CelestiaProject/Celestia

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

2351 stars · 357 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

Celestia is a free, open-source real-time 3D space simulation that lets users explore the universe, traveling seamlessly from galaxy clusters down to individual spacecraft. It functions as an interactive planetarium with an expandable catalog of stars, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft, rendered accurately in real time.

Use cases

• explore the solar system and 100,000+ stars in 3D
• use a planetarium that isn't confined to Earth's surface
• view accurate real-time positions of planets and moons
• teach astronomy with an interactive educational tool
• land on any celestial body and observe the sky from its surface
• extend the simulation with community add-ons and custom objects
• zoom seamlessly across scales from galaxies to spacecraft

When to choose

• you want a free, cross-platform 3D space simulator rather than a ground-based planetarium
• you need accurate, real-time celestial positions for education or outreach
• you want an expandable platform with add-ons for custom celestial objects and spacecraft

When to avoid

• you need professional telescope control or observational planning features
• you require photorealistic, game-grade graphics rather than scientific visualization
• you need a lightweight mobile-only stargazing app with AR sky views

Facets

application · maturity active

simulation graphics gui data-visualization astronomy simulation education graphics cross-platform windows cross-platform cpp planetarium space-simulation 3d-visualization astronomy opengl educational-software real-time-rendering linux macos android ios

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markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="CelestiaProject/Celestia")