Open Source Universe

This week we looked at open source software for use in education.  Stellarium  is a free open source planetarium for your computer.  It allows the user to turn their desktop screen into a 3D view of the sky.  You can locate galaxies, planets, stars and constellations.  

What I liked best about this software was how realistic and crisp the images are.  You really feel like you in  the middle of a field looking up at the sky.  Each star, planet and galaxie is clickable, and provides information for each.  What I liked least was that it was difficult to get used to and not very intuitive.

This would make a science class more experiential and fun.  It is literally like bringing a planetarium to the classroom.  This would work best if you mirrored your desktop display to the in class projector, you could literally take a class on a  tour of our galaxy.  I can't believe this is free.  To see a demo of Stellarium, check out this video on how powerful this FREE piece of software is.