Space Engine HD space simulator lets you navigate every known planet, star and galaxy in the cosmos

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A simulator that lets you explore the known universe has been released
It has taken Vladimir Romanyuk from Saint Petersburg in Russia eight years to put Space Engine together
The software is free although he is currently seeking donations on his site
In the simulator players can explore all known planets, stars and galaxies
This comes to a total of more than 130,000 objects to explore
And objects in the solar system are also mapped in high detail

Published: 07:34 EST, 21 October 2014 | Updated: 10:27 EST, 21 October 2014

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Want to explore space like never before? Now you can, thanks to an ultra-realistic space simulator that reveals the universe in glorious HD.

Called Space Engine, the simulation of the entire known cosmos lets you visit planets, stars, galaxies and more.

There are more than 130,000 objects in the game which includes all known exoplanets, more than 10,000 galaxies and our own solar system.

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A simulator that lets you explore the known universe has been released (shown). It has taken Vladimir Romanyuk to put Space Engine together. The software is free although he is currently seeking donations on his site. In the simulator players can explore all known planets, stars and galaxies

Reported by Gizmodo, Space Engine is available to download now for PC - and as an added bonus, there's no cost to download it.

According to the official website it is ‘a free space simulation program that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Minimum (Recommended)

CPU: 2 GHz (3 GHz)

RAM: 2 Gb (2 Gb)

Video: 512 Mb (1024 Mb)

OpenGL: 3.0 (3.0)

OS: Windows XP (Windows 7)

‘Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data, while regions uncharted by astronomy are generated procedurally [randomly generated].

‘Millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, countless planets - all available for exploration. You can land [on] any planet, moon or asteroid and watch alien landscapes and celestial phenomena.’

The creator of the game, Vladimir Romanyuk from Saint Petersburg in Russia, told MailOnline that it took him eight years to put the simulator together.

‘I do it in my free time, but recently I moved to full-time development thanks to donations on the Space Engine site,’ he says.

‘The team is only me, however many users help me in making and moderating the site, making ship models and soundtracks for Space Engine, because I am only a programmer, not an artist.’

The level of detail at its best is for Earth, the Moon and Mars at approximately 985 feet (300 metres) per pixel.

There are more than 130,000 objects in the game which includes all known exoplanets, more than 10,000 galaxies and our own solar system. The level of detail at its best is for Earth, the Moon and Mars at approximately 985 feet (300 metres) per pixel. Shown is an object near Jupiter in the game

The game also allows you to pilot starships around the universe to explore planets and objects in this solar system and elsewhere.

To create an accurate universe the simulator uses data from official catalogues.

For galaxies this is the New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars and the Index Catalogues, while for stars the developer used the Hipparcos catalogue.

Players are free to go anywhere in the universe and can zoom in and out of the entire cosmos.

And the simulator also provides information on many celestial objects in the game.

Mr Romanyuk tells MailOnline that the planets and moons have accurately simulated orbits, using Nasa textures and landscape data to show their surfaces.

And for the universe as a whole he explains: ‘All objects are generated using actual scientific knowledge.'

He explains that he is only accepting donations for the software at the moment, but understandably plans to start charging for a future version that will be released on Steam.

Space Engine is an incredible universe simulator for PC

According to the official website it is ‘a free space simulation program that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies. ‘Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data'

Mr Romanyuk tells MailOnline that the planets and moons have accurately simulated orbits, using Nasa textures and landscape data to show their surfaces. The simulator is free for now, but he intends to start charging for a future version that will be released on the Steam platform