6 ms·

I don't know how it compares but there's also Cosmonium, which looks like a FOSS alternative to Space Engine: https://github.com/cosmonium/cosmonium https://git

I don't know how it compares but there's also Cosmonium, which looks like a FOSS alternative to Space Engine: https://github.com/cosmonium/cosmonium https://github.com/cosmonium/cosmonium Anyways, both look absolutely stunning.

asdojasdosadsa 7y ago
Wish there was some screenshots so I'd get an image before downloading
- t0astbread 7y ago
  There are, although a bit hidden in the wiki: https://github.com/cosmonium/cosmonium/wiki/Screenshots https://github.com/cosmonium/cosmonium/wiki/Screenshots Good thing you mentioned it because I couldn't find them either earlier.
- thedaemon 7y ago
  https://store.steampowered.com/app/314650/SpaceEngine/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/314650/SpaceEngine/ The steam page has screenshots.
f00zz 7y ago
There's also Celestia which has been around for a while: https://celestia.space/ https://celestia.space/
- t0astbread 7y ago
  While we're at it, just for the absurdity: Google Earth is also open source (albeit without planetary or maps data so it doesn't really fit here): https://github.com/google/earthenterprise https://github.com/google/earthenterprise
  - myself248 7y ago
    Contemporaneous to Keyhole which became Google Earth, there was an open source project called WorldWind: https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ It's changed a lot over the years, but I figure it belongs in this thread no matter what form it's presently in.
    - reaperducer 7y ago
      Wow. I forgot about Keyhole. A place I worked from 1999 to about 2002 had what they called a "Keyhole machine." I'm not sure if it was supplied by Keyhole, or it was just the company's machine with Keyhole's software on it, but part of my job was to produce three to ten maps each day for use on a broadcast television station, and it was an incredibly cumbersome process to get the maps from the computer onto videotape (Betacam, IIRC).
- billfruit 7y ago
  And there is also Universe Sandbox 1 and 2: http://universesandbox.com/ http://universesandbox.com/
  - knsprgswrstchn 7y ago
    Universe Sandbox has an awesome UI! I think it is custom built tho, but I would love to see how they did it
    - naikrovek 7y ago
      There is a podcast by Zach Barth (of Zachtronics) where Universe Sandbox is discussed at length. If I recall, its an entire episode. Edit: yes, episode 4. http://www.zachtronics.com/podcast/ http://www.zachtronics.com/podcast/
- ptrott2017 7y ago
  Celestia is old now but still brilliant
  - f00zz 7y ago
    Yes, it's great. Unfortunately it doesn't have an abstracted-out renderer, there are deprecated immediate mode OpenGL calls all over the place, and moving the rendering code to more modern OpenGL is hard. It's being done, though.
throwanem 7y ago
If you're looking for something that's less of a sandbox and more of a sim, Orbiter is splendidly enjoyable, and as realistic or as fanciful as you care to have it be. http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/ http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  And if you're looking for something slightly less a sim and more of a game, but still spiritually in the genre of "serious play" (especially with enough realism mods), I raise you... Kerbal Space Program. https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/
  - t0astbread 7y ago
    Didn't KSP have some issue with invasive tracking/analytics a couple of months ago?
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      I don't know. I had a 2+ year break from it until couple months ago; when first launching after the break, it showed me a consent popup... which I happily declined. Thank you, GDPR.
    - CDSlice 7y ago
      When KSP got bought by Take2 they put their privacy policy they use for all the games they publish on it. As far as I know KSP never did the tracking/analytics and considering how bad the reaction to the new privacy policy was I doubt that they'll start now.
  - mnw21cam 7y ago
    And if you're looking for Kerbal Space Program, but in 2D and on your phone (and darn good), then there's Spaceflight Simulator. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.StefMorojna.SpaceflightSimulator&hl=en_GB https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.StefMorojn... https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/spaceflight-simulator/id1308057272 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/spaceflight-simulator/id130805...
T-A 7y ago
Another FOSS one I recently stumbled upon is GaiaSky: https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/institutes/ari/gaia/outreach/gaiasky/ https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/institutes/ari/gaia/outreach/g... Since it's being asked for, it has both a planetarium projection mode and an OpenVR branch: https://gitlab.com/langurmonkey/gaiasky/blob/vr/README.md https://gitlab.com/langurmonkey/gaiasky/blob/vr/README.md
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
typpo 7y ago
A bit different from Cosmonium or SpaceEngine, but I've been building a FOSS space simulator called Spacekit.js: https://typpo.github.io/spacekit/ https://typpo.github.io/spacekit/ It's mostly focused on modeling orbits rather than beautiful free-camera renderings, but the visuals aren't terrible and it can model our solar system, exoplanets, render shapes and textures of asteroids, planets, etc. It's based on the engine I used to build this meteor showers simulation, which has appeared on HN before: https://www.meteorshowers.org/ https://www.meteorshowers.org/
leafeewick 7y ago
damn, first time seeing cosmonium. This is actually pretty nice and it is free...
l00n 7y ago
How about OpenSpace as an alternative? Used by Nasa and the Hayden Planetarium for example. https://www.openspaceproject.com/ https://www.openspaceproject.com/

asdojasdosadsa 7y ago

Wish there was some screenshots so I'd get an image before downloading

t0astbread 7y ago
There are, although a bit hidden in the wiki: https://github.com/cosmonium/cosmonium/wiki/Screenshots https://github.com/cosmonium/cosmonium/wiki/Screenshots Good thing you mentioned it because I couldn't find them either earlier.
thedaemon 7y ago
https://store.steampowered.com/app/314650/SpaceEngine/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/314650/SpaceEngine/ The steam page has screenshots.

