Like all planetariums you are based on the ground looking up from Earth. Very much like a digital telescope but all simulated. (FLOSS - Win, Mac and Linux)

Microsoft Worldwide Telescope - Again a planetarium but this time incorporating updated imagery from telescopes around the world. (Freeware - Win only)

Celestia - Not a Planetarium but a space simulator - you can travel to planets, comets, distant galaxies. It's like having a warp ship to go exploring the universe.

Universe Sandbox
- This is the ultimate in playing GOD. Create planets, solar systems, galaxies - and see how gravity effects them all. ($25 - not free but worth it)