Celestia2009

Podróże z Celestią 2009
Jacek Kupras
http://djkupras.blogspot.com/search/label/Celestia

Tytułem wstępu:
• Prezentacja którą przeglądasz stanowi pewnego rodzaju
podsumowanie moich ubiegło oraz tegorocznych zabaw z Celestią,
szczególnie zaś z pakietem Celestia Educational Activities Franka
Gregorio.
• Pierwszą częścią prezentacji jest galeria pokazująca możliwości
Celestii. Stworzyłem ją na podstawie opisów tego, co Celestia
potrafi, znajdujących się na stronie Gregoria. Każdemu opisowi
przyporządkowałem grafikę, pochodzącą z moich notatek lub z
Internetu – warto sprawdzid powiązane z grafikami łącza
• Druga częśd prezentacji to spis scenariuszy wchodzących w skład
Celestia Educational Activities. Towarzyszą im hiperłącza
prowadzące do moich tekstów znajdujących się na blogu. Aby
przejśd od razu do spisu kliknij tutaj.
• Na koniec zostawiłem tekst, w którym Frank Gregorio opowiada o
swoich doświadczeniach w stosowaniu Celestii w szkole. Trafisz do
niego bezpośrednio klikając tu.
• Prezentacja ta ma charakter roboczy.

Learn the unbelievable size of our universe with a journey from Earth to the far reaches of the
galaxies … at hyperspeed.

Watch solar flares and prominences rise off the Sun and measure its rotation using sunspots.

Hover over each of the planets in our Solar System as they rotate below. See clouds drift by and
shadows cast on mountains and craters as the Sun sets low.

Fly with Mariner 10 on its historic flyby of Mercury.

Visit the searing surface of Venus and view it in a panoramic 360° vista.

Take a spin down to Earth’s surface in your hyperdrive spacecraft. Skim over the oceans below the
clouds. Soar back into space to see the lights come on in the cities of Earth.

Be present as Apollo 11 lands on the Moon in 1969, or fly with Sputnik in 1957.

Rendezvous with the ISS or the Hubble Space Telescope. Attempt a docking at the ISS Shuttle port.

Peer deep into the cosmos through the focus of the Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain.

View Earth’s Magnetic Field from space and see the Aurora shimmering.

Display an internal X-section of Earth and its tectonic layers.

Discover Mir passing over the Russian homeland with its cosmonaut crew onboard.

See the massive size of Hurricane Katrina as it makes landfall on New Orleans.

Hover over Mar’s Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum and drop down to visit Spirit and
Opportunity.

Fly over to Olympus Mons and through Valles Marineris.

Be there in the year 2029 when the asteroid Apophis will approach Earth on a possible collision
course.

Observe a spectacular lunar eclipse of Jupiter’s moons.

Examine the erupting volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io. Fly through a spewing volcanic plume.

Hover far beyond Saturn, plunge through its rings, and count its 60 moons.

Witness Cassini arrive in Saturn space in 2004 and drop the Huygens probe into the atmosphere of
Titan.

Take up station behind comet Halley in 1986 as its gaseous tail streams out near Earth.

Seek out Ceres, Eris and Makemake, three of our Solar System’s new “dwarf planets”

Follow Voyagers 1 and 2 as they head to distant stars beyond our solar system.

Witness the Deep Impact spacecraft crash onto the surface of comet Tempel1 in 2005.

Set your ship at faster-than-light speed and sail to Rigel Kentaurus A, 4.3 light years away.

Visit a future space station orbiting Mars.

Travel in time to 3000 CE to witness giant mirrors melt the Martian polar ice caps and help to
terraform Mars into a verdant world of water, plants and cities of the future.

Travel far into the future and rendezvous with a colossal rotating Space Station orbiting Earth.

Journey to the edges of a massive rotating Black Hole as it spins near its stellar companion. Witness
another Black Hole swallowing its companion star.

Travel to Betelgeuse, a distant Red Supergiant star that will Hypernova someday.

See stellar creation from deep within the Rosette and Eagle Nebulas, giant stellar nurseries.

Observe the deep field galaxies that were photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Hear the sounds of the pulsar in the Crab Nebula, spinning before you at over 30 times a second.

