America's Next Top Modeler

Way back in December I posted (Your Own Virtual Hale Telescope) about how Selden Ball has created a wonderful Hale Telescope add-on for the free space simulator program known as Celestia. Selden is doing some mighty fine work and is paying close attention to detail. Finding the answers to some of his questions has taught me some things about the Big Eye.



He continues to work on this virtual Hale Telescope and has created his own blog to show off his progress. Be sure to check it out and you might like his Youtube video as well.

Your Own Virtual Hale Telescope

Everyone wants their own 5-meter telescope, right? Well now you can have the Hale Telescope for your very own - at least in virtual form. Selden Ball has created a wonderful Hale Telescope add-on for the free space simulator program known as Celestia.


This impressive add-on will let you control the telescope and many features inside the dome. What can you do? View the dome and telescope from any angle, open and close the dome, turn the adaptive-optics laser on and off, open and close the telescope's mirror cover, raise and lower the dome crane, move the Coudé flat into and out of place, and a whole lot more!

Selden has more features planned for a future version, but in the meantime, if you don't already have it, download Celestia (Celestia v1.5.0, prerelease 4 or later) and then visit Selden's page to get your own Hale Telescope.

Have fun!