Note:
These Activities must be used with Celestia151-ED only. They will not work with earlier Celestia versions 1.5.0 or 1.4.1.!

Imagine being able to give students the ability to take control of their own "hyperdrive" spacecraft and fly to any part of our amazing universe they wish, at any time in history. Visualize looking out a ship window at a vista of galaxies, stars, nebula, black holes, planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, comets and spacecraft. Envision the excitement of not only seeing but also hearing their ship's sounds and many of the environmental sounds present at places they visit. Then, consider being provided a comprehensive and detailed written Astronomy lesson on what they were seeing and hearing!

Welcome to Celestia Educational Activities for 2008! Using the sophisticated space simulation graphics and programming capabilities of the latest released version of Celestia (1.5.1), Celestia Educational Activities have been completely revised for 2008 to incorporate advances and additions to our knowledge of the universe, and our solar system within it. They provide users the ability to personally navigate above the surfaces of stars, visit rotating black holes, fly into nebula, pass through Saturn's rings, follow the Huygens spacecraft down to Titan, dock with a giant space station of the future, witness erupting volcanoes on Io, see our newest dwarf planet "Makemake", study the complete life cycle of stars, or consider the formation of our moon billions of years ago. In fact, Celestia Educational Activities represent 12 detailed tours of space to over 300 exciting destinations.

Celestia Educational Activities have been updated for 2008 to utilize the graphical power of the latest version of Celestia 1.5.1. The Activities require a customized version of Celestia called "Celestia151-ED". You must use this version of the program before taking any journey (see links below). It will install into a different folder and will not interfere with any other Celestia installation you may have. Earlier versions of Celestia-ED will not work with the new Activities. If you have an older version of Celestia-ED, we recommend you uninstall it. However, if you prefer, you can keep it on your system also.

Each journey consists of an Activity document written in MS Word format, plus a separate Student Worksheet that can be printed in advance and completed for a grade if desired. The Activity document will guide you through the complete journey and gives you all instructions for operating Celestia151-ED. Activity journeys are comprehensive and range from 1 hour to 4 hours per journey. They represent over 40 hours of space exploration (if all journeys are taken) and are ideal for users of all ages, for home or school computer lab use in grades 7 - 12 (ages 12 - 18) and in introductory college courses in Astronomy as a valuable tool in the visualization and understanding of our Universe.

These Activities require the use of Microsoft Word 2002 or later. If you do not have MS Word installed on your computer, Microsoft has provided a free MS Word Viewer program for Windows that will open and read our Activities. You can download it by clicking clicking here. Simply double-click on it to install it onto your computer. If you do use MS Word Viewer with our Activities, make sure to read the Letter to Users and Educators enclosed below for some important tips.

Celestia Educational Activities are currently available only for Windows 98, XP, Vista (MAC and Linux versions are under development). If you are a teacher using these Activities in a classroom or school computer lab, or are a home user who wishes a simple and trouble-free installation, we request that you obtain our convenient Celestia Educational Activities 2-CD set or DVD. They will effortlessly autoinstall onto your computer, school server or a full classroom of computers. No downloading, unzipping or sequential installation is needed. The CD set and DVD are available for sale for a very modest fee. School Licenses are available for a modest increment in price. To order your self-installing CD set or DVD, please go to this page: Celestia Educational Activities Purchase, or you can email the author at fsgregs@comcast.net.

Celesta Educational Activities are also available for free from the links listed below. They are provided as zipped files totaling 1.4 GB and must be downloaded, unzipped and installed sequentially.

Directions for Installation:

If you obtain the CD set or DVD from the above link, simply place the CD or DVD into your computer drive and it will auto-install. Enclosed with the installation is a detailed Introductory Guide for 2008 that explains exactly how to set up and use the Activities in an educational classroom or computer lab.

If you wish to obtain the Activities free from the links below, please do the following for a trouble-free installation:

1. Download the Introductory Guide for 2008 MS Word document, and read it for further guidance on installation and use of the Activities.

2. Download and install the main program file named Celestia151-ED-WIN.zip listed below. Unzip it using any convenient unzipping program, then double-click on the installation file and installation will begin. It will install into your C: drive in a program folder named "Celestia151-ED". Please leave that folder in place and do not change its name. All Activity documents and files must install only into Celestia151-ED.

3. Download the Educational Base Package, and unzip it directly into your Celestia151-ED folder.

4. Select one or more Educational Activities, download and unzip them directly into the Celestia151-ED folder.

5. Open an Activity document of your choice (located in the Educational-Activities folder of Celestia151-ED), and enjoy the educational power of Celestia151-ED to showcase the universe.

Enjoy.

For questions, comments or further inquiries, contact Frank Gregorio at: fsgregs@comcast.net