Witness the end of Earth, as it is swallowed by our swelling Red Giant sun 5 billion years from now.

Jump at hyperspeed to the Andromeda galaxy, and to M 87 located in the Virgo Cluster.

Cruise next to Hector Servadac’s, a revolutionary new spacecraft that can sail on a “wind” of
aether.

Travel backward in time 4 billion years to witness the planet “Orpheus” catastrophically collide with
Earth to form our Moon.

Learn the efforts being taken to discover if extraterrestrial intelligence exists in the universe.

Travel with the USS Enterprise commanded by Captain Picard as it battles the Borg Empire.

Explore the world of Hollywood and visit the StarWars® worlds of Tatooine, Endor and Hoth. Pace
the Death Star or Star Destroyer as the Millennium Falcon swoops in for an attack.

Fly directly through a theoretical wormhole on your way to a distant solar system.

Explore fictional solar systems, complete with meticulously detailed, exotic alien civilizations,
terraformed moons, futuristic space stations, space fleets, and interstellar spacecraft.

Introductory Guide
• Lokalizacja w Internecie: tutaj
• Na blogu: tutaj
• Summary: Contains a general outline
of our Educational Activities and how
to install and use them at home or in
a classroom. Please download and
read this first!
• Description: This guide contains an
introduction to the Educational
Activities, with all of the information
needed for the installation and usage
of Frank's Educational Tools. Please
download and examine this
package prior to attempting to install
any of the other Educational
Activities.

Celestia-1.5.1-ED
• Na blogu:
• Summary: A Customized Windows version of
Celestia 1.5.1 designed to operate with all
Educational Activities. This must be installed
into the Celestia-ED folder and used with all
educational activities on a Windows
computer.
• Description: Celestia 1.5.1-ED is a customized
version of Celestia 1.5.1 containing
additional coded features to include sound
and overlay textures. It was customized by
Vincent Giangiulio, Victor Gomes, Jean-Marc
Izard and Frank Gregorio, and was compiled
for Windows by Vincent Giangiulio. Copyright
© 2008 - Vincent Giangiulio.
Please contact Vincent Giangiulio if you wish
to use the original or modified version of this
file for any commercial activity. Contact:
vince.gian@free.fr.

Educational Base Package
• Lokalizacja w Internecie: tutaj.
• Na blogu:
• Summary: Contains
everything REQUIRED for use of
the Educational Activities. Please
install this package into your
Celestia-ED
folder before installing any of the
educational activities below.
• Description: Contains the add-ons
and all planet textures which
are REQUIRED for all of the
numbered Educational Activities.
Please download, unzip and
install this into your Celestia-ED
folder before installing any of the
educational activities below.

The World of Celestia
• Na blogu: tutaj
• Summary: A spectacular introductory showcase
journey through Celestia space. Explore over 60
separate destinations.

• Description: This is a spectacular introductory
showcase journey through Celestia space. It begins
on Earth. Under your command, launch a sleek
hyperdrive spacecraft and climb above the clouds
and atmosphere into orbit. Try docking with a
massive space station of the future. Fly by the ISS
and Hubble Space Telescope. View Hurricane
Katrina from orbit, discover the cause of our aurora,
then travel to our Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and
Halley’s Comet. Stop by a Red Dwarf, and the Red
Supergiant, Betelgeuse. Traverse the Rosette
Nebula. See Black Holes, Pulsars and a theoretical
wormhole. Fly beyond the Milky Way into
intergalactic space. Visit the Virgo Galaxy Cluster.
Learn the true scale of the universe. Explore
fictional Hollywood spacecraft. The tour makes 60
great stops in all.

Activities 1&2 - The Universe
• Na blogu: CelEdu0102
• Czas: 2-3h
• Summary: A detailed educational tour of the size
and wonders of our Universe from Earth to beyond
the Milky Way with stops at planets, moons, stars,
nebula, black holes and galaxies. This Activity can
serve as a primary/key teaching tool on this topic.
• Description:This is a detailed astronomical tour of
the visible universe. Explore the concept of infinity.
Take off from Earth and soar into space in your own
hyperdrive spacecraft, stopping at the sun, and
some of our solar system’s planets, moons,
asteroids, comets and spacecraft. Rendezvous with
Voyager 2 as it leaves our Solar System. Swing by
the Rosette Nebula and Ring Nebula, and then
hover above and actually hear the spinning pulsar
in the Crab nebula. Pass a dramatic Black Hole deep
in space and attempt to fly directly into it. Examine
the Virgo Cluster up close. See the Ultra Deep Field
of 10,000 galaxies that the Hubble Space Telescope
photographed. Learn the unbelievable size and
magnificent scale of the universe.