f00zz 7y ago

There's also Celestia which has been around for a while: https://celestia.space/ https://celestia.space/

t0astbread 7y ago
While we're at it, just for the absurdity: Google Earth is also open source (albeit without planetary or maps data so it doesn't really fit here): https://github.com/google/earthenterprise https://github.com/google/earthenterprise
- myself248 7y ago
  Contemporaneous to Keyhole which became Google Earth, there was an open source project called WorldWind: https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ It's changed a lot over the years, but I figure it belongs in this thread no matter what form it's presently in.
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    Wow. I forgot about Keyhole. A place I worked from 1999 to about 2002 had what they called a "Keyhole machine." I'm not sure if it was supplied by Keyhole, or it was just the company's machine with Keyhole's software on it, but part of my job was to produce three to ten maps each day for use on a broadcast television station, and it was an incredibly cumbersome process to get the maps from the computer onto videotape (Betacam, IIRC).
billfruit 7y ago
And there is also Universe Sandbox 1 and 2: http://universesandbox.com/ http://universesandbox.com/
- knsprgswrstchn 7y ago
  Universe Sandbox has an awesome UI! I think it is custom built tho, but I would love to see how they did it
  - naikrovek 7y ago
    There is a podcast by Zach Barth (of Zachtronics) where Universe Sandbox is discussed at length. If I recall, its an entire episode. Edit: yes, episode 4. http://www.zachtronics.com/podcast/ http://www.zachtronics.com/podcast/
ptrott2017 7y ago
Celestia is old now but still brilliant
- f00zz 7y ago
  Yes, it's great. Unfortunately it doesn't have an abstracted-out renderer, there are deprecated immediate mode OpenGL calls all over the place, and moving the rendering code to more modern OpenGL is hard. It's being done, though.

throwanem 7y ago

If you're looking for something that's less of a sandbox and more of a sim, Orbiter is splendidly enjoyable, and as realistic or as fanciful as you care to have it be. http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/ http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

TeMPOraL 7y ago
And if you're looking for something slightly less a sim and more of a game, but still spiritually in the genre of "serious play" (especially with enough realism mods), I raise you... Kerbal Space Program. https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/
- t0astbread 7y ago
  Didn't KSP have some issue with invasive tracking/analytics a couple of months ago?
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    I don't know. I had a 2+ year break from it until couple months ago; when first launching after the break, it showed me a consent popup... which I happily declined. Thank you, GDPR.
  - CDSlice 7y ago
    When KSP got bought by Take2 they put their privacy policy they use for all the games they publish on it. As far as I know KSP never did the tracking/analytics and considering how bad the reaction to the new privacy policy was I doubt that they'll start now.
- mnw21cam 7y ago
  And if you're looking for Kerbal Space Program, but in 2D and on your phone (and darn good), then there's Spaceflight Simulator. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.StefMorojna.SpaceflightSimulator&hl=en_GB https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.StefMorojn... https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/spaceflight-simulator/id1308057272 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/spaceflight-simulator/id130805...

T-A 7y ago

Another FOSS one I recently stumbled upon is GaiaSky: https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/institutes/ari/gaia/outreach/gaiasky/ https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/institutes/ari/gaia/outreach/g... Since it's being asked for, it has both a planetarium projection mode and an OpenVR branch: https://gitlab.com/langurmonkey/gaiasky/blob/vr/README.md https://gitlab.com/langurmonkey/gaiasky/blob/vr/README.md

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

typpo 7y ago

A bit different from Cosmonium or SpaceEngine, but I've been building a FOSS space simulator called Spacekit.js: https://typpo.github.io/spacekit/ https://typpo.github.io/spacekit/ It's mostly focused on modeling orbits rather than beautiful free-camera renderings, but the visuals aren't terrible and it can model our solar system, exoplanets, render shapes and textures of asteroids, planets, etc. It's based on the engine I used to build this meteor showers simulation, which has appeared on HN before: https://www.meteorshowers.org/ https://www.meteorshowers.org/

leafeewick 7y ago

damn, first time seeing cosmonium. This is actually pretty nice and it is free...

l00n 7y ago

How about OpenSpace as an alternative? Used by Nasa and the Hayden Planetarium for example. https://www.openspaceproject.com/ https://www.openspaceproject.com/