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Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

features

sky

default catalogue of over 600,000 stars

extra catalogues with more than 177 million stars

default catalogue of over 80,000 deep-sky objects

extra catalogue with more than 1 million deep-sky objects

asterisms and illustrations of the constellations

constellations for 40+ different cultures

calendars of 35+ different cultures

images of nebulae (full Messier catalogue)

realistic Milky Way

very realistic atmosphere, sunrise and sunset

the planets and their satellites

all-sky surveys (DSS, HiPS)

interface

a powerful zoom

time control

multilingual interface

scripting interface

fisheye projection for planetarium domes

spheric mirror projection for your own low-cost dome

graphical interface and extensive keyboard control

HTTP interface (web-based control, remote control API)

telescope control

visualisation

several coordinate grids

precession circles

star twinkling

shooting stars

tails of comets

eclipse simulation

supernovae and novae simulation

exoplanet locations

ocular view simulation

3D sceneries

skinnable landscapes with spheric panorama projection

customizability

plugin system adding artifical satellites, ocular simulation, telescope control and more

ability to add new solar system objects from online resources...

add your own deep sky objects, landscapes, constellation images, scripts...

presentations

news

system requirements

minimal

Linux/Unix; Windows 7 and above; macOS 10.15 and above

3D graphics card which supports OpenGL 2.1 and GLSL 1.3 or OpenGL ES 2.0

512 MiB RAM

600 MiB on disk

Keyboard

Mouse, Touchpad or similar pointing device

recommended

64-bit operating system

Linux/Unix; Windows 10 and above; macOS 11.0 and above

3D graphics card which supports OpenGL 3.3 and above

1 GiB RAM or more

1.5 GiB on disk

Keyboard

Mouse, Touchpad or similar pointing device

Moderately dark environment (deep shadow or indoors)

developers

Project coordinator: Fabien Chéreau
Graphic designer: Martín Bernardi
Developers: Alexander V. Wolf, Georg Zotti, Guillaume Chéreau, Ruslan Kabatsayev, Worachate Boonplod
Sky cultures researcher: Susanne M. Hoffmann
Collaborators: Jocelyn Girod and everyone else in the community.

financial support

Many individuals and organizations are supporting the development of Stellarium by donations, and the most generous financial contributors (with donations of $250 or more) are Laurence Holt, Astronomie-Werkstatt "Sterne ohne Grenzen", John Bellora, Jeff Moe (Spacecruft), BairesDev, Vernon Hermsen, Triplebyte, Marla Pinaire, Satish Mallesh, Vlad Magdalin, Philippe Renoux, Fito Martin.

silver sponsor

social media

collaborate

You can learn more about Stellarium, get support and help the project from these links:

acknowledgment

If the Stellarium planetarium was helpful for your research work, please cite the following paper in your acknowledgment:
This research has made use of the Stellarium planetarium

Zotti, G., Hoffmann, S. M., Wolf, A., Chéreau, F., & Chéreau, G. (2021). The Simulated Sky: Stellarium for Cultural Astronomy Research. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 6(2), 221-258. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.17822

Or you may download the BibTeX file of the paper to create another citation format.

Please note that the software has several releases since these fundamentals were published:

git

The latest development snapshot of Stellarium is kept on github. If you want to compile development versions of Stellarium, this is the place to get the source code.

books

Documentation and description of the sky cultures, state March 2022, plus a lot of additional research:

supporters and friends

Stellarium is produced by the efforts of the developer team, with the help and support of the following people and organisations .

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Stellarium is a planetarium software that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. It's easy to use, and free.

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Design your own asteroid and launch it at Earth!

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Students should be able to explore a scientific model to illustrate the origin of the universe

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Students should be able to examine some of the current hazards and benefits of space exploration and discuss the future role and implications of space exploration in society

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FAIL

Successful docking is achieved when all green numbers are below 0.2 and your RATE is below -0.2 m/s. Play again and review the DOCKING TIPS to familiarize yourself with the interface and the goals of the mission.

