Space 3D
Interactive 3D space visualizations - free, in your browser.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-04
These pages render live 3D scenes of space objects in the browser - drag to orbit the camera, scroll or pinch to zoom, and click objects to read the facts panel beside the scene. The 3D engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is cached, and everything renders on your device with WebGL; nothing about your visit is sent to a server.
-
Solar System 3D Explorer - Free Online
Solar System 3D Explorer - All eight planets orbit the sun live on screen - drag to orbit the view, scroll or pinch to zoom, and watch inner planets lap th...
-
Black Hole 3D Visualizer - Free Online
Black Hole 3D Visualizer - Tens of thousands of glowing particles orbit the black event-horizon sphere, and the inner ones circle faster - the same reason ...
-
Galaxy 3D Simulator - Free Online
Galaxy 3D Simulator - Up to 100,000 points form the spiral arms on desktop (30,000 on phones so rotation stays smooth) - a real feel for how thin and vast ...
-
Earth 3D Globe - Live Day & Night Map - Free Online
Earth 3D Globe - Live Day & Night Map - See at a glance where on Earth it is day and where it is night RIGHT NOW - the lit half of the globe follows the re...
-
Moon Phases 3D Explorer - Free Online
Moon Phases 3D Explorer - Scrub through a synodic month and watch the Sun-Earth-Moon geometry set the lit fraction on the Moon.
-
Saturn Rings 3D Explorer - Free Online
Saturn Rings 3D Explorer - Explore Saturn's main C, B, and A rings and the Cassini Division in 3D with real NASA/PDS radii and ice composition figures.
-
Kepler Orbits 3D Explorer - Free Online
Kepler Orbits 3D Explorer - Explore Kepler's three laws with an elliptical orbit in 3D - eccentricity slider, equal-area sweep wedges, and T-squared versus a-c...
-
Moon Calendar 3D Explorer - Free Online
Moon Calendar 3D Explorer - Scrub a synodic month on a calendar-style Moon view with earthshine on the dark limb, libration wobble, and NASA libration figures...
-
ISS Orbit Tracker 3D Explorer - Free Online
ISS Orbit Tracker 3D Explorer - Watch a procedural ISS low-Earth orbit around Earth with a yellow ground track, play and scrub controls, and NASA altitude, spe...
-
Lunar Eclipse 3D Explorer - Free Online
Lunar Eclipse 3D Explorer - Scrub a lunar eclipse as the full Moon passes through Earth's penumbra and umbra cones with play and progress controls, Danjon L0-L...
-
Solar Eclipse 3D Explorer - Free Online
Solar Eclipse 3D Explorer - Scrub a solar eclipse as the Moon's umbra sweeps across Earth at new moon with play shadow and progress controls, a totality path t...
-
Planet Size Comparison 3D Explorer - Free Online
Compare Sun and planet sizes with scale-accurate 3D spheres.
-
Star Lifecycle 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore star life stages in 3D from nebula to remnant.
-
Exoplanet Transit 3D Explorer - Free Online
See exoplanet transit depth in 3D.
-
Tidal Locking 3D Explorer - Free Online
See tidal locking in 3D.
-
Asteroid Belt 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore the asteroid belt in 3D.
-
Comet Orbit 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore a Halley-like comet orbit in 3D.
-
Seasons Earth 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore Earth's seasons in 3D.
-
Retrograde Motion 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore Mars retrograde in 3D.
-
Milky Way Map 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore a labeled Milky Way map in 3D.
-
Lagrange Points 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore Sun-Earth Lagrange points in 3D.
-
Neutron Star Pulsar 3D Explorer - Free Online
Watch a neutron star pulsar in 3D.
-
Gas Giant Atmosphere 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore gas giant cloud bands and the Great Red Spot in 3D.
-
Orbital Resonance 3D Explorer - Free Online
Watch Io Europa Ganymede Laplace 1:2:4 orbital resonance in 3D - free.
-
Stellar Magnitude Scale Explorer - Free Online
Compare apparent vs absolute stellar magnitude - Sun Sirius Vega Pogson scale in 3D - free.