Activity 3 - Inner Solar System
• Na blogu: tutaj
• Czas: 3-4h (łącznie części 3 i 4)
• Summary:Educational Activity 3 - The Inner
Solar System. A basic journey through the
inner Solar System, with stops at the Sun, the
inner planets, their moons and selected
spacecraft.
• Description:Study the Sun and measure its
rotation. Observe Helios 1 on its solar flyby.
Discover the brutal conditions on Mercury
and Venus. Orbit Earth, and then fly down to
the Kennedy Space Center. Visit the Hubble
Space Telescope and ISS. Accompany Apollo
11 as it orbits the Moon in 1969. Hover over
Mars and see the Spirit and Opportunity
rovers on its surface. Fly over Olympus Mons
and Valles Marineris.

Activity 3E - Inner Solar System -
Extended
• Na blogu: CelEdu03E
• Czas: około 3h
• Summary: The Inner Solar System (Extended).
An extended tour of the inner Solar System.
• Description:An extended tour of the inner Solar System with
detailed discussion and stops at the Sun, the inner
planets, their moons and selected spacecraft.
Is a tutorial on the Inner Solar System and can serve as a
primary teaching tool on this topic. Observe the Sun’s solar
flares, prominences and granules and measure its rotation.
Chase Helios 1, then see Mercury during the Mariner 10
flyby. Watch Magellan map Venus. Drop a probe to the
surface. Experience Earth from high orbit and witness its
magnetic field and Aurora Borealis. Fly down to the Kennedy
Space Center and the Florida Keys. Witness the size of
Hurricane Katrina from orbit. Delve into Earth’s interior via a
rotating cutaway. Visit the Hubble Space Telescope and ISS.
Travel back in time and pace Apollo 11 as it orbits the Moon
in 1969, and lands the LEM on its surface. Observe a dramatic
lunar eclipse. Travel to Mars where the Mars Spirit and
Opportunity await you. Orbit with Mars Global Surveyor and
MRO, and observe a rare conjunction of nine solar system
objects. Learn what a Mars colony might experience. Fly over
Olympus Mons and through Valles Marineris canyon. See
where the new Mars Phoenix has landed to look for the
waters of life.

Activity 4 - Outer Solar System
• Czas: 3-4h (łącznie części 3 i 4)
• Summary: Educational Activity 4 - The Outer Solar
System. A basic journey through the outer Solar
System, with stops at the asteroids, the outer
planets, their moons, comets and selected
spacecraft.
• Description: Activity 4 is a continuation of the basic
journey through the outer Solar System, with stops
at the asteroids, the outer planets, their moons,
comets and selected spacecraft.
Chase several asteroids, then rocket over to Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Fly through Saturn’s
rings. Witness a triple eclipse of Jupiter’s moons
and examine Europa up close. Fly through an
erupting volcanic plume on Io. Pace the Cassini
spacecraft. Discover Pluto and its moons. See
Makemake, our Solar System’s new dwarf planet
and comet Halley. Enjoy a flyby of Voyager 2 as it
passes Neptune and leaves the Solar System
forever. Conclude with a flyby of a lonely comet in
the Oort Cloud as it silently orbits the sun.

Activity 4E - Outer Solar System -
Extended
• Na blogu: CelEdu04E
• Czas: około 3h
• Summary: The Outer Solar System (Extended).
An extended tour of the outer Solar System.
• Description:Activity 4E is the extended companion
journey of the outer Solar System and can serve as
a primary teaching tool on this topic. See two Near
Earth Object asteroids almost hit Earth. View
Gaspra, asteroid Ida and its moon Dactyl. Then
move on to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
See Galileo orbit Jupiter. Examine the four Galilean
moons close up. Observe actual volcanic eruptions
on Io. Witness a triple Jovian lunar eclipse. Fly
through Saturn’s rings. Pace Cassini in 2004 and
follow the Huygens probe to the surface of Titan.
Visit Uranus and hover over Neptune then fly by
Triton while accompanying Voyager 2 as it leaves
our solar system forever. Discover Pluto and its
three moons. Travel to Ceres, Eris, Sedna and our
newest planet Makemake. Consider Comet Halley’s
beautiful tail close up. Journey through the Kuiper
Belt and on to visit a dark lonely comet in the
distant Oort Cloud of comets.

