Having been test, this add-on currently supports Blender 3.2-3.6, in English (Without Interface Translation).

This project, written in Python, designed in English, aims to provide Blender users with the utmost scientific and precision simulation of celestial objects as possible. Specifically, this add-on allows users to select any locations on Earth (by specifying latitude, longitude and altitude) and generate a real celestial sphere of that location at any moment (by inputting time zone, date, and time). The "+x" axis is representing "Due North direction".

The celestial sphere includes: up to 258997 stars included in the SAO star catalog, the sun, moon (natural satellite of Earth), planets in the solar system (obviously unable to display Earth), and Pluto; Demonstrations of astronomical phenomena that can be achieved include solar eclipses, planets being eclipsed by the moon, planets being eclipsed by the sun, phases of inner planets (Mercury, Venus), phases of the moon, tidal locking of the moon, lunar libration, and annual tilt motion of Saturn's rings.

Here are some examples:

▲ The real star sky in Beijing 2023/08/10 19:49:00 (Screenshot of Stellarium)

▲ The star sky created using this add-on at the same moment and place (In Blender)

▲ The moon phase and the Saturn in telephoto lens (In Blender)

For add-on usage, please thoroughly read the Chapter 2 Usage Guidelines of Documentary: https://github.com/Yuxiza/Blender-CelestialSimulator, where the implementation principle and details of this program are also included.

For any questions or constructive feedback, please visit: https://github.com/Yuxiza/Blender-CelestialSimulator/issues

The add-on does not yet support dynamic demonstration, and the generated sky will remain stationary at the specified location and moment; At present, it does not include demonstration effects on lunar eclipses, planetary transits, and the rotation of the sun and planets. In future version updates, we plan to continue adding support for celestial bodies such as satellites of solar system planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, and custom artificial satellites in the solar system, as well as the Milky Way.

It has been made possible through published resources like the SAO Star Catalog, Planetary and Lunar 3d-model from NASA, as well as open-source Python package "pyephem" and algorithms. We have noticed that there are already excellent astronomical computing and simulating programs such as Stellarium, but it seems that no one has ported them to Blender, making it difficult to meet the need to obtain real sky backgrounds. We believe that such needs are always existing, for instance, the movie special effect of Titanic has been pointed out by astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson for applying wrong background starry sky; moreover, for users performing some night scenes, aviation, and Low Earth Orbit projects, using correct and accurate star background is always the icing on the cake.

This project is planned to be released in an open-source format, and the code structure and implementation methods of the project may be explained in the form of documentations or videos later. For potential developers, one can browse “Blender-CelestialSimulator”, and build other necessary components listed in README.md. We sincerely appreciate every user of the add-on, and developer who has proposed optimization ideas for the code of this add-on.

This is the first version of the add-on, we believe its functionality and inclusion of celestial bodies are limited, there are also some possibilities for code optimization. So in the future, we are continually developing this project according to the increasing needs and release new versions. Stay tuned!

Copyleft B-MH and WannaR , all rights reserved.