Project "Celestia Origin", release dated August 30, 2019

[Art Blos]

Dear members of the Celestia community!

We’d like to introduce our Celestia Origin project whose goal is to upgrade Celestia 1.6.1 with the most current information about celestial bodies without modifying the source code. This project is the largest one of its kind in the Russian Internet.

Our team is constantly monitoring space-related news and publications to collect the latest information about known space objects as well as scientific theories. As the result, we have created a unique assembly of Celestia add-ons. Most of the work has been done by the team members, while the rest was acquired from other parties. Each celestial body in our assembly has been updated with all available information, including physical and orbital parameters, alternative naming and topographic locations where available.

Project’s home page is located at https://vk.com/celestiaorigin

Project Members:

• Artyom Goncharov aka Art Blos - founder and head of the project, main developer of the collection, group administrator;
• Artyom Volgin aka Zemlyanin - creator of tools for automatic data collection and creator of several unique add-ons, consultant for various scientific issues, help in complex calculations;
• Askaniy Anpilogov aka Askaniy - creator of textures, models and locations, document translator, main helper with ideas;
• Greg Frieger - creator of the largest database of minor body shapes (https://space.frieger.com/asteroids/), helper utilities and scripts;
• Anton Sobolev aka Vision - project promotion and support.

The latest version (published on August 30th 2019) includes:

• 9 planets (including a hypothetical one);
• 200 planetary moons (with 4 hypothetical ones);
• 5 dwarf planets;
• 9 moons of dwarf planets;
• 4008 asteroids + 22 binary and 1 trinary;
• 65 moons of asteroids;
• 1124 comets;
• 1 moon of comets;
• >2448220 stars of the Milky Way;
• 39894 stars outside the Milky Way;
• 3839 exoplanets + 1 exomoon, 4 rogue planets and 1 hypothetical;
• 10943 galaxies;
• 373 globular clusters;
• 1073 open clusters;
• 33 nebulae;
• 98 spacecrafts.

Installation instructions
1. Use the attached torrent file

Celestia Origin v.9 (30.08.2019).torrent

(42.57 KiB) Downloaded 753 times

or the direct links to download the addon’s;

• "Core" with 1K-4K textures;
• Archive with 8K-16K textures;
• Archive with 32K-64K textures.

2. Download and install Celestia 1.6.1 from https://celestia.space/download.html ;
3. Unpack and launch “Install.bat” script under administrator’s account (using context menu) and wait for it to complete. Note: the script deletes some of the files from the vanilla Celestia installation, so consider making a backup copy of Celestia installation folder if needed;
4. Unpack and overwrite the content of addon’s Celestia folder into Celestia installation folder;
5. For maximum texture quality, unpack the "medres" and "hires" archives in the same folder sequentially;
6. We’d recommend running disk defragmentation before starting the updated Celestia for the first time.

Pleasant flight!

[fyr02]

It's finally out!
Downloading right now

[Joey P.]

Unfortunately I think I have lost interest in this project; I prefer to be "old style" and use Celestia-ED by Frank Gregorio.

Sorry but best wishes.

[Art Blos]

Unfortunately I think I have lost interest in this project; I prefer to be "old style" and use Celestia-ED by Frank Gregorio.

As you wish. But it is wrong to compare these projects. Concepts and goals are too different.

[Art Blos]

Direct links already added. Thanks to Janus.

[SpaceFanatic64]

I was wondering why the direct links weren't already added. At least now I can get it!

[Art Blos]

I was wondering why the direct links weren't already added.

The total size of archives has become larger. It took a long time to download.

[SpaceFanatic64]

Ohh. That's perfectly fine. I understand that larger files can take longer to host.

[Janus]

It takes me at least a few hours to download them normally, and this time was slow.
Then it takes me 4-12 hours to upload depending on the mood my connection is in.

I do not run BT because of security concerns, and that it bogs my connection to nearly nothing.
The upload places are also very slow for me.

I do downloads one night, then uploads the next.
Hence some awkward delays, especially when customers call with emergencies.
Pays well, but it slows things.
Though occasionally I get to use a customer's connection, which are all faster than mine.


Janus.

[Sirius_Alpha]

I've been seeding the torrent for over a while now and have reached a ratio of 2.207. I'll keep it going for a few more days. That should push up the download rate.

[SpaceFanatic64]

I've been seeding the torrent for over a while now and have reached a ratio of 2.207. I'll keep it going for a few more days. That should push up the download rate.

The direct links are available now, though.

[Anthony_B_Russo10]

I can now update my 745's Celestia Origin.

[fyr02]

Wow. This is GREAT! Titan and Galilean moon VTs are on point, and the topgraphic maps are good.

There are a few things I suggest you fix for this update:
1. Ganymede's normal map is misaligned with the texture in a few places
2. Io and the normal map are severely misaligned in some places.
3. Add the new Bennu map
4. change the objects mentioned by pedro_jg
5. Add FarGetaNik's Ceres Albedo Texture

[Art Blos]

1. Ganymede's normal map is misaligned with the texture in a few places
2. Io and the normal map are severely misaligned in some places.

The problem and its causes are known, but fixing it is not so simple. We need normals that fully correspond to surface maps.

3. Add the new Bennu map

Where is this map?

4. change the objects mentioned by pedro_jg

If there is time, then I’ll do it.

5. Add FarGetaNik's Ceres Albedo Texture

The map does not suit me.

[fyr02]

this one:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bennu_Global_Mosaic_20190319.png

[Art Blos]

this one:

Askaniy made texture from this map. But we never added it. Shadows from stones ruin the appearance.

[fyr02]

In addition, I made a couple of Uranus maps from Hubble data. You might want to take a look and see if they are good for the project.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18VaeT8XiHJg9s5mNerVzo7es89jkS8CR?usp=sharing

[Sirius_Alpha]

this one:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bennu_Global_Mosaic_20190319.png

That map only extends to ±70 degrees latitude.

[Askaniy]

3. Add the new Bennu map

Yes, I processed it half a year ago. Here is the link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SWd8_Qx1eG_aQ4jRUitldMxfzCnIDW1b/view?usp=sharing

In addition, I made a couple of Uranus maps from Hubble data.

Looks nice.
But first I will finish with Zemlyanin (Artyom Volgin) to develop an algorithm for converting the spectrum into color.

[SpaceFanatic64]

Despite that there is a high-res texture pack, I think I will stick with the medium-res pack just to conserve space and have better performance.