Activity 5 - The Terraforming of Mars
• Czas: 1h
• Summary: The Terra forming of Mars is an
amazing educational journey into the 26th
century to witness the Terra forming of Mars
into an Earth-like, colonized world.
• Description:This activity takes you into the
26th century to witness our attempt to
transform Mars from a dead, cold, dry planet
to a wet, warm and breathable world
covered in seas and suitable for colonization.
The Activity can serve as a primary teaching
tool on this topic. Travel to Earth of the
future, to visit a massive rotating space
station in orbit. Then it’s on to Mars to view a
battery of eight giant reflecting mirrors
orbiting Mars, reflecting sunlight onto Mar’s
polar caps. Over centuries, see Mars become
a world of seas, life and new beginnings.
View and hear a video made by future
Martian colonists showcasing some of the
scenes of their world.

Activity 6 - The Life and Death of Stars
• Czas: 4h
• Summary: A detailed tour of the complete life cycle
of stars from nebula through black holes. We visit
27 separate locations.
• Description: This Activity can serve as a primary
teaching tool on this topic. The journey begins in
our Solar System and travels through the galaxy,
stopping at nebula, protostars, main sequence
stars, brown and red dwarfs, yellow, white, red and
blue Supergiant stars, planetary nebula, white
dwarfs, black dwarfs, supernova, hypernova,
neutron stars, whirling pulsars and spinning black
holes. There are over 27 stops in all. Fly through the
Rosette and Eagle star-forming nebula, skim across
the surface of an exploding star, witness the death
of Earth when our Sun swells to a Red Giant, hear a
pulsar rotating 30 times a second. Visit the largest
known star in the Milky Way … up close! Orbit three
rotating black holes and spinning protostars. Fly
through the event horizon of a Black Hole!

Activity 7 - Spacecraft, part 1
• Czas: 2-3h
• Summary: This is part 1 of the Spacecraft of
Celestia. It visits many of the spacraft launched in
the vicinity of Earth and Moon orbit.
• Description: This activity guides you on a visit to
some of the spacecraft built by humans to explore
Earth orbit and can serve as a primary teaching tool
on this topic. Pace Sputnik 1 in 1958 and listen to its
actual signal. Hover next to Vostok 1, Explorer 1,
and the Mercury and Gemini capsules. Examine
Skylab and Mir, then it’s on to the U.S. Space
Shuttles, the International Space Station, Hubble
Space Telescope, Carot, Spitzer, and Chandra space
telescopes. See Shenzhou V and VI. Be there when
the Apollo 11 spacecraft makes its monumental
landing on the moon. See the threat that space junk
can pose to spacecraft. Fly near Cosmos 1, the first
spacecraft to sail the night on sunbeams. Witness
potential new spacecraft designs of the future.

Activity 8 - Spacecraft, part 2
• Czas: 2-3h
• Summary: This is part 2 of the spacecraft of Celestia. It visits
over 20 spacecraft and probes launched to explore our other
planets, moons, asteroids, comets and the sun.
• Description: The Activity can serve as a primary teaching tool
on this topic. See Mariner approaching Mercury and the
Venera probes drop onto Venus. Watch the Venus Express
brake around Venus. Fly with Magellan. Visit Viking on Mars
and follow the Mars Odyssey, MGS and MRO from orbit.
Consider Spirit and Opportunity and the new Phoenix mission
as they search for evidence of water. Fly with Pioneer and the
Voyagers past the outer planets. Witness Galileo orbiting
Jupiter and the Cassini probe enter Saturn orbit. Follow
Huygens down through the Titan’s atmosphere for a soft
landing. See NEAR land on Eros. Chase New Horizons on its
way to Pluto. Fly next to Ulysses. Observe Deep Impact hit
comet Tempel1. Then, travel into the fictional future to stop
at Deep Space 9 and Valley Forge around Saturn. Try docking
with a massive Space Station orbiting Earth. Locate Discovery
and its pod and the monolith, adrift in Jupiter space as you
listen to Also Sprach Zarathustra. End your trip by exploring
the Cygnus orbiting a Black Hole.

