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.


Celestia is described as 'Application for real-time 3D visualization of space, with a detailed model of the solar system, over 100,000 stars, more than 10,000 galaxies, and an extension mechanism for adding more objects' and is a very popular Star Map in the education & reference category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Celestia for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iPad apps. The best Celestia alternative is Stellarium, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Celestia are Space Engine, Universe Sandbox, Solar System Scope and Noctua Stellarium.
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.


Space Engine - a real-time 3D space simulator, procedural universe generator and visualiser. It lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, starting from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies.



Create & destroy on an unimaginable scale with a realistic physics-based space simulator. Explore the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Use science to bend the laws of gravity, collide planets, boil away oceans, fire epic space lasers, and customize your universe.


3D simulation of the Solar System and night sky - real time virtual orrery and observatory








3D visualization software for ESA's (European Space Agency) Gaia mission to chart about 1 billion stars of the Milky Way Galaxy.




The Starry Night apps are the most comprehensive educational astronomy apps. Use it with your introductory astronomy textbook or on its own. It's a powerful, portable planetarium that fits in your backpack. It puts thousands of stars and planets at your fingertips.




The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

Elite: Dangerous is a space adventure, trading, and combat simulator that is the fourth release in the Elite video game series.




Systems Tool Kit (STK) is a platform for analyzing and visualizing complex systems in the context of your mission. Interact with data from platforms across the aerospace, defense, telecommunications, and other industries.
WinStars uses the latest 3D technology to show the objects of our solar system in a realistic manner. Thus, it is possible to move from one planet to another, to follow a space probe on its long voyage or to observe a celestial event from a place to which you could never go.


Stellarium is a planetarium, Celestia not