-
Parallax Distance 3D Explorer - Free Online
Earth-baseline stellar parallax to distance - d=1/p, Proxima 0.7687 arcsec - free 3D.
-
Redshift and Doppler Shift 3D Explorer - Free Online
Spectral redshift and Doppler shift explained - H-alpha line shift, z=v/c formula, and a Hubble's-law recession example - free 3D in your browser.
-
Ecliptic Zodiac 3D Explorer - Free Online
Ecliptic path at 23.44 deg with 13 zodiac constellations including Ophiuchus - free 3D.
-
Gravity Well 3D Explorer - Free Online
Gravity wells vs escape velocity - Moon 2.38, Earth 11.2, Jupiter 59.5, Sun 617.5 km/s - free 3D.
-
Constellation Sphere 3D Explorer - Free Online
Celestial sphere with RA/Dec bright stars, asterisms, and IAU 88 constellations - free 3D.
-
Black Body Radiation 3D Explorer - Free Online
Black-body star color vs temperature - Wien peak, Sun 5772 K to 502 nm - free 3D.
-
Sidereal vs Solar Day 3D Explorer - Free Online
Sidereal day ~23h56m04s vs solar 24h - why the ~3m56s gap - free 3D.
-
Aurora 3D Explorer - Free Online
Auroral oval + Kp expand - green 557.7 nm, red 630 nm - free 3D.
-
Mars Terrain Explorer - Free Online
Real NASA MOLA elevation on a spinning Mars globe - free 3D.
-
Hohmann Transfer 3D Explorer - Free Online
Hohmann Transfer 3D Explorer - Watch the classic two-burn orbital transfer between LEO and GEO or Earth and Mars, with real delta-v and transfer-time figures i...
-
Binary Star System 3D Explorer - Free Online
Binary Star System 3D Explorer - Watch Sirius A/B and Alpha Centauri A/B orbit a shared barycenter with real periods, masses, and eccentricity - free 3D.
-
Galilean Moons 3D Explorer - Free Online
Galilean Moons 3D Explorer - Watch Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto orbit Jupiter with real periods 1.769 to 16.689 days and NASA diameters - free 3D in your...
-
Escape Velocity 3D Explorer - Free Online
Escape Velocity 3D Explorer - Sub-orbital, circular, escape, and hyperbolic paths for Moon Earth Mars Jupiter Sun with NASA/SSD speeds - free 3D.
-
Habitable Zone 3D Explorer - Free Online
Habitable Zone 3D Explorer - Compare the liquid-water habitable-zone annulus around Sun, M dwarf, and TRAPPIST-1-class stars; HZ radius scales as sqrt(L) - fre...
-
Tides: Earth-Moon 3D Explorer - Free Online
Tides: Earth-Moon 3D Explorer - Watch two ocean bulges track the Moon while Earth spins - toggle Spring and Neap tide modes - free 3D.
-
Solar Wind Heliosphere 3D Explorer - Free Online
Solar Wind Heliosphere 3D Explorer - See the solar wind bubble: termination shock ~94 AU, heliopause ~121 AU (Voyager 1, 2012), wind ~400 km/s - free 3D.
-
Cosmic Distance Ladder 3D Explorer - Free Online
Cosmic Distance Ladder 3D Explorer - Log-scale AU, light-year, and parsec rungs (1.496e8 / 9.461e12 / 3.086e13 km) - free 3D.
-
Precession of the Equinoxes 3D Explorer - Free Online
Precession of the Equinoxes 3D Explorer - Axial precession ~25,772 yr, obliquity ~23.44 deg, Polaris now / Vega ~14,000 CE, ~1 deg per ~72 yr - free 3D.
-
HR Diagram 3D Explorer - Free Online
HR Diagram 3D Explorer - Sun Teff ~5,772 K at L = 1 Lsun, main sequence O/B to M, giants, white dwarfs, log(L/Lsun) vs temperature - free 3D.
-
Sun Structure 3D Explorer - Free Online
Sun Structure 3D Explorer - core ~15.7 million K, radiative and convective zones, photosphere ~5,772 K, corona ~1-3 million K cutaway - free 3D.
