Hello everyone,
I wanted to find something simple (and free) that could let me see Earth as a globe with the constellations, fixed stars and planets in relationship to it.
I found a webpage with a skymap that allows you to observe the fixed stars, the planets, the constellations, from an "out-in-space" point of view.
It's called The Armchair Astronautics Interactive Skymap.
https://armchairastronautics.blogspot.com/p/skymap.html
There are a number of settings and options, but I found some that work, so I've posted them below, as a starting point.
The skymap I am posting is from the same settings. (There is beautiful Orion, right there around the center. He looks like he's taking aim at planet Uranus.)
You can look at things from the ecliptic view or the equatorial.
You can define the threshhold for the magnitude of the fixed stars you want displayed, and how you want to display the planets.
You can include the constellations in various ways, or not at all.
There are different star catalogs.
So there are enough options to fine-tune what you'd like to see.
It is limited, however, to viewing images of the present moment, or forward or back about ten years (2014 - 2034).
With the orthographic projection (the only one I could find that gives good results), you can drag and rotate planet Earth to see all around it, so it allows you to investigate where the planets are at present easily.
And there's an option to save a PNG graphic. (I could not get the SVG file option to work.)
It's a handy thing, although if there is a better free one out there online (and I am sure there very well might be), I would like to find out about it.
In any case, it's somewhat useful for looking at the ecliptic, the equator, and the constellations, to see how they all relate.
Omphalos

Hmmmm. I think there might be a problem.
I didn't notice it because of the difference between "outside-in" view towards Earth, vs standing on the earth view, looking out.
Orion doesn't make sense in the image I posted, as it's still raising its arrow up to the right.
But if you're outside looking in, Orion would be different, wouldn't it?
I am terrible with spatial things, that is one reason I wanted to find something to help me visualize.
But I can't use Stellarium because it causes my laptop to overheat very quickly.
Well, if anyone can clarify, I am surprised about this issue as the programmer was using a library and not doing everything from scratch.
Sorry, everyone, I had thought it would be something useful.
All the best,
Omphalos