SUCCESS

You have successfully docked with the International Space Station. Follow SpaceX and NASA on Twitter for updates on the Commercial Crew Program as we prepare to send astronauts to the International Space Station from American soil. Watch the following video to see the actual interface used by crew

This simulator will familiarize you with the controls of the actual interface used by NASA Astronauts to manually pilot the SpaceX Dragon 2 vehicle to the International Space Station. Successful docking is achieved when all green numbers in the center of the interface are below 0.2. Movement in space is slow and requires patience & precision.

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This simulator will familiarize you with the controls of the actual interface used by NASA Astronauts to manually pilot the SpaceX Dragon 2 vehicle to the International Space Station.

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Help the Joules family make choices that keep their greenhouse gas emissions low.

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Choose Our Future - How the choices we make playout (Game)

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Choose Our Future - How the choices we make playout (Game)

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Explore how everyday choices add up to make your carbon footprint, and what the effect would be on the climate if everybody acted the same way as you in the future.

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6. Students should be able to research different energy sources; formulate and communicate an informed view of ways that current and future energy needs on Earth can be met

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DESCRIPTION

Observe the motions of the Earth, Moon and Sun in three dimensions to investigate the causes and frequency of eclipses. Observe Earth's shadow crossing the Moon during a lunar eclipse, and the path of the Moon's shadow across Earth's surface during a solar eclipse. The angle of the Moon's orbit can be adjusted, as well as the distance of the Moon from the Earth.

Full Lesson Info

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Gizmos help educators bring powerful learning experiences to grade 3-12 classrooms through over 500 virtual STEM simulations.

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DESCRIPTION

Analyze the spectra of a variety of stars. Determine the elements that are represented in each spectrum, and use this information to infer the temperature and classification of the star. Look for unusual features such as redshifted stars, nebulae, and stars with large planets.

Full Lesson Info

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Star Spectra Gizmo | ExploreLearning Gizmos

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Analyze the spectra of a variety of stars. Determine the elements that are represented in each spectrum, and use this information to infer the temp...

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https://www.solarsystemscope.com/

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Online 3D simulation of the Solar System and night sky in real time - the Sun, planets, dwarf planets, comets, stars and constellations

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Explore the 3D world of the Solar System. Learn about past and future missions.

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Students should be able to illustrate how earth processes and human factors influence the Earth's climate, evaluate effects of climate change and initiatives that attempt to address those effects

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Students should be able to describe the cycling of matter, including that of carbon and water, associating it with biological and atmospheric phenomena

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A walk though journey of a Carbon atom from the atmosphere through to plants, to animals and back to the atmosphere

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Carbon Quest!

Topics Covered: Be Carbon in the Carbon Cycle! Nutrient Cycling, Carbon Cycle. Photosynthesis, Respiration, Combustion, Fossil fuels, Fossilization, Decomposition.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): HS-LS2-5 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics-- Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.

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Video computer games, virtual labs and activities for learning and reviewing biology content. Great for students and teachers.

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Students play a game to work through the water cycle. Helps support key concept development in a fun and motivating way!

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Natural water cycle game | South East Water Education

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Explore the natural water cycle and help Whoosh keep the water moving in this fun and interactive online game.

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Great assessment activity

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Grades 6th - 12th by Animan Naskar

Hide Orbits

Instructions : Drag and drop new planets around the Sun. Drag them to re-position, or drop them to the right side to remove.

What is a Solar System?

A solar system comprises of a star and all the celestial bodies that travel around it - planets, moons, asteroids, comets. Some solar systems may even have two stars.

What is a Star?

A star is an immense glowing ball of extremely hot gases, mainly hydrogen and helium, where nuclear fusion releases a tremendous amount of energy. A few nearby stars are Sun, Proxima Centauri, Sirius, Polaris.

What is a Planet?

A planet is a large rocky or gaseous body that is spherical in shape and orbits a star. In our solar system, mercury, venus, earth, mars, jupiter, saturn, uranus and neptune are planets. With advanced telescopes, scientists are detecting planets around most stars.

