Explore Nearby Stars in 3D
Calculate real Time Dilation

Now Available for Iphone, iPad & Mac

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Buy once, get NearLight on all 3 devices

Mac, iPhone & iPad

NearLight for iPhone and iPad

Is your favorite sci-fi movie physically right?

Built for astronomy fans, sci-fi film lovers, and physics enthusiasts, NearLight turns nearby space into an interactive experience. Search star systems, inspect known stellar data and exoplanets, and compare travel times across different speed and acceleration models. From realistic star maps to relativistic journey calculations, NearLight makes space travel feel tangible.

Calculate Acceleration an De-Acceleration phases with different g values and see, where your spaceship has to turn. Get the relativistic Onboard Travel Times (OTT) fast, with just a slider. Find out how much time went by on Earth.

NearLight for Mac

Explore nearby star systems in a beautifully detailed 3D space simulator built for the Mac. Search real stars, inspect their data, and compare interstellar travel times through classic and relativistic physics. 

Go full screen and view our neighborhood on the big screen

See the effects of time dilation, the Lorentz factor, and near-light-speed travel as you chart your course through nearby space.

Feature List

  • Explore 100 Lightyears of nearby star systems in a cinematic 3D space view
  • Search and inspect 2400+ real stars, including known names, distances, and stellar data
  • Discover red-highlighted neighboring stars within 10 light-years of your selected destination
  • Compare Earth travel time and onboard travel time using relativistic calculations.
  • 6 DEF – Degrees of freedom, rotate the map, pinch to zoom in and out, move the Axis in all directions with 2 fingers. Turn finger sideways for other axes.
  • Reset your View back to your target, turn labels on and off or turn „Auto Rotation“ on, which pans around your target in the direction you gave it a spin with you mouse or finger
  • Switch between constant speed and constant acceleration space travel models.
  • In „Acceleration Unlimited“ mode you define an instant and constant travel value in lightspeed (c). 
  • In „Acceleration in g“ mode you can set g values for each phase of your space travel, the acceleration phase and de-acceleration phase to simulate a real spaceship.
  • See the effects of time dilation, the Lorentz factor, and near-light-speed travel
  • View exoplanet host stars and relevant stellar metadata
  • Designed for both macOS and iOS, with a clean, exploratory workflow
  • more features to come in 2026

What NearLight makes special


If you’ve ever wondered what interstellar travel would actually feel like in a realistic way, NearLight makes the physics visible. Watch a spaceship path stretch across 3D space, choose a destination star, and see how much time passes on Earth versus aboard the ship. It’s part astronomy explorer, part physics visualizer, and part sci-fi dream machine. Easy to use, easy to understand.

FAQ

Any Questions?

Yes, pay once and get NearLight on all 3 Apple Devices – MacOS, iphone and ipad

Currently not. But it´s not ruled out on future realeases.

A lot of ideas are in my head. One of the future releases will have a black hole time dilation measurement tool. Release date in the upcoming months.

In a near future release i will plan to simulate time lapse A to B Travel (Sol to selected target) with analog clocks to show the time dilation even more.

Also the star systems data will be expanded over time, including temperatures, masses, etc.

 

Yes. The app is built around real nearby star systems and their known astronomical data.

NearLight currently focuses on nearby star systems from a curated catalog of around 100 lightyears, so not every star in the sky is included. Some stars may be missing because they are outside the current catalog radius, have incomplete source data, or are listed under a different catalog identifier or alias. If you do not find a star, try a common alternate name, HIP number, or catalog ID. We also improve the database over time, so additional stars and metadata may appear in future updates.

ETT means Earth Travel Time. It shows how long the trip would take as measured from Earth. OTT means Onboard Travel Time. It is the time experienced by the traveler on the spaceship, including relativistic effects.

Time dilation is the difference between Earth time and onboard travel time in a spaceaship at high speeds, especially near the speed of light. Time passes differently for each observer.

Ever seen Interstallar or the recent movie Project Hail Mary? Their physics are quite real and show time dilation in a meaningful way.

The Lorentz factor, written as γ (gamma), is a core part of special relativity. It describes how time, length, and mass-related measurements change as an object moves closer to the speed of light. In NearLight, it is used to show how Onboard Travel Time (OTT) changes compared with Earth Travel Time (ETT) at relativistic speeds.

The formula is:

γ = 1 / sqrt(1 - v²/c²)

Where:

  • v = the ship’s speed
  • c = the speed of light

As v gets closer to c, the Lorentz factor grows very large. That is why time onboard the ship appears to slow down relative to Earth.

For travel time, a simple form is:

OTT = ETT / γ

This means:

  • at low speeds, OTT and ETT are almost the same
  • at very high speeds, OTT becomes much smaller than ETT
  • at exactly the speed of light, the formula no longer applies to a massive object

Some stars have limited public data or incomplete catalog metadata, so not every star has full physical details, aliases, or exoplanet information yet.

Yes, partially. When available, NearLight includes exoplanet host name and shows known planets for selected systems.