3D Universe

3D Universe is the spatial view. The navigator switches to systems, regions, and distance shells. The sky-dome lists (Messier, constellations) step aside so the list matches what you can fly through.

How to move

• Select an object to orbit it (Orbit to target). R and F change distance. The mouse orbits.
• Press F6 for Free-Fly. You steer with W A S D, bank with Q and E, and thrust with R and F. Looking with the arrows does not turn the ship. Z looks forward again.
• Y and H change speed.

From Sun, From Earth, and Camera follows are the easy way to keep a planet in frame while time plays. Free-Fly is for leaving the ecliptic and looking back.

What the distances mean

The scene is scaled so that orbits, planets, and nearby stars can share one view. A planet drawn large enough to see is larger, relative to its orbit, than it is in nature. Use the planet size scale when you want to push that exaggeration up or down. Use the property panel and the orbit lines when you want the dynamical sizes: AU, kilometers, and periods live there, not in the mesh diameters.

Regions

• Inner and outer planets, and the whole system. One selection frames many orbits.
• Solar System Beyond. Kuiper belt, scattered disc, heliopause, Hills cloud, Oort cloud. These are volumes that show where those populations sit. They are not a dot for every known object.
• Nearby stars. Pick a radius in light-years. The chart places catalog stars in 3D. Labels can show the Bayer name. A shell such as “within 50 ly” is a distance cut, not a physical wall.
• Open clusters in 3D. Member stars in space, so the cluster has a depth the sky photo does not show.
• Milky Way. A galaxy model, optionally with Messier objects, globular clusters, or stellar streams drawn in. This is a structural model of our galaxy. It is not a spacecraft photograph, and the Solar System’s place in it is a location in that model.