Interactive
Space explorer
Turn the Earth, look around the sky above you and follow the planets around the Sun. Pick a view, then drag, zoom and tap.
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Data, method and credits
- Stars: HYG v4.1 by David Nash, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Changed by us: reduced to stars of magnitude 6.5 or brighter and to the fields used here. The reduced catalogue is under the same licence: download stars.json (source licence).
- Coastlines: Natural Earth, public domain (coastlines.json).
- Sun, Moon and planet positions: Astronomy Engine by Don Cross. ISS elements: CelesTrak, propagated with satellite.js. Cities: GeoNames, CC BY 4.0.
- 3D rendering: Three.js, MIT licence (notice).
- Sources, hashes and dataset version: provenance.json. Object-card media: sources and credits.
Planet, Earth and Sun surfaces, glows and rings are procedural illustrations, not photographs. In the Solar System view distances are compressed and planets enlarged; true distances are listed in AU. Star sizes are illustrative. Standard refraction is included for stars, the Moon and planets; the Sun uses geometric altitude. The view ignores terrain, buildings and weather. For practical evening planning use Tonight's sky.