What is a Comet?

A comet is a ball of frozen gases, rock and dust that is about the size of a small town. It goes around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit. Jets of gas and dust from its surface form a long tail behind it.

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Build your own solar system with planets and comets! Learn more about solar system with our interactive simulation.

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Solar eclipse

Eclipse is the phenomenon that one object hides another object or enters that shadow. 'a solar eclipse' is the moon's phenomenon covering the sun.

Lunar eclipse

When the moon enters the shadow of the earth, it becomes 'the lunar eclipse.'

Transit of Venus

Venus passes between the Sun and Earth. As Venus passes in front of the sun, Venus appears as a small black dot, and the sun's radiation is slightly reduced. This very small reduction in solar radiation can be used to detect something passing between the sun and the earth. We use this principle to look for planets that resemble Earth while observing celestial bodies outside the solar system.

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Eclipse is the phenomenon that one object hides another object or enters that shadow. 'a solar eclipse' is the moon's phenomenon covering the sun. When the moon enters the shadow of the earth, it becomes 'the lunar eclipse.' Venus passes between the Sun and Earth.

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If you are asked to access your location, please allow it.
Your personal data is not stored on the server.

Earth Rotation and Seasonal Changes

The Earth's axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of about 23.5 ° to the orbital axis. Because of this inclination, seasonal changes occur like as spring, summer, autumn and winter.

The sun illuminates the northern hemisphere more in June-August. So, the northern hemisphere becomes summer and the southern hemisphere becomes winter. Six months later, the sun will illuminates the southern hemisphere more. So, the northern hemisphere will be winter and the southern hemisphere will be summer.

Is it hot in the summer because the earth gets closer to the sun?

No.
In the northern hemisphere, the sun is a little further away in summer.
The reason why the summer is hot is not because of the distance from the sun, but the high altitude of the sun. Because of the high altitude of the sun, the amount of solar radiation per unit area is greater.

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Earth's Revolution and Seasons (WebGL) - JavaLab

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If you are asked to access your location, please allow it. Your personal data is not stored on the server. Earth Rotation and Seasonal Changes The Earth's axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of about 23.5 ° to the orbital axis. Because of this inclination, seasonal changes occur like as spring, summer, autumn and winter.

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How do celestial bodies warp the fabric of space-time and interact with each other?

Create an object to begin exploring.

This experiment works best in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Download the latest version of one of these browsers to begin.

Create your universe Download Chrome

National Science & Technology Medals Foundation Powered By

National Science & Technology Medals Foundation Powered By

Press and hold to create an object

Press, hold, and flick to add velocity

Observations

Runaway planet! That object's velocity is faster than any nearby gravitational force.

How fast does a rocket need to travel to leave Earth? Any projectile must reach a speed of seven miles per second to break free of our planet's gravity.

The gravity on Mars' moon, Deimos, is so low that if you jumped you could reach escape velocity!

Your object attained escape velocity. Its initial kinetic energy was large enough to escape from the gravitational energy well of the larger object. Space probes that completely escape from the earth's gravity and travel to other planets are examples of vehicles that achieve escape velocity.

You've created a binary system. These two celestial bodies weave around their common center of mass.

When you look up at the night sky, at least half of all the stars you see are binary stars orbiting one another.

You created an orbit. Orbits are like the Goldilocks of space, set in motion only when mass, distance, and velocity are just right. Orbits or often circular or elliptical. The earth's orbit around the sun, for example, deviates less than 2% from a circle.

Communications satellites aren't the only man-made objects orbiting Earth. Astronauts have left behind tools, gloves, and other space junk that might still be floating around.

Typically comets have elliptical orbits. These "dirty snowballs" come from the outer edge of the solar system, pass near the sun where they start to melt and produce a long tail, then return to the edge of the solar system where they refreeze.

Your object failed to attain escape velocity. Its initial kinetic energy was too little to escape from the gravitational energy well of the larger object. Rockets and missiles that return to earth are examples of vehicles that do not achieve escape velocity.

