We’ve developed a realistic orrery of the Solar System where all the planets, including Pluto, are displayed orbiting the Sun with scientifically accurate distances and sizes. This project offers an immersive experience by showcasing the true scale and motion of celestial bodies. The orbits and speeds of the planets are precisely adjusted to reflect their actual motion. By default, one Earth year corresponds to one minute in real time, allowing users to observe planetary movements at a manageable pace. However, we've included the option to modify the speed of the planets’ orbits, giving you full control over how quickly or slowly they revolve around the Sun.
In this simulation, the sizes of the planets are proportional to the Earth's size, providing a familiar point of reference. While the Sun's size is not to scale—since a true-to-scale Sun would make the web page too vast—it has been adjusted to appear more similar to Jupiter’s size for practical reasons. Despite this, the planetary orbits and their relative distances remain accurate, allowing users to fully appreciate the immense scale of our Solar System.
One of the standout features of the orrery is the interactive elements. By clicking on any planet, users can access detailed information, such as:
- The origin of the planet’s name, rooted in mythology and history.
- The planet’s size in kilometers, giving a sense of its physical scale.
- The number of moons or satellites it has.
- Other intriguing facts and data unique to each celestial body, enhancing the learning experience.
- True-to-scale orbits: The planets are displayed with accurate distances and sizes relative to one another, offering a clear understanding of the vastness of space.
- Speed control: You have the freedom to adjust the speed of the planetary orbits, from a more relaxed pace to faster rotations, providing flexibility for both casual exploration and in-depth study.
- Offline usability: As this is a web-based application, it only requires an internet connection during the initial load. Once the app is loaded, it can function offline, making it a versatile teaching tool for environments with limited or no internet access.
- Interactive learning: By clicking on planets and reading about their characteristics, users can gain a deeper understanding of the Solar System's components in an engaging and hands-on manner.
The open-source nature of this project allows anyone to explore and reuse the code. Whether you’re interested in learning how to simulate planetary orbits or want to incorporate similar mechanics into your own projects, we encourage you to dive into the source code. It's a great opportunity for developers, educators, and hobbyists alike to expand on the framework we've created.
Our orrery was developed using the Threlte framework, which integrates Svelte—a modern and highly efficient JavaScript framework—with the powerful Three.js library, known for its robust capabilities in rendering 3D graphics in the browser. This combination allows the orrery to be both lightweight and highly interactive, providing smooth performance and visually compelling experiences even in a web environment.
With this project, our aim is to ignite curiosity about the Solar System. We want users to not only marvel at the complexity and beauty of planetary movements but also to dive deeper into learning about the unique aspects of each planet. By offering an open-source, visually accurate model of the Solar System, we hope to inspire a broader audience to engage with astronomy and space science.