Celestia is a free 3D astronomy program. Based on the Hipparcos Catalogue, it allows users to display objects ranging in scale from artificial satellites to entire galaxies in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, the user is free to travel about the Universe.





Celestia 3D is an absolute delight to use especially if you are a newbie to astronomy and its basics. There is this 'tour guide' option which allows you to watch and learn different entities that occupy our solar system and beyond.









Celestia 3D also shows the approximate distance, radius, apparent diameter and phase angle of the entity you selected to 'tour' and explore. I am no astronomy enthusiast, but even I find this application really interesting. To install Celestia, simply search for Celestia in your Ubuntu Software Center. Celestia 3D is free to install and use.