List of Celestia Educational Activities
Detailed Student Worksheets included
The World of Celestia
– (requires about 1 1/2 hours to complete)
– Due to space limitations on the CD set, this journey is available on DVD only
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 over 60 great stops in all.
Celestia Educational Activity 1 and 2, the Universe
– (about 2 - 3 hours to complete)
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. Visit the new planet discovered around Alpha Centauri, our closest star. 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.
Celestia Educational Activity 3 & 4 - the Solar System
– (about 3 - 4 hours to complete)
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 Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity rovers
on its surface. Fly over Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris. 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, one of our Solar
System’s new dwarf planets. Hover next to 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.
Celestia Educational Activity 3E - the Inner Solar System Enhanced Tour
– (about 3 hours to complete)
This Activity 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 Curiosity, 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 landed to look for the waters of life.
Celestia Educational Activity 4E - the Outer Solar System Enhanced Tour
– (about 3 hours to complete)
Activity 4E is the extended companion journey to 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 planets Makemake and Haumea. 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.
Celestia Educational Activity 5 - the Terraforming of Mars
– (about 1 hour to complete)
Takes you into the 26th -30 th centuries 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.
Celestia Educational Activity 6 - the Life and Death of Stars
– (about 4 hours to complete)
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. 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!
There are over 27 stops in all.
Celestia Educational Activity 7 – Spacecraft, Part 1
– (about 2 - 3 hours to complete)
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 1957 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, Corot, Spitzer, Chandra and Planck space
telescopes. See Shenzhou V, VI and VII. Be there when Apollo 11 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 on sunbeams. Witness potential new spacecraft designs of the
future.
Celestia Educational Activity 8 – Spacecraft, Part 2
– (about 2 - 3 hours to complete)
The Activity can serve as a primary teaching tool on
this topic. See Mariner approaching Mercury and follow Messenger as it orbits the planet. Witness 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 Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity and the 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
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.
Celestia Educational Activity 9 – The Primitive Earth and Moon
– (about 2 - 3 hours to complete)
Can serve as a primary teaching tool on this topic. 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.
Celestia Educational Activity 10– The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
– (about 2 - 3 hours to complete)
Explores 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. Visit the Avatar worlds of Pandora and Polyphemus. 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.
Under Development:
Celestia Educational Activity 11– The Impact that Shook the world
We will take you back in time 65 million years to watch a fateful asteroid smash into Earth. The resulting changes to our planet may have wiped out 70% of all life on Earth including the dinosaurs, and opened the planet to colonization by our distant mammalian ancestors. It truly was an Extinction Level Event!
Celestia Educational Activity 12– Origins
Planning has begun for a new educational activity that will use the power of Celestia to depict the very origin of our universe. The time … 13.7 billion years ago … the event … the BIG BANG! What a story there is to tell!