Solar System Explorer
Compare planets, their orbits and their relative sizes in an interactive 3D model.
~12 min
10 topics · 10 live
Astronomy and Space Science
Fly through the solar system, line up the Sun, Earth and Moon, design your own orbits, follow a star from birth to death and bend light around a black hole. Cast eclipse shadows, tilt Earth to make the seasons, raise the tides, hunt for planets around other stars and stretch light across the expanding universe.
Topics in Astronomy and Space Science
Phases of the Moon
Move the Moon around the Earth and see which phase appears from the ground.
~12 min
Planetary Orbits and Gravity
Set mass, distance and speed and watch orbits become circles, ellipses or escape paths.
~15 min
Stellar Life Cycle
Choose a star’s mass and follow it from nebula to white dwarf, neutron star or black hole.
~15 min
Black Holes and Gravitational Lensing
Move a black hole across a star field and watch it bend the light passing nearby.
~15 min
Solar and Lunar Eclipses
Line up the Sun, Earth and Moon, see the umbra and penumbra, and find out why eclipses don’t happen every month.
~15 min
Seasons and Earth’s Axial Tilt
Move Earth around the Sun and compare sunlight angle and day length in the two hemispheres.
~15 min
Tides and the Earth–Moon–Sun System
Move the Moon around Earth and see how the Moon and Sun raise tides, from spring tides to neap tides.
~15 min
Exoplanets and the Transit Method
Send a planet across its star, measure the dip in starlight and find out which orbits we can detect.
~15 min
Cosmic Expansion and Redshift
Follow light across expanding space and watch its wavelength stretch into the red and infrared.
~15 min