5 Best Free Lunar Eclipse Simulator Software For Windows

This article contains a list of Best Free Lunar Eclipse Simulator Software For Windows. Lunar Eclipse is the event which occurs when Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly or closely in a straight-line configuration with Earth being in the middle. To analyze such phenomenon, you need to use these listed freeware.

These are basically lunar eclipse calculator software which find lunar eclipse which has already occurred or which is to occur next. Among these, one lunar eclipse simulator simply shows the future lunar eclipses with occurrence date, time left, length of total eclipse, length of partial eclipse, and countries. One of these can find lunar eclipse within a specified time range and draws eclipse lines on the map for a chosen lunar eclipse event. This list also contains a dedicated lunar eclipse simulation software which lets you analyze lunar and solar eclipse events by visualizing the motion of Sun, Earth, and Moon.

In a similar manner, you can find solar eclipses too with date, duration, site, etc.

My Favorite Lunar Eclipse Simulator For Windows:

Celestia is my favorite lunar eclipse simulator as it is the best software to find lunar eclipse events for a specific time range. It displays a list of all lunar eclipses from a chosen planet (Earth, Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto) and displays it on the map.

You may also like some best free Star Tracker Software, Satellite Tracking Software, and Gravity Simulator Software for Windows.

Celestia

Celestia is a free, open source lunar eclipse simulator for Windows. It is a straightforward and easy to use software. To find lunar eclipses, you need to use Navigation > Eclipse Finder tool. Using this tool, you can find lunar eclipses within a time period and view them on the map.

How to find lunar eclipse in Celestia:

For this, open Eclipse Finder and select Lunar Eclipses. Now, simply enter the time range and select a planet (Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) for which you want to find and view lunar eclipses. After specifying these parameters, click on Compute button and it will display a list of all occurred and next predicted lunar eclipses. The lunar eclipses are shown with date, start time, and duration. You can select any of these lunar eclipses and visualize it on the virtual globe. In a similar way, you can find solar eclipses too.

Some useful features of this lunar eclipse simulation software:

• While lunar eclipse simulation, you can increase or decrease time rate by 10X or play the simulation in real time. Also, it lets you reverse time for simulation.
• You can set up render setting, such as locations, view options, texture resolution, ambient light, etc.
• It lets you add an event to bookmark for quickly visiting that particular event.
• It provides tools to capture a screenshot (JPEG) and video (AVI) of lunar eclipse simulation.
• From File > Scripts menu, you provide a 3D view of Milky Way galaxy.
• It provides a Solar System Browser which is used to go to a particular object in the solar system. You can access this and also Star Browser from Navigation menu.
• It provides a demo script in Help menu which you can run a demo simulation.

Celestia is basically a software for astronomy education to explore the solar system, galaxy, and the universe.

Solar and Lunar Eclipse Model

Solar and Lunar Eclipse Model, as the name implies, is another free lunar eclipse simulator software for Windows. Using this tool, the Science students can study the occurrence of both solar and lunar eclipse.

For the purpose of lunar eclipse simulation, it provides two windows namely, Orbit Frame and Ecliptic View Frame. From the Orbit Frame window, you can view the motion of Sun, Earth, and Moon. In this window, from Display options, you get options such as show Ecliptic plane, show Earth-Sun line, show line of sector vector, show stars, switch to Java 3D, etc. You can set up these preferences as per your choice. Also, it lets you adjust moon’s incline angle. From here, you can fix time rate and play simulation to analyze the motion of Sun, Earth, and Moon. In the Ecliptic View Frame window, you can view the motion of Sun and Moon in the sky. You can analyze their motion and the occurrence of lunar and solar eclipses.

Some general features of this lunar eclipse simulator:

On right-clicking the window, you can access its various feature which are:

1. It lets you capture the screen and also a video of the simulation. The video can be captured as a GIF (at desired fps) or an image sequence.
2. Other right-click options include show description, open EJS model, create HTML page, elements options (orbit drawing, ecliptic view), font options, OSP message log, etc.

It is a JAVA based, portable lunar eclipse simulator which can be used on the go.

Lunar Calendars and Eclipse Finder

Lunar Calendars and Eclipse Finder is another free lunar eclipse simulator software. Its free version comes with a 5-day trial of its complete functionality. After that, you can continue using its free version with feature limitations or buy its full version.

It basically finds out the next or already occurred lunar eclipses of particular type (total lunar, partial lunar, penumbral lunar) within a specified date range. You can choose timezone (Greenwich or Local) from its interface. It lets you specify a date and then choose a time period (1 minute, 1 month, CE century, 1 CE year, etc.) for which you want to calculate lunar eclipse. Click on forward if you want to move to next lunar eclipse, else click on backward if you want to fetch information on previous one.

As you click the search button, it will display next lunar eclipse with information like type of lunar eclipse, lunation number, Saros number, penumbral phase start and end time, umbral phase start and end time, and total phase start and end time. Likewise, you can even calculate solar eclipses and moon phases. The fetched information can be viewed as log and the text can be copied the clipboard.

It provides different kinds of calendars to use including two solar calendars (Gregorian Calendar, Julian Calendar) and five lunar calendars (Archetypes Calendar, Meyer-Palmen Solilunar Calendar, Lunar Liberalia Triday Calendar, Hermetic Lunar Week Calendar, McKenna-Meyer Goddess Calendar). The example of date format for each one of these is displayed on its main interface.

Q++ Sun, Moon and Planets Calculator

Q++ Sun, Moon and Planets Calculator is a free software which calculates and displays upcoming events which include lunar eclipses as well. It basically shows rise and set times of the Sun, Moon, and other planets and provide information on related events with respect to chosen date.

You first need to choose a date from given calendar, specify geographical location or coordinates and summer time rules, customize altitude, and select other options like reference point for rise/set calculation, express nearness to Moon in Moon radii, ignore refraction, etc. As you do that, it displays rise and set time for all planets, sun, and moon. Also, upcoming events like new moon, solar eclipse begins, etc. are shown on the interface. If, for that particular date, there is a lunar eclipse event predicted, it displays the details on the lunar eclipse. This includes the type of lunar eclipse, start time, end time, etc. It also displays various events to occur for next few days.

All in all, it is a decent lunar eclipse simulator which is useful in finding next lunar eclipses or even to fetch information on previously occurred lunar eclipses.

SbeMoon

SbeMoon is a lunar eclipse simulator app for Windows 10. It basically displays next lunar eclipses with related information. This information includes predicted occurrence date, time left, length of total eclipse, length of partial eclipse, and countries. It also displays type of lunar eclipse which are total lunar eclipse, penumbral lunar eclipse, and partial lunar eclipse.

To start with, from the main interface, select a lunar eclipse event from the provided list. Now, it will display the above mentioned information regarding the chosen lunar eclipse event. It also provides coming solar eclipse events to check information about.

SbeMoon is a Windows 10 app which basically provides updates on upcoming skywatching events including solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, moon phases, etc.