Activity 9 - The Primitive Earth and
Moon
• Czas: 2-3h
• Summary: A spectacular journey back in time
to witness a massive collision of a planet
with earth and the reformation of a new
earth, and our moon.
• Description: Journey back four billion years
to a time when Earth had no moon and was a
big volcanic ball of hot rock and primitive
ocean. Witness the collision of Earth with
another planet called Orpheus, breaking
both worlds into pieces that splatter into
orbit forming a huge ring of hot rubble. Fly
through the ring and over time, watch as
gravity reshapes that debris into a new Earth
… and our moon.
Can serve as a primary teaching tool on this
topic.

Activity 10 - The Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence
• Czas: 2-3h
• Summary: This activity investigates the search for
extra-terrestrial intelligence.
• Description: You will journey through the world
of SETI. Consider infinity and the number of stars
and planets that could be home to life and to
intelligence. Contemplate what life on other worlds
might be like. Solve the Drake Equation. Travel at
the speed of light. View the messages to aliens on
the Pioneer and Voyager probes. Then, visit some
famous Hollywood’s spacecraft as they meet alien
races. Witness the USS Enterprise battle the Borg
Cube. Help Luke Skywalker and R2D2 in their X-
Wing fighter battle the Death Star and Star
Destroyer protected by tie fighters in orbit around
Tatooine. Finally, journey to the fictional civilization
of Ran, a beautiful fantasy Solar System filled with
striking alien planets and moons with advanced
civilizations, mining colonies and starships capable
of interstellar travel.

Conjunctions and Occultations ED v1.1
• Summary: These scripts take you on a journey through space and time to
demonstrate the
principle of Conjunctions. It especially serves an Educational purpose, for
users of all ages, at home, in school or in a public presentation.
• Description:The script EN151-2009 (and NL151-2009)works with Celestia
v1.5.0 and Celestia v1.5.1. When used in combination with Celestia-ED
v1.5.1 or Celestia v1.6.0 or later, it is advised to run the 160-version
(EN160-2009/NL160-2009) of this script!
The script EN160-2009 (and NL160-2009) works with Celestia v1.6.0 or later
and Celestia-ED v1.5.1 or later. When used in combination with older
Celestia versions, this script will not run.
This script takes you on a journey through space to demonstrate the
principle of Conjunctions. Conjunctions are alignments of planets and
moons and can take different forms. The script also explains the morer rare
appearances of Conjunctions, namely Occultations, Transits and Eclipses
one celestial body blocks or comes in front or in the shadow of another).
This script especially serves an Educational purpose, for users of all ages, at
home, on school or in a public presentation. Besides educational
explanation, the script also contains spectacular and sensational views of
our Solar System in the present, past and future. It travels around the
world, to the moon and even further away through our Solar System. It will
also show you the world of Eclipsing Binaries, which represent unique
alignments of paired stars.

Large Igneous Provinces
• Lokalizacja w Internecie:
tutaj
• 3D CMOD mesh showing
the Large Igneous Provinces
(LIPs) around the world.
Note: This add-on is
designed for the
LuaEduTools by Vincent
Giangiulio!
• Description: Please note
that this add-on will work
with the LuaEduTools only!
More information about the
LuaEduTools

CELESTIA WORKSHOP
• Lokalizacja w Internecie:
tutaj
• Experienced
astronomer and
astrophotographer Paul
Luckas of the Centre for
Learning Technology at
UWA has written an
extensive guide for the
brilliant astronomy
software, Celestia.

