Thanks a lot for the answers.   And thanks for the game, Steve.   Aurora is really a fantastic game, I don't think I have had so good a time since I learned Dwarf Fortress.     

edit: When I hide civilian ship names, something funny happens: The game still makes space between my ships, as if the civilian ships were still there.  Which means that I see a few seldom used ships parked close to earth, and my more active ships parked in different distances, some of them far away from earth.  But this is just a minor cosmetic disturbance, as opposed to the semi-opaque blue wall of text, which was quite annoying.  I'll be back with more questions and perhaps, when I get better, with a few suggestions. 

System map --> Contacts tab --> "Hide Civilian Ship Names"

Is there a way to turn off the names of the civilian ships? My Shipping line has built some 200 assorted ships, and because I have a thriving colony on Luna, most of them are busy transporting stuff between Earth and the Moon.

The effect of this is that if I zoom out just a little, then the area around Earth is obscured by a large wall of light-blue text.

What I want is a way to turn off the display of civilian ships, whitout losing the names of my own ships in the process.  Is this Possible?