-
Orbital Velocity 3D Explorer - Free Online
Orbital Velocity 3D Explorer - Vis-viva v = sqrt(GM(2/r - 1/a)), Earth ~29.78 km/s, Mercury ~47.36 km/s, Neptune ~5.43 km/s - periapsis/apoapsis - free 3D.
-
Earth Magnetosphere 3D Explorer - Free Online
Earth Magnetosphere 3D Explorer - dipole tilt ~11 deg, magnetopause ~6-10 Re, surface field ~25-65 uT - free 3D.
-
Sunspot Activity 3D Explorer - Free Online
Sunspot Activity 3D Explorer - Schwabe cycle ~11 yr, differential rotation equator ~25 d poles ~35 d, Maunder Minimum 1645-1715 - free 3D.
-
Uranus Tilt 3D Explorer - Free Online
Uranus Tilt 3D Explorer - axial tilt ~97.8 deg, orbit ~84 yr, equatorial radius ~25,559 km, Earth-obliquity compare - free 3D.
-
Roche Limit 3D Explorer - Free Online
Roche Limit 3D Explorer - fluid ~2.44 R and rigid ~1.26 R equal-density factors, distance scrub, tidal shard breakup - free 3D.
-
Solar Analemma 3D Explorer - Free Online
Solar Analemma 3D Explorer - figure-8 Sun path from obliquity 23.44 deg and equation of time ~+/-16 min - free browser 3D.
-
Saturn Hexagon 3D Explorer - Free Online
Saturn Hexagon 3D Explorer - north-polar jet ~30,000 km across, ~13,800 km side, jet speed ~120 m/s - free browser 3D.
-
Supernova Remnant 3D Explorer - Free Online
Supernova Remnant 3D Explorer - Crab Nebula teaching case ~6,500 ly, shell expansion ~1,500 km/s, SN 1054 guest star - free 3D.
-
Planetary Nebula 3D Explorer - Free Online
Planetary Nebula 3D Explorer - Ring Nebula teaching case ~2,600 ly, shell speed ~20-30 km/s, white-dwarf core - free browser 3D.
-
Venus Retrograde Rotation 3D Explorer - Free Online
Venus Retrograde Rotation 3D Explorer - spin ~243 d retrograde, year ~224.7 d, solar day ~116.75 Earth days - free browser 3D.
-
Gravitational Slingshot 3D Explorer - Free Online
Gravitational Slingshot 3D Explorer - hyperbolic flyby assist with ~+10 km/s Voyager / Jupiter literacy, periapsis scrub, browser WebGL.
-
Three-Body Problem 3D Explorer - Free Online
Three-Body Problem 3D Explorer - figure-8 Chenciner-Montgomery choreography, Newton G=6.674e-11 literacy, RK4 sandbox - free 3D.
-
Meteor Shower Radiant 3D Explorer - Free Online
Meteor Shower Radiant 3D Explorer - Perseids peak Aug 12-13, ZHR ~100, parent 109P/Swift-Tuttle - Leonids contrast, free browser 3D.
-
Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud 3D Explorer - Free Online
Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud 3D Explorer - Kuiper 30-50 AU, Pluto 39.5 AU, Oort ~2,000-100,000 AU - free browser 3D.
-
Jupiter Magnetosphere 3D Explorer - Free Online
Jupiter Magnetosphere 3D Explorer - equatorial field ~420 uT, volume ~20,000x Earth, magnetotail past Saturn ~9.5 AU - free 3D.
-
Light Cone 3D Explorer - Free Online
Light Cone 3D Explorer - c=299,792.458 km/s exact literacy, 45 deg null lines, past/future/elsewhere regions - free 3D.
-
Spacetime Curvature 3D Explorer - Free Online
Spacetime Curvature 3D Explorer - r_s=2GM/c^2 formula, Sun ~2.95 km, Earth ~8.87 mm, curved geodesics - free browser 3D.
-
Gravitational Waves 3D Explorer - Free Online
Gravitational Waves 3D Explorer - GW150914 inspiral chirp, 36+29 Msun binary, peak strain ~1e-21 - free browser 3D.
-
Hill Sphere 3D Explorer - Free Online
Hill Sphere 3D Explorer - r_H ~= a (m/3M)^(1/3) formula, Earth Hill radius ~1.5 million km, Moon well inside - free 3D.
