Solar System Model

An interactive 3D model of the Sun, planets, and major moons. Travel between bodies, read a few facts, and toggle view layers. Built with Three.js.

Live demo: kylegough.github.io/solar-system

How to explore

• Use the orbit nav to jump between the Sun, planets, and major moons.
• Labels shows or hides points of interest. Trails shows or hides orbit paths. Spin rides the focused body's rotation. Controls opens simulation settings.
• The info panel shows a short description and stats for the focused body.
• Link to a body with a hash in the URL, for example #mars.

Capabilities

• The Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, plus major moons
• Rings, orbit trails, and a bloom effect on the Sun
• Points of interest on some bodies
• Night lights on Earth
• HUD facts for the focused body

Setup

This project requires Node.js 24 or later. If you use nvm, run nvm use to pick up the version in .nvmrc.

npm install
npm run dev

Screenshots

Credits

• The Sun, Gas giants, Ice giants - https://www.solarsystemscope.com/textures/
• Terrestrial Planets - https://planetpixelemporium.com/planets.html
• Mercury - NASA/JHUAPL/Carnegie Institution, MESSENGER
• Earth night lights - NASA Black Marble 2016 (Suomi NPP VIIRS) - https://www.visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/144898
• Moon - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4720
• Ganymede - https://www.deviantart.com/askaniy/art/Ganymede-Texture-Map-11K-808732114
• Titan - https://planet-texture-maps.fandom.com/wiki/Titan
• Callisto - http://bjj.mmedia.is/data/callisto/
• Io - https://phys.org/news/2014-12-solar-worlds-distant-exoplanets.html
• Europa - https://www.johnstonsarchive.net/spaceart/cylmaps.html
• Triton - https://www.go-astronomy.com/planets/neptune-moon-triton.htm
• Phobos - NASA 3D Resources, Phobos shape model
• Deimos - NASA/JPL-Caltech, Deimos shape model
• Points of interest - NASA public-domain photographs:
  • Apollo 11 landing - NASA AS11-40-5948
  • Tycho Crater - NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, LRO
  • Olympus Mons - NASA/JPL, Viking 1 (PIA02982)
  • Tharsis Montes - NASA/JPL/GSFC, Mars Global Surveyor MOLA
  • Valles Marineris - NASA/JPL-Caltech, Viking
  • Perseverance - NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS (Selfie with Ingenuity)
  • Curiosity - NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS (PIA19807)
  • Great Red Spot - NASA/JPL, Voyager 1 (PIA00014)
  • Saturn's hexagon - NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute, Cassini
  • Great Dark Spot - NASA/JPL, Voyager 2 (PIA00064)