During the early days of our solar system, there were lots of collisions. The scattered debris mostly formed back together or attached to planets.

Don't worry. Nowadays our solar system is stable, and planets are unlikely to collide. However, you still need to watch for dangerous asteroids!

Some collisions don't break things apart but leave impact craters. Mars has been shaped by impact. Its northern half is smooth and low, its southern half mountainous and rough -- so different they're like two separate planets!

According to Newton, the larger the mass of objects and the shorter the distance between them, the stronger the attraction.

Objects move proportionately to their mass. Tiny planets move great distances. Massive planets may only wobble.

When slow-moving celestial bodies collide, they might fuse together and enlarge, increasing from a few kilometers to a few hundred kilometers in diameter.

Earth-like planets begin as particles formed from the collision of gas and dust and grow by accretion. A mature planet can take thousands or even millions of years to form.

Notice how the universe distorts when a object forms or grows in size? According to Einstein, all celestial bodies warp the fabric of space-time. The resulting curves are gravity.

Two celestial bodies of different masses have distinct effects upon space-time. A massive object creates a greater distortion of space-time and can shift the path of smaller objects if they're close enough.

Gravity penetrates everything and holds the galaxy together.

Everything in the universe - moons, planets, particles, galaxies, even light - is drawn towards everything else by the force of gravity.

Your planetary collision has created a moon, or natural satellite. Moons can be anywhere from centimeters to thousands of kilometers in width.

Over 4 billion years ago, something the size of Mars bumped into Earth and left behind the moon that orbits us.

Moons can also be captured by a hefty planet's gravitational pull. The largest irregular moon in our solar system is thought to be Neptune's moon, Triton, which originated in the Kuiper belt of comets.

Orbit shapes are typically ellipses. Orbiting objects zip towards a gravitational center and slow when pulling away.

An orbit system is a gravitationally-bound collection of celestial bodies.

The Sun is the center of planetary orbit in our solar system. But each planet has its own gravitational field, and most have their own natural satellites.

How do celestial bodies warp the fabric of space-time and interact with each other?

We tend think of gravity as a force of attraction, but it's also been described as a curvature of space-time in the presence of mass. This National Science and Technology Medals Foundation interactive invites you to bend the fabric of space-time and observe the resulting gravitational forces. By adjusting the variables of mass, distance, and velocity, you can trigger orbits, collisions, and escape velocities in space.

The National Science and Technology Medals Foundation celebrates the amazing individuals who have won the highest science, technology, engineering, and mathematics award in the United States.

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How do celestial bodies warp the fabric of space-time and interact with each other? Create an object to begin exploring. This experiment works best in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Download the latest version of one of these browsers to begin.

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Students should be able to describe the relationships between various celestial objects including moons, asteroids, comets, planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies and space

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Shows the geometry of the earth and sun over the course of a year, demonstrating how seasons occur. This simulator allows both orbital and celestial sphere representations of the seasonal motions.

Running this animation on your computer...

1. right-click to download eclipticsimulator.swf and eclipticsimulator.html to the same directory

2. open the html file in a browser to run the animation

Linking to this animation...

copy and paste the code below into your webpage or blog:

Putting this animation on your website...

1. upload eclipticsimulator.swf to the same directory as your webpage

2. copy and paste the following code into your webpage:

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Shows the geometry of the earth and sun over the course of a year, demonstrating how seasons occur. This simulator allows both orbital and celestial sphere representations of the seasonal motions. Running this animation on your computer... right-click to download eclipticsimulator.swf and eclipticsimulator.html to the same directory open the html file in a browser to run the animation Linking to this animation...

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Students should be able to develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe predictable phenomena observable on Earth, including seasons, lunar phases, and eclipses of the sun and moon

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https://www.solarsystemscope.com/

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Online 3D simulation of the Solar System and night sky in real time - the Sun, planets, dwarf planets, comets, stars and constellations

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Students should be able to compare the Earth with other planets and

moons in the solar system, with respect to

properties including mass, gravity, size, and

composition