Mitaka is an application (software) for visualizing theoretical, computational, and observational astronomical data, developed by the Four Dimensional Digital Universe (4D2U) project of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). Users can seamlessly navigate across the universe from Earth to the edges of the known universe.

Mitaka is optimized for 3D visualizations on multiple screens at the 4D2U theater in NAOJ’s Mitaka headquarters. However, it can also be used on a single Windows PC.

After reading the on-line tutorial for a few minutes, even my kids started exploring the universe. Fun and interesting was their response. Give it a try and download the latest release found a bit down on the front page. A few issues and suggestions are found in the FAQ.