This page contains some contributions I have made for Celestia, a realistic simulation of the Universe. Celestia is free, it is open source, it is easily expandable, and it is available for all popular operating systems. Best of all, it is a beautiful and inspiring experience.
A high quality NormalMap of the Moon, based on Kaguya's elevation data, made with Fridger Schrempp's NmTools. The maps are jpg, since the better quality png would be too large for my server; but it's very easy to make yourselves if you wish the png's. Preview shots (made with Celestia 1.6 surface map): Mare Crisium, Mare Orientale, North of Mare Imbrium and beyond. Download: Moon-Kaguya-jpg.zip (8k/4k/2k jpg + ssc file + readme).
A set of Perl scripts to produce high quality Mars NormalMaps, from MOLA elevation data, and using NMTools. Stitch the necessary MOLA files, and easily generate high resolution virtual textures (up to exquisitely detailed 32K) or regular textures as you prefer. They are ideal to use with a very flat Mars texture, such as the 16K made by Mario Rossi of Space Graphics. My screenshots are based on it: Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons, Gusev, northern valleys, South Pole (showing MOLA deficiencies above 88 degrees of latitude). Get the scripts (easy to use and well documented, even if you don't speak Perl). Get a 2K NormalMap (if you are sooo lazy).
Iapetus: A surface texture based on PDS map of September 2008, colorized to match this near true color picture from Ciclops. Download: iapetus-pds.zip (4k jpg textures + ssc file + detailed readme). The 5k png texture is here if you prefer it.
Dione: A surface texture based on Ciclops' map of May 2008. See the satellite almost as Cassini photographed it: here (and the original). Download: dione-ciclops.zip (jpg textures + ssc file + detailed readme; png's are also here if you prefer them).
NEW! Enceladus: A surface texture based on Ciclops' map of October 2009. Subtle color from other Cassini "natural colors" images. Download: enceladus-ciclops.zip (jpg textures + ssc file + detailed readme).
Tethys: A surface texture based on Ciclops' map of August 2008. Subtle color from other Cassini "natural colors" images. Download: tethys-ciclops.zip (jpg textures + ssc file + detailed readme; png's are here if you'd rather use them).
Mimas: A surface texture based on PDS map of August 2008. Download: mimas-pds.zip (jpg textures + ssc file + detailed readme; find png's here). The screenshot shows it used together with a 3D model of the moon (perhaps Jestr's?).
Mpcorb2ssc: A program to extract asteroid data from the official MPCORB.DAT catalog, and converting them to Celestia format. The user can select the asteroids according to a variety of criteria. This is a command line utility, very easy to use. A Perl script is provided (OS independent, but you need Perl installed) as well as a stand alone Windows executable. Both are thoroughly documented. See screenshots of Hilda asteroids, Jupiter Trojans, and NEAs, all produced with mpcorb2ssc and Celestia. Download: mpcorb2ssc.zip (the Perl script), mpcorb2ssc-bin.zip (the win executable). (Current version: 1.1, 2009-02-19, implementing alternative names for asteroids, not supported in Celestia 1.5, besides other improvements. Celestia 1.5 compatible version included also.)
On 29th May, 2008, NASA probe EPOXI photographed a transit of the Moon in front of the Earth from a distance of 0.33 AU. This small addon contains orbital data for EPOXI in Celestia format, so the observation can be reproduced. See the readme file for instructions and details. Compare the true image with Celestia's simulation.