http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

seriously cute.

pca

wow. i wish i had this kinda program when i was in school. I'm going to go to my moms class, and install it on their computers. Check out this satellites addon. If you unzip it into the celestia directory, it will show you where all 900 satellites are that are orbiting the earth! Also, there are more addons here

Check out this satellites addon. If you unzip it into the celestia directory, it will show you where all 900 satellites are that are orbiting the earth!

A while back, I linked a web-based Java program here which would also show this satellite information. I haven't looked at the Celestia version yet, so I don't know which is better, but I really lost a lot of productivity messing with that Java one.

Me likey!

It does slow down the program a bit, but it will still run. If you try and run the demo with the satellites on, it will just lock up the program on my pc.

Finally actually tried Celestia. Frickin wow.

Favorite thing to do so far... Turn on Galaxies, center on the day side of Earth, and start zooming out (both mouse buttons, drag back). Keep on zooming out until you're looking at the whole Milky Way.

Also fun... Turn on star labels and go star hopping. Select a star and use G to go to it. Do this for a while until you're lost in the galaxy, and then try to find your way home. Hint: Sirius and Vega are both pretty near Sol...