The Atlas of Space shows one star, eight planets, ten dwarf planets, moons, comets, asteroids, spacecraft and trans-Neptunian objects. All in slowly-orbiting 3D. Clicking on these celestial objects brings up a detailed encyclopedia entry about it; for example, Huygens. An exemplary interactive visualization, it's the work of Gordon Hart and the antidote to those "not even right" vortex animations.
This was a fun side project over Winter Break 2024 to learn orbital mechanics, browser animation, serverless deployment options, and of course facts about moons, asteroids, and comets. Building for yourself is a treat that I haven't properly enjoyed in some time. Source code is available on GitHub at @gordonhart/atlasof.space. … Shout-outs to a few enabling technologies/resources:
• JPL for its Small-Body Database
• Wikidata for its excellent query service
• SolarSystemScope for planet, moon, star textures
• Three.js for being an incredible library — performant, featureful, and straightforward
• OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs for 10x'ing the process of learning orbital mechanics and Three.js
Previously:
• Jupiter used to be bigger—much bigger
• Where in the Solar System Has Voyager 1 Wound Up?
• Excellent animation comparing the rotations of the planets in our solar system
• Very beautiful (and very expensive) watch contains mechanical solar system model
