Hey You! Want to Explore the Universe?
Then download this program:
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/
And download all the hi-res textures / add-ons:
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/
Just as a quick guide of what it can do, here is Earth (as of about an hour ago):

Here is a view of Earth from the International Space Station (or where it was about an hour ago - I think that's South America in the pic there):

Here's the moon:

Zooming in a bit closer, here's where the first man-made object ever hit the moon (Sputnik, somewhere in between those three craters):

Going out a bit further, here's Mars:

Here's what a sunrise over Olympus Mons (the tallest mountain in the solar system) looks like:

And here's a picture of Mars and Phobos:

Going further out, here's a view of Jupiter from Ganymede (the other three Gallilean moons are visible here too - Io, Callista and Europa from left to right):

And here's Saturn:

Finally, if the solar system is too boring for you, here's a view of the sun from star HD 216532, which is over 11,000 times brighter than the sun and exists over 14,000 light years away:

It's worth pointing out that every single one of those points of light is a real star that's been accurately mapped by Celestia, btw. I think its database has about 100,000 stars in all.
So, if I want my advice, download this program right now. If nothing else, it's a hell of a lot of fucking fun when you're stoned... 
___________________
http://eschatonnow.blogspot.com/
|