Software Alternatives & Reviews

Space Engine VS Celestia

Compare Space Engine VS Celestia and see what are their differences

Space Engine logo Space Engine

Space Engine is a realistic virtual Universe you can explore on your computer.

Celestia logo Celestia

Real-time 3D visualization of space
  • Space Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-13
  • Celestia Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19

The expandable free and open-source real-time space simulator that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions.

Space Engine

Categories
  • Space Simulator
  • Virtual Universe
  • Universe Simulator
  • Education & Reference
Website spaceengine.org
Details $-
Release Date-

Celestia

Categories
  • Universe Simulator
  • Virtual Universe
  • Space Simulator
  • Education & Reference
Website celestiaproject.space
Details $
Release Date2001-02-27

Space Engine videos

Why You Should Try Space Engine (The Best Damn Space Sim in the Galaxy)

More videos:

  • Review - Space Engine - Seamlessly Explore The Entire Universe
  • Review - Space Engine - What Can I Find In 10 Minutes?

Celestia videos

Celestia Review - with Tom Vasel

More videos:

  • Review - Celestia - Shut Up & Sit Down Review
  • Review - Celestia Review with the Game Boy Geek

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Space Engine and Celestia)
Space Simulator
50 50%
50% 50
Universe Simulator
41 41%
59% 59
Virtual Universe
43 43%
57% 57
Education & Reference
41 41%
59% 59

User comments

Share your experience with using Space Engine and Celestia. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Space Engine should be more popular than Celestia. It has been mentiond 122 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Space Engine mentions (122)

  • I'm trying to make a basic political borders map of a galaxy that's not the milky way
    I mean, there are plenty of good deep sky images out there. Try looking at the New General Catalogue (NGC) objects for something that strikes your fancy. Alternatively, you could cruise around in Space Engine and bookmark an interesting galaxy to get screenshots from multiple angles, which is what I usually do. (SE is available on Steam for a reasonable price.). Source: 8 months ago
  • Asteroid's Near Miss of Earth Undetected for 2 Days
    Computer says yes: https://gravitysimulator.org/ https://spaceengine.org/ Once the mass, velocity, heading of an object is known it becomes easier to track and fine tune parameters meaning time of intersect with earth can be calculated which gives orientation of planet and entry attitude. An exact street addres | sub metre grid reference is a big ask, but the "line of breakup" arcing across a narrow slice of the... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Infinite Photorealistic Worlds Using Procedural Generation
    Space Engine[1] is another popular one [1] https://spaceengine.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Galaxy/Universe Creator/Generator
    This is a bit of a tall order. There are none that I know of; most folks I know who do galaxy maps either make them by hand with their digital paint tools of choice, or utilize the procedurally-generated ones from Space Engine. Up until recently SE had a free (old) version available on the site; you should still be able to find a mirror of it somewhere but I don't know of one personally. Otherwise, SE is available... Source: 10 months ago
  • The true overlords
    Numbers as overwhelming as these are meaningless to our little minds. Then, do yourself a favor. Download Space Engine and see for yourself what it's like to visually behold the mindblowing immensity we are talking about. Now, take into account Multiverses, and consider the possibility that all those Universes may be fractal-like with n-infinite dimensions. Contemplate that we probably know absolutely nothing... Source: 11 months ago
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Celestia mentions (26)

  • My 9 year old nephews drawing of stars
    I think Celestia could be a good one. I also thought about SpaceEngine, but AFAIK it was kind of terrible at generating realistic planetary systems, among other things (pricey, huge, etc.). Source: about 1 year ago
  • What are the best resources to explore space from my computer?
    Celestia was something I played with before. Pretty interesting. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Lunar Occultation of Mars
    Celestia looks as though it would do it. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Tips to visualize Apollo 17 trajectory
    I'm looking for data and software to visualize the Apollo 17 trajectory (especially the "powered descent", lunar rendezvous and entry). I'm thinking of using celestia. I'm look for a data tables as well (time stamp, position for each part of the stack). Any tips are appreciated. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Help rediscovering a certain night sky exploration program?
    Yes, that's Celestia most likely. I'm not sure it is still maintained though. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Space Engine and Celestia, you can also consider the following products

Stellarium - Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer.

Solar System Scope - 3D model of the Solar System and night sky in real time

Universe Sandbox - Universe Sandbox ² is a physics-based space simulator where you can simulate Events and even break physics and friction with certain features.

OpenSpace - OpenSpace is open source interactive data visualization software designed to visualize the entire known universe and portray our ongoing efforts to investigate the cosmos.

KStars - KStars is a Desktop Planetarium for KDE.

Satscape - A satellite tracking program for Windows, Mac OS and Linux.