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Celestia Documentation (Manuals and Guides)
 
If you know of any manuals or guides which are not yet listed here, or if you would like to contribute a new manual, guide or translation, please send us the file or tell us where we can download it. Thank you!  NOTE: All HTML and PDF links open in a new window.
 
 
User's Guides
Celestia 1.6.0 / 1.6.1 User's Guide  by Frank Gregorio
A comprehensive User's Guide for Celestia version 1.6.0 / 1.6.1.

   English  1.6.0 MS Word document - 4.2 MB Zipped

   English  1.6.1 MS Word document - 8.0 MB Zipped

   German  German Handbook incl. scripting guides by Ulrich "Adirondack" Dickmann
         (Celestia 1.6.1)

   French  1.6.0 MS Word document - 5.7 MB Zipped (French by Jogad)

   Dutch  1.6.0 MS Word document DOCX (2017) - 5.4 MB (Dutch by Marco Klunder)
   Dutch  1.6.0 PDF document (2017) - 1.6 MB (Dutch by Marco Klunder)

   Russian  1.6.0 MS Word document - 4.6 MB (Russian by Leserg)
   Russian  1.6.0 PDF document - 4.6 MB (Russian by Leserg)

   Chinese  1.6.1 PDF document - 13 MB (Simplyfied Chinese by Hanghang)

   Italian  1.6.1 MS Word & OO ODT document - 8 MB Zipped (Italian by Carlo Pignatti)


Celestia Key Chart provided by The Learning Technologies Project Office of NASA
This key chart describes frequently used keyboard shortcuts.

Unfortunately the key charts are no longer available at NASA.
But Leserg provided an adaption for Celestia 1.6.0:

   English   PNG image for screen display - 1.3 MB
   Russian   PNG image for screen display - 1.5 MB

   Chinese   PNG image for screen display - 168 KB (by Hanghang)


Scripting Guides (CEL, CELX/Lua)
CEL Scripting Guide - version 1.0g for Celestia 1.3.1  by Don Goyette
This 55+ page guide describes Celestia's 1.3.1 CEL scripting language in easy-to-understand terms and includes many examples.

   English   MS Word document - 672 KB
   English   RTF document - 723 KB
   English   HTML document

   Russian   PDF document - 586 KB Zipped (by Leserg)


Summary of Lua (CELX) Support in Celestia by Harald Schmidt
This summary describes the implementation of CELX (Lua) scripting in Celestia v1.3.2. For information on the Lua, the language, go to: http://www.lua.org/.

   English   HTML document
   English   RTF document - 61 KB (by Don Goyette - includes examples)


Celx/Lua Methods by Don Goyette
A one-page text file that lists the current methods available in Celx, sorted by object.

   English   RTF document - 2 KB


CELX-Scripting (How to migrate from CEL scripting) - version 1.2 (12/01/2010) by Marko Klunder
This document is intended to help people to migrate from CEL to CELX scripting. On the other hand it also contains a lot of useful information for those who are already using CELX.

   English   MS Word document - 1.2 MB
   English   PDF document - 944 KB


Scripting-Related Web Sites

   English   Celestia Lua/CELX Scripting Stuff (Harald Schmidt)
   English   Don G's Celestia Scripting Resources (Don Goyette)


Data File Guides (SSC, STC, XYZ)
SSC File Scripting Guide - version 1.0 for Celestia 1.3.2 by Ulrich "Adirondack" Dickmann and Bob Hegwood
This guide describes the commands available for use in Celestia's 1.3.2 Solar System Catalog (.SSC) files.

   English   PDF document - 409 KB Zipped
   English   PDF document - 848 KB Zipped (by Leserg)


STC File Scripting Guide 1.2 for Celestia 1.4.1 by Christian Lenz
This guide describes the commands available for use in Celestia's Star Catalog (.STC) files.

   English   PDF document - 372 KB
   German   PDF document - 376 KB
   German   PDF document - 778 KB Zipped (by Leserg)


Creating and Using SSC Files by Selden Ball, Jr.
This guide describes how to create and use a Celestia Solar System Catalog (.ssc) file.

   English   HTML document


Transforming Orbital Elements into Celestia's SSC File Format by Selden Ball, Jr.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) publishes circulars which have orbital elements for comets and for asteroids. This is a brief, incomplete, description of how to transform the IAU orbital elements of a comet or asteroid into Celestia's SSC file format.

   English   HTML document


Virtual Texture (VT) Guides
Virtual Textures for Dummies Package - version 1.0 by Bob Hegwood
This guide explains what a Celestia Virtual Texture (VT) is, how to use them, and how to create them. The larger file includes the guide along with 512K x 512K VT/JPG textures for the first three levels of Mars.

   English   PDF guide and Mars VT/JPG textures - 1.4 MB Zipped
   English   PDF guide ONLY - 61 KB Zipped
   Russian   PDF guide and Mars VT/JPG textures - 2.9 MB Zipped (by Leserg)


Virtual Surface Textures by Selden Ball, Jr.
This is Selden's very educational page for Virtual Textures.

   English   HTML document


Other Guides and Resources
Introduction to Celestia Add-ons by Selden Ball, Jr.
A (not so) brief introduction to Celestia Add-ons.

   English   HTML document


Orbital Parameters by Selden Ball, Jr.
Parameters Describing Elliptical Orbits.

   English   HTML document


Orbital Elements by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Explanation of orbital elements.

   English   HTML document


Solar System Dynamics - Orbital Information by JPL Solar System Dynamics Group / NASA
Information on the orbits and other properties of the bodies in the solar system.

   English   HTML document


Kepler und seine drei Gesetze (Kepler's Laws) by Ulrich "Adirondack" Dickmann
Information about the three laws of Johannes Kepler.

   German   PDF document


The Nine Planets / Die Neun Planeten
A very readable compendium of information on the bodies in our solar system.

   English   HTML document (by Bill Arnett)
   German   HTML document (German by Christoph Högl, Helmut Fritsch and Michael Wapp)


Celestia Exploration Activity An online Exploration Activity by The Learning Technologies Project Office of NASA (with cel://URLs).

Unfortunately this is no longer available at NASA.


Document Writer's Web Sites

   English   Don Goyette's Scripting Resources - Don Goyette
   English   Selden's List of Resources for Celestia - Selden Ball, Jr.
   English   Celestia for the Brain-Dead - Bob Hegwood

   German   Adirondack's German Celestia Site - Ulrich "Adirondack" Dickmann


 
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