News
After implementing constellations, I continued various work on the engine, and support/development of Overview. Most work is technical: finalizing pre...
Introducing a new feature, which SpaceEngine needed for a long time – constellations! They were implemented with collaboration with ESO ePOD ...
As I have mentioned in my previous blog post, I want to use texture compression for the terrain engine, in order to reduce its memory requirements. Al...
SpaceEngine exists on donations. Your support is very important for further development of the project!
- $1000/month – Developing SpaceEngine on a daily basis
- $2000/month – One additional remote programmer
- …
SpaceEngine is a realistic virtual Universe you can explore on your computer. You can travel from star to star, from galaxy to galaxy, landing on any planet, moon, or asteroid with the ability to explore its alien landscape. You can alter the speed of time and observe any celestial phenomena you please. All transitions are completely seamless, and this virtual universe has a size of billions of light-years across and contains trillions upon trillions of planetary systems. The procedural generation is based on real scientific knowledge, so SpaceEngine depicts the universe the way it is thought to be by modern science. Real celestial objects are also present if you want to visit them, including the planets and moons of our Solar system, thousands of nearby stars with newly discovered exoplanets, and thousands of galaxies that are currently known.
EXPLORE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE FORGET ABOUT SPACE AND TIME RESTRICTIONS BECOME A PIONEER WITH SPACEENGINE
All types of celestial objects
represented
Galaxies, nebulae, stars and star clusters, planets and moons, comets and asteroids
Thousands of known
celestial objects
Known galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids, nebulae are represented using catalogs: HIPPARCOS, NGC/IC, Messier, MPC, NASA Exoplanet Archive and many others
procedural generation
for uncharted regions
Uncharted regions of space feature procedurally generated objects: galaxies, stars, star clusters, nebulae and planetary systems
Incredibly huge
and realistic Universe
Trillions of galaxies with billions of star systems in each, everything is realistically scaled
free to move
around the universe
Seamless transition from the surface of a planet to the most distant galaxies, and free game-like movement with the WASD keys
Easy navigation
many useful tools
Click on any visible object with the mouse and hit the 'G' key to fly directly to it. Search for objects by name, search by parameters within a certain radius, browse an interactive map of the surrounding space and view a map of the current planetary system
Save locations
and name objects
Save a favorite point in space and time and share it with friend. Give a name to any discovered planet, star or galaxy, and write a description for it.
Observe the Universe
in motion
Accelerate, decelerate, or reverse the flow of time to see the orbital motion of planets and moons, and watch sunsets and eclipses
Tools to learn
how the Universe works
Read detailed physical and astronomical data of any celestial body using the built-in Wiki system. Look at the orbital path lines of planets and moons, and compare their size side-by-side
3D landscapes on planets
volumetric galaxies and nebulae
Solar System bodies have real terrain models obtained by space probes; realistic hi-detail terrain on procedural planets
Photorealistic lighting and atmospheric model
Space ships
with realistic orbital mechanics
Pilot star ships with realistic orbital mechanics, Alcubierre warp drives, and aerodynamics in planetary atmospheres
Localization in 20 languages, with a simple system for creating new translations
Import space ship models, planetary surface textures and terrain, astronomical catalogs, and more
Movement made possible with free, spacecraft or aircraft mode
"Select and fly" autopilot to automatically go directly to the object
Automatic binding of the observer to moving objects
Automatic selection of optimum flight speed
Built-in wiki system with descriptions and ability to extend
Ability to import user addons: models, textures, catalogs
3D models of galaxies and nebulae with interstellar dust clouds
Accurate planetary atmosphere models
Original music with context-dependent track switching
Localization in many languages, with the ability to add new ones