-
Cepheid Variable Star 3D Explorer - Free Online
Cepheid Variable Star 3D Explorer - Leavitt Law formula, Delta Cephei ~5.37 day period, live-computed magnitude - free 3D.
-
Expanding Universe 3D Explorer - Free Online
Expanding Universe 3D Explorer - Hubble Law v=H0d, H0 tension 67.4-73.5 km/s/Mpc, age ~13.8 billion years - free 3D.
-
Doppler Radial Velocity 3D Explorer - Free Online
Doppler Radial Velocity 3D Explorer - 51 Pegasi b period ~4.23 d, semi-amplitude K ~55.7 m/s, Jupiter-Sun ~13 m/s - free 3D.
-
Star Trails 3D Explorer - Free Online
Star Trails 3D Explorer - real sidereal day 23h56m4s, 15 deg/hour rotation, circumpolar radius equals latitude.
-
Tidal Heating 3D Explorer - Free Online
Tidal Heating 3D Explorer - Io has about 400 active volcanoes, Europa hides a subsurface ocean, in the 1:2:4 moon resonance.
-
Planetary Rings Comparison 3D Explorer - Free Online
Planetary Rings Comparison 3D Explorer - Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter rings - free 3D.
-
N-Body Sandbox 3D Explorer - Free Online
N-Body Sandbox 3D Explorer - add bodies with a click and watch real F=G m1 m2/r^2 gravity make orbits, scatters, and captures.
-
Celestial Coordinate Systems 3D Explorer - Free Online
Celestial Coordinate Systems 3D Explorer - RA/Dec vs Alt/Az grids on the celestial sphere - free 3D.
-
Cosmic Microwave Background 3D Explorer - Free Online
Cosmic Microwave Background 3D Explorer - all-sky map of the 2.7255 K CMB, dipole + anisotropies - free 3D.
-
Stellar Nucleosynthesis 3D Explorer - Free Online
Stellar Nucleosynthesis 3D Explorer - onion-shell fusion cutaway of a massive star - free 3D.
-
Moon Libration 3D Explorer - Free Online
Moon Libration 3D Explorer - the wobble that shows 59% of the Moon - free 3D.
-
Tidal Disruption Event 3D Explorer - Free Online
Tidal Disruption Event 3D Explorer - a star spaghettified by a black hole, with the t^-5/3 flare - free 3D.
-
Sunspot Magnetic Loops 3D Explorer - Free Online
Sunspot Magnetic Loops 3D Explorer - coronal loops arcing between a sunspot pair - free 3D.
-
Gravitational Redshift 3D Explorer - Free Online
Gravitational Redshift 3D Explorer - light reddening as it climbs out of a gravity well - free 3D.
-
Cosmic Ray Air Shower 3D Explorer - Free Online
Cosmic Ray Air Shower 3D Explorer - a cosmic ray cascading into an air shower down to the ground - free 3D.
-
Stellar Parallax 3D Explorer - Free Online
Stellar Parallax 3D Explorer - a nearby star shifting against the background as Earth orbits - free 3D.
-
Einstein Ring 3D Explorer - Free Online
Einstein Ring 3D Explorer - a source bent into a ring by gravitational lensing - free 3D.
-
Galaxy Tidal Tails 3D Explorer - Free Online
Galaxy Tidal Tails 3D Explorer - two galaxies flinging out tidal tails in a live N-body - free 3D.
-
Jupiter Trojan Asteroids 3D Explorer - Free Online
Jupiter Trojan Asteroids 3D Explorer - two asteroid swarms 60 degrees ahead of and behind Jupiter - free 3D.
-
Solar Granulation 3D Explorer - Free Online
Solar Granulation 3D Explorer - the Sun photosphere boiling with convection granules - free 3D.
-
Kirkwood Gaps 3D Explorer - Free Online
Kirkwood Gaps 3D Explorer - resonance gaps swept through the asteroid belt by Jupiter - free 3D.
-
Equation of Time 3D Explorer - Free Online
Equation of Time 3D Explorer - the analemma figure-8 and sundial-vs-clock time - free 3D.
