Possibly stupid question

[Shredder]

I don't think it's such a bad question. You just have to think laterally about the answer. Think of your screen as your front window. Your keyboard is your control panel and depending on how nerdy you want to be, you can set up your computer desk as a cockpit. Your spacecraft comes with a HUD. I always imagined the ship resembles the Orion from 2001:A Space Odyssey. The ship has a kick-arse hyperdrive, able to star jump in a few seconds. You just need to get your head around 'following' and 'sync-orbiting' an object as this affects flight direction and even speed, and the Star/Solar System Browser. Practice makes perfect. Might be an idea to get a few space stations. If you download a couple of planet addons, the source code is a little better laid out and you can then start editing stuff. I've only had this program less than a week and I've already mastered flying and I've built myself a fictional planetary system.

That's the fun bit. The ability to observe moons in orbit, the passage of time and even NASA missions as they unfold is what makes this program unique and in a different league than a simple space-flight simulator.

If you augment this program with Stellarium, you have yourself an observatory.

The very fact that both programs are offered free and are so expandable does my head in.

[Fenerit]

For something that resemble an "active cockpit" in which, whether I do not have badly understood, the icons panel have commands associate with, look here:

http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13162

these tools have also a planetarium function like Stellarium and are customizable. You can overlay a cockpit of your design above it's command, so when you click on your panel guide, you does activate a function.

[t00fri]

If you augment this program with Stellarium, you have yourself an observatory.

The very fact that both programs are offered free and are so expandable does my head in.

That does not make sense: Stellarium is an Earth-bound 2D display while Celestia is genuinely 3D and NOT Earth bound. The latter needs a completely different astro-math engine! For Celestia, we can only use data that include distance values! In case of binary stars, we need the FULL set of 3d orbit parameters in Celestia, for galaxies we need 3d shape information besides position and distance, along with a set of orientation parameters in space. Stellarium can get along with just attaching photos of celestial objects to the 2D skyglobe at the correct position...

Celestia does have a surface mode option for the observer (, not only referring to Earth but to any celestial body). The forthcoming 1.6.0 version also has a variety of grids etc all of which allow to "simulate" 2D programs like Stellarium to a large extent in Celestia.

Fridger

[cartrite]

If you augment this program with Stellarium, you have yourself an observatory.

Back a few years ago when I started using Celestia, I was able to go to a virtual observatory on Mars or any other planet I wanted to go to. Something that Stellarium can't do.
cartrite

[Reiko]

All I have to say is I have yet to see any space sim software that comes close to being as good as celestia. Before I found celestia I used to use starry night pro, which cost me $50, and that software is nothing compared to celelstia.