diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ce/celestia/content.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ce/celestia/content.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4af7acfeac44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ce/celestia/content.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+{
+  lib,
+  stdenv,
+  fetchFromGitHub,
+  cmake,
+  gettext,
+  imagemagick,
+}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  pname = "celestia-content";
+  version = "0-unstable-2026-07-19";
+
+  strictDeps = true;
+  __structuredAttrs = true;
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "CelestiaProject";
+    repo = "CelestiaContent";
+    rev = "724b9545b72c56c1a9afeda35d48f611e4f0d20f";
+    hash = "sha256-4wicyDIvBK3gD6pAgFO0YH5gRT8E7/g9Qr3YDbRKHVw=";
+  };
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    cmake
+    gettext
+    imagemagick
+  ];
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "Data files for Celestia space simulator";
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ pancaek ];
+    license =
+      with lib.licenses;
+      AND [
+        cc-by-30
+        cc-by-40
+        cc-by-nc-sa-30
+        # (unused according to upstream CI, at least for now)
+        # cc-by-sa-30
+        cc-by-sa-40
+        cc0
+        gpl2Plus
+        jpl-image
+        cc-by-nc-30-igo
+        # some files are unlicensed so far, so to be safe let's mark unfree also
+        unfree
+      ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ce/celestia/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ce/celestia/package.nix
index 8e6d4fbcace6..0c7c379628a8 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ce/celestia/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ce/celestia/package.nix
@@ -2,77 +2,102 @@
   lib,
   stdenv,
   fetchFromGitHub,
-  fetchpatch2,
   pkg-config,
   libglut,
-  gtk2,
-  gnome2,
   libjpeg_turbo,
-  libtheora,
-  libxmu,
   lua,
   libGLU,
   libGL,
   perl,
-  autoreconfHook,
+  eigen,
+  freetype,
+  cmake,
+  libepoxy,
+  libpng,
+  boost,
+  fmt,
+  libavif,
+  ffmpeg,
+  gperf,
+  gettext,
+  qt6Packages,
+  callPackage,
+  celestia-content ? callPackage ./content.nix { },
 }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "celestia";
-  version = "1.6.4";
+  version = "1.6.4-unstable-2026-07-02";
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "CelestiaProject";
     repo = "Celestia";
-    rev = version;
-    sha256 = "sha256-MkElGo1ZR0ImW/526QlDE1ePd+VOQxwkX7l+0WyZ6Vs=";
+    rev = "ded2c69ec7b819640a6c807fc7d4280bbf08e26b";
+    hash = "sha256-GDp31jwY9ifppUJ3Yy84E+x33O4+UmR/ODrHwH2HyeM=";
+    fetchSubmodules = true;
   };
 
-  patches = [
-    (fetchpatch2 {
-      url = "https://github.com/CelestiaProject/Celestia/commit/94894bed3bf98d41c5097e7829d491d8ff8d4a62.patch?full_index=1";
-      hash = "sha256-hEZ6BhSEx6Qm+fLisc63xSCDT6GX92AHD0BuldOhzFk=";
-    })
-  ];
-
-  postPatch = ''
-    substituteInPlace configure.ac \
-      --replace-fail "dnl AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.15])" "AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.15])"
-  '';
+  strictDeps = true;
+  __structuredAttrs = true;
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
     pkg-config
-    autoreconfHook
+    cmake
+    gperf
+    gettext
+    qt6Packages.wrapQtAppsHook
   ];
+
   buildInputs = [
+    qt6Packages.qtbase
     libglut
-    gtk2
-    gnome2.gtkglext
     lua
     perl
     libjpeg_turbo
-    libtheora
-    libxmu
+    eigen
+    libepoxy
+    libpng
+    fmt
+    boost
+    libavif
+    ffmpeg
+    freetype
     libGLU
     libGL
   ];
 
-  configureFlags = [
-    "--with-gtk"
-    "--with-lua=${lua}"
+  cmakeFlags = [
+    (lib.cmakeFeature "ENABLE_QT6" "ON")
+    (lib.cmakeFeature "ENABLE_FFMPEG" "ON")
+    (lib.cmakeFeature "ENABLE_LIBAVIF" "ON")
+    (lib.cmakeFeature "GIT_COMMIT" "${finalAttrs.src.rev}")
   ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
+  qtWrapperArgs = [
+    "--unset"
+    "QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME"
+    "--unset"
+    "QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE"
+  ];
+
+  postInstall = ''
+    cp -r ${celestia-content}/share/celestia/* $out/share/celestia
+    cp -r ${celestia-content}/share/locale/* $out/share/locale
+  '';
+
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://celestiaproject.space/";
     description = "Real-time 3D simulation of space";
     mainProgram = "celestia";
-    changelog = "https://github.com/CelestiaProject/Celestia/releases/tag/${version}";
+    # no tagged release for ages, remove this for now
+    # changelog = "https://github.com/CelestiaProject/Celestia/releases/tag/${version}";
     license = lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
     maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [
       returntoreality
+      pancaek
     ];
     platforms = lib.platforms.linux;
   };
-}
+})