-
Zodiacal Light 3D Explorer - Free Online
Zodiacal Light 3D Explorer - why dust-scattered sunlight glows along the ecliptic - free 3D.
-
Stellar Proper Motion 3D Explorer - Free Online
Stellar Proper Motion 3D Explorer - watch the Big Dipper drift out of shape over 100,000 years - free 3D.
-
Aberration of Starlight 3D Explorer - Free Online
Aberration of Starlight 3D Explorer - why starlight tilts toward Earth motion, tracing a yearly ellipse - free 3D.
-
Planetary Conjunction 3D Explorer - Free Online
Planetary Conjunction 3D Explorer - watch Jupiter and Saturn line up every 19.86 years - free 3D.
-
Planetary Oblateness 3D Explorer - Free Online
Planetary Oblateness 3D Explorer - why spinning planets bulge at the equator - free 3D.
-
Coriolis Effect 3D Explorer - Free Online
Coriolis Effect 3D Explorer - why moving things curve on a spinning planet - free 3D.
-
Earthshine 3D Explorer - Free Online
Earthshine 3D Explorer - why the dark part of a crescent Moon glows - free 3D.
-
Roche Lobe Binary 3D Explorer - Free Online
Roche Lobe Binary 3D Explorer - Roche lobes, the L1 bridge, and binary mass transfer - free 3D.
-
Foucault Pendulum 3D Explorer - Free Online
Foucault Pendulum 3D Explorer - watch a pendulum swing plane turn as the Earth rotates - free 3D.
-
Magnetic Reconnection 3D Explorer - Free Online
Magnetic Reconnection 3D Explorer - how field lines rejoin at an X-point to power flares and the aurora - free 3D.
-
Apsidal Precession 3D Explorer - Free Online
Apsidal Precession 3D Explorer - watch an orbit rotate into a rosette (Mercury 43 arcsec/century) - free 3D.
-
Synodic Lunar Month 3D Explorer - Free Online
Synodic Lunar Month 3D Explorer - see why one orbit (27.3 d) is not one moon (29.5 d) - free 3D.
-
Earth-Moon Barycenter 3D Explorer - Free Online
Earth-Moon Barycenter 3D Explorer - see the point inside Earth (4,671 km deep) that Earth and the Moon both orbit - free 3D.
-
Lunar Nodes and Eclipse Seasons 3D Explorer - Free Online
Lunar Nodes and Eclipse Seasons 3D Explorer - see why eclipses skip most months (5 degree tilt + lunar nodes) - free 3D.
-
Venus Phases (Galileo) 3D Explorer - Free Online
Venus Phases (Galileo) 3D Explorer - watch Venus run crescent to full (Galileo 1610 proof) - free 3D.
-
Shepherd Moons 3D Explorer - Free Online
Shepherd Moons 3D Explorer - see how small moons herd a ring thin (Prometheus, Pandora) - free 3D.
-
Comet Tail Types 3D Explorer - Free Online
Comet Tail Types 3D Explorer - why a comet has two tails that point away from the Sun - free 3D.
-
Protoplanetary Disk 3D Explorer - Free Online
Protoplanetary Disk 3D Explorer - the real ALMA-measured rings and gaps around young star HL Tau - free 3D.
-
Lunar Occultation 3D Explorer - Free Online
Lunar Occultation 3D Explorer - watch a star vanish instantly behind the Moon - free 3D.
-
Van Allen Belts 3D Explorer - Free Online
Van Allen Belts 3D Explorer - Earth's two real radiation belts and the South Atlantic Anomaly - free 3D.
-
Circumbinary Planet 3D Explorer - Free Online
Circumbinary Planet 3D Explorer - the real two-star Tatooine system Kepler-16 and its 228.8-day orbit - free 3D.
-
Debris Disk 3D Explorer - Free Online
Debris Disk 3D Explorer - the real Beta Pictoris dust disk and its hidden planet - free 3D.
-
Brown Dwarf 3D Explorer - Free Online
Brown Dwarf 3D Explorer - slide the mass and cross the real planet-star boundary - free 3D.
-
Kilonova 3D Explorer - Free Online
Kilonova 3D Explorer - the real