Frank Gregorio o Celestii
http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=78185#p78185

• As a teacher of Astronomy in a high school, Celestia has become the most
important tool I can use. In fact, four years ago, when my high school
administrator first asked me to teach Astronomy, I refused. I had no way to
actually get the kids out of the classroom and up into space. Who wants to
learn about the universe while staring at me while I lecture? Although
there are plenty of good videos to show, I simply could not see anyone
getting really excited about the universe, unless they could go into it and
see all of its wonders for themselves, preferably while piloting their own
spacecraft.
When I discovered Celestia 1.2.0 on the web, I instantly recognized its
potential to get my students out of the classroom and up into space. I
realized I could use the program two ways. First, I could load the program
on my teaching computer, connect it to an LCD Projector, and use it to fly
to different locales. Back in 2003, Celestia had relatively few add-ons, and
was primarily a Solar System simulation, so the views I could offer my
students back then centered around trips to the planets and their moons.
Some spacecraft were also offered, but the list was short.

Frank Gregorio o Celestii 2
• I tried this method and found it somewhat cumbersome (user-friendly scripts had
not been put into use yet). The LCD Projector brightness was too low to display the
stars properly. I had to hit lots of keystrokes. Nevertheless, it did work and I was
able to display Celestia to my class via a projector, and take them to some neat
places in the solar system. The downside of this was that they were still in their
seats ... listening to me. I was not getting them personally into space!
The 2nd approach was to load Celestia on a class set of computers in a computer
lab, and allow an entire class of kids to take their own journeys into Celestia space.
Celestia 1.2.0 was not CPU heavy and even a school computer could run it.
I felt this would be more enjoyable to the kids so I tried it out with my Earth
Science class. I set up Celestia on our school's computer lab (with 30 computers).
My students really liked it, but it had problems. I had to constantly speak, give
them directions on what buttons to push, what keys to press, then lecture about
what they were seeing. They liked the visual appeal, but it felt too much like a
classroom with the teacher lecturing. There was also the MAJOR problem of them
not paying attention to me while they played around with the program, and losing
their way quickly (which I would then have to fix).

• Instead, I tried something else. I wrote a guided tour of Celestia space, using MS Word. In it, I
included complete step by step instructions for how to operate the program, while also including a
detailed written lesson about the places they were visiting. They could read it and learn at their
own pace. I also provided a written worksheet for them to complete.
This initial written tour did not include any cel:urls (not invented yet by Chris). It required no add-
ons. Celestia default was all they needed. It took about 45 minutes to read and execute.
It was a BIG HIT! My students loved going at their own pace, without constantly listening to me
yelling out instructions in the background.
The guided tour was placed on the Celestia website by Chris for others to use.
I joined the forum and learned that there were LOTS of plans for future versions of Celestia ... lots
of new features. That convinced me that I had discovered a way to get my students into space. I,
therefore, agreed to begin teaching a dedicated course in Astronomy in my high school. I even
talked my school principal into buying 30 Nvidia FX 5600 video cards for the computers in our
science computer lab.

• Shortly thereafter, NASA discovered my guided tour and realized that something like it was exactly
what they wanted to do on their own website ... give visitors a means of interactively going into
space. They contacted me and under a consulting agreement, I began to develop a series of
journeys through Celestia space. Unfortunately, that was not simple to do. There was still very few
custom add-ons for the program. It is one thing to develop a tour of the Life Cycle of Stars, but
another to realize you have no protostars, pulsars, black holes or even nebula to take visitors to.
Since the old phrase "necessity is the mother of invention" has always been true, I began working
not only with NASA, but with some of the gifted designers on the forum to develop new add-ons
for the educational activities that I wanted to design. Don Edwards, Jack Higgins, Rassilon, Grant
Hutchinson, Selden, BH and many others designed some spectacular new places to visit in Celestia
... new planets, spacecraft, nebula, protostars, etc. In the meantime, Chris and the Celestia
development team added new features that augmented the use of Celestia in education.
As a result of this wonderful collaborative effort by so many talented people over the course of a
year, I was able to write/assemble six new detailed journeys through Celestia space in 2004. The
add-ons were loaded into Celestia in my school. The written Activities were loaded on the
computers. The software was upgraded to version 1.3.0 and my students were given a chance to
not only visit the Solar System, but to go deep into space to see spacecraft, travel to the edge of the
universe, learn the complete life cycle of stars or travel into the future to see Mars become a
terraformed world of cities and oceans.

• It worked so well in a school setting that my course became the most popular course in my high
school. I began to turn away students wanting to get in. In the meantime, wholesale improvements
to Celestia continued to be made in 2005 and 2006. Cel:urls appeared ... nebula became animated
in 3D, spacecraft of all kinds began to be designed, sounds were added to the program along with
celx scripting, galaxies took a quantum leap in design and appearance. In particular, the use of
Cel:url links embedded in the Activity documents was a godsend, enabling me to take my students
instantly to any time or place in the Celestia universe.
The Activities became a bit too long and complex for use on the NASA site. Instead, they opted for a
simple approach with just a few cel:url links and a few rhymes to showcase Celestia.
Today, through the generous contributions of dozens of new graphics artists and add-on developers
on the forum today to include Jestr, Cham, Runar and others, plus the incredible talents of the
development team, to include Chris, Fridger, Toti, Christophe, Vincent, Victor and Boux, Celestia
1.4.1-ED is approaching the level of a Star Wars movie in sophistication. That has enabled me to
create and contribute 12 spectacular Activity journeys, with two more now under development
("The Origin of the Universe", and "The Impact that Shook the World" (the asteroid impact of 65
million years ago)).
These trips include detailed tours of the universe and our solar system, the complete life cycle of
stars, an extensive review of over 40 different spacecraft in the space program, trips to the future
to see Mars terraformed and our Sun swell to a Red Giant, a trip 4 billion years back in time to
witness the impact of Earth by Orpheus and the formation of the moon, and an exciting look at the
world of SETI.

• My students absolutely LOVE taking them ... far more than listening to me lecture I play some
ethereal space music in the computer room, turn out the lights and let them travel Celestia space at
their own pace, following the detailed instructions and teaching lessons in the written Activities.
They complete detailed worksheets as they go, which they use as study guides and notes. The
visual appeal is so extraordinary that they consistantly get top grades in the subject content that
they are learning about.
All of the Activities can be downloaded one at a time for free, or a self-installing CD set of them can
be obtained from me for a minimal fee. They are available on the Motherlode education site
located at:
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/educational.php
I can honestly say that the use of Celestia via these Activities has transformed my high school
Astronomy course from a room with a teacher, some videos and a blackboard, into a high-tech
space simulation experience far more exciting than anything these kids have ever experienced in a
school. In part because of my use of Celestia, I have been recognized by USA Today as one of the
"best" teachers in America. I've been nominated three times for the Disney Teaching Awards and
this year, was a close runner-up for the award, for the use of computer technology in the
classroom.

• That said, there are five limitations to the use of Celestia Educational Activities. These include:
1. The documents and corresponding trips are detailed journeys, and they can be long. They can take from 1 - 4 hours to experience (e.g. - the Life
Cycle of Stars is a 4-hour lesson)
2. You do have to switch from the on-screen instructions to Celestia, then back again. It can get tedious, but there is no way around it. Over 400
cel:urls are used in these journeys and obviously they do not work on a paper document. The Activity must be interactively accessed and interfaced
with Celestia.
3. Celestia has gotten VERY sophisticated and now demands a good video card with OpenGL capability to enjoy the best that it has to offer. Many
school computers simply don't have that level of video processing. Even my Nvidia FX 5600 cards are reaching their limits.
4. The kids have to read a long document. Some are poor readers and will tend to fall behind. This can be overcome if they are willing to stay after
school, or you can tell them how to load the Activity on their home computer to complete at home (a real PLUS for some situations).
5. As mentioned by Andrea above, not all schools have a full class set of computers that students can access (although that is getting better).
In closing, I believe Celestia is the best thing Astronomy education has ever seen. Using it in a guided way via scripts or written Activity documents
is the absolute best way to stimulate kids today and give them a universe not only to learn about, but to EXPERIENCE!!!
If you haven't experienced a Celestia Educational Activity journey yet, visit the website above and see for yourself just where they can take you. Pick
any topic that interests you. Just remember that you have to download the add-ons, and the customized version of Celestia-ED to run the Activities.
Feel free to email me for advice or comments. Enjoy!
Frank

Notatki:
http://www.gregs-educational.info/review.htm
http://www.gregs-educational.info/outline.htm
http://picasaweb.google.pl/JacekKupras/ATourOfTheCelestiaUniverse#

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