360 view

[thepranay01]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
While Stellarium provides a visually stunning and interactive view of the night sky, it currently lacks an immersive 360-degree view of planets. I'm always frustrated when I can't explore planetary surfaces and surroundings in a spherical, interactive format that would provide a more detailed and engaging experience.

Describe the solution you'd like
I would like Stellarium to include a 360-degree panoramic view of planets. This feature could allow users to navigate around planets using their mouse or keyboard, offering a full rotational exploration. Such a feature could include:

• A toggle to switch between the current planetary view and the immersive 360-degree view.
• Detailed surface textures and atmospheric effects (if applicable).
• An option to overlay planetary data, such as landmarks, atmospheric composition, or temperature maps.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• Using third-party tools like NASA’s Eyes or Google Earth for exploring planets, but they lack seamless integration with Stellarium’s existing features.

• Viewing high-resolution images or videos of planets, but these do not provide the interactive experience of Stellarium's real-time environment.

Additional context
This feature could greatly enhance educational and scientific applications of Stellarium by providing a deeper understanding of planetary geography. Screenshots of potential UI mockups or similar features from other tools could be helpful to visualize this feature. For example, the 360-degree feature in Google Earth could serve as inspiration.

Thank you for considering this feature request!

[gzotti]

I don't understand how you want to be surrounded 360° by a planetary spheroid that you look at from the outside.

You can switch on high-resolution HiPS textures for planets.
You can switch on planetary nomenclature (landscape feature labels).
You can replace planet textures (to display your own variants, like temperature maps) via scripting.

All this is optimized for terrestrial observer locations, or at best for observation from other solar system objects.
A virtual fly-over in spacecraft mode is currently not planned. There are programs better suited for this.