Celestia is a free space exploration simulation program. Celestia is a free download that works on Mac, PC, and Linux systems. The advantage of Celestia over other satellite imagery programs is that in addition to seeing the Earth’s surface, students can zoom in on moons, stars, and planets. The user controls what they see. Operating the program is easy enough to be used by students as young as six or seven. The user guides for Celestia are very thorough and available in four languages.

Applications for Education
Celestia is easy enough for young students to operate, but at the same time offers enough advanced features to engage high school students. Celestia is a great tool for showing basic through advanced physic concepts. Teaching the concept of gravity to young students is simple and interactive with Celestia. There is a companion website to Celestia called The Celestia Motherlode that features educational activities that teachers can use.

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