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See The Galaxy And Solar System Up Close On A Mac.
It’s always fun to zoom down to your block to see if you can find someone you know. I found my parent’s car and our neighbor’s garage. What if you go the other way? Out to the solar system, the stars, the galaxy. Use Celestia on your Mac and you have not only the world, but the universe, too. Mostly. Celestia is a free (hey, it’s a review from me, the Value Vixen™ so what would you expect?) application which lets you explore the universe, as much as we know of it, in three dimensions, right on your Mac. Unlike Google Earth, Celestia doesn’t stick you on the earth, it sets you free; as if you’re traveling in space in your own invisible space ship, able to move light years in mere seconds. Visit our solar system and see planets and asteroids up close. Zoom through the rings of Saturn and view each one close up and change angles as if your space ship were examining the rocks from every angle. Bored with the solar system?
Move to any of over 100,000 stars (many of which, sadly, look pretty much the same from a distance), and venture into unknown space beyond the Milky Way (our galaxy, not a candy bar). Celestia on your Mac moves smoothly and effortlessly, and sometimes quickly, between celestial objects. Celestia’s interface works well, but is a bit klunky. The Point and Go To interface lets you type in a destination and your visual spacecraft takes you there, full screen on your Mac, if you like. You’re in charge. Select a location from the list and go. Your screen zooms smoothly, sometimes faster than light (that sounds impossible on a screen emitting light, but that’s how it works). Celestia installs drag and drop on your Mac. A note of caution: do not read the installation instruction for UNIX, otherwise you’ll go blind and give birth to worms. Or worse. There are stars, nearby galaxies (yes, ‘nearby’ is a relative term-- after all, it’s just a few inches on your Mac’s screen), asteroids, and my favorite, comets. The spacecraft look about as good as spacecraft did in the original Star Trek series, so don’t judge Celestia by those images. The Celestia Motherlode is where Mac users go to find add ons to make your travels through space even more interesting.
All the major planets have add ons, except Pluto, which, sadly, was demoted to Far Away Rock status. There are deep space objects such as Nebulae and Galaxies and Jessica Simpson. Some elements from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, and Star Trek can be added, too. The Enterprise is everywhere you want to be. The Motherlode has 10 gigabytes of additional celestial phenomenon to stuff into Celestia. In a word, traveling through space using your Mac and Celestia is stunning, and puts Google Earth to shame. Celestia’s price tag is difficult to beat unless someone would pay you to travel through the solar system, ala Rocket Man. Slowly moving my Mac’s view of Saturn around and through the rings is a visual feast, a delight. One thing I noticed was how much distance there is between objects in space. No, not Jessica Simpson’s ears-- real space. Outer space. Celestia is stunning, beautiful, awe inspiring and free. What else could you ask for? Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo. Off Topic #6 - The MacHeist is back. In case you missed it a few months ago, MacHeist is a great way for Mac users to get 12 top Mac applications and utilities for $49. Many of these have been reviewed on Mac360, so we highly recommend that you take a look. The value, what you get for what you pay, is remarkable. Click Here to look, buy, download. Off Topic #23 - Mac OS X Leopard is now at version 10.5.2 which we’re proclaiming the best yet, though we expect version 10.5.3 soon. If you haven’t upgraded yet, don’t forget that Leopard is on sale at the Mac360 Store, and so are the latest Leopard books. If you plan to order Leopard or a Leopard tips book from Amazon, please consider using the Mac360 Store to place your order (it’s really Amazon). Click Here to look at the latest Leopard books. • Article by Alexis Kayhill • Published on Tuesday, May 6, 2008
• Category: Low End • 2 Reader comment(s) • Email This • Digg This • Shop Now
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Talk Back to Kate, Ron & the Mac360 staff bugsnw says:
Someone already said it Rocks. So I’ll add it’s a Gas! Klunky isn’t the word. It can be difficult, almost video-gameish, to try to quickly approach a planet and slow down in time. It makes ok use of the keyboard. Strange how Google earth has a klunky interface as well. There should be a book out there somewhere. This fun app humbles you and you suddenly feel kinda small. Hard to believe that all that beauty and diversity is made up of mostly hydrogen and helium. All the rest is 1%. — Posted on Thu May 08 at 4:11 pm by bugsnw
Stanley Waters says:
Celestia is to outer space what Google Earth is to, ah, well, the earth. It just rocks. The movements are fluid and smooth and quick. It takes some horsepower to make Celestia work. My dual core CPUs are running at 70% just to keep it going. Some of the images of our solar system are just visually stunning. Awesome. — Posted on Tue May 06 at 11:43 am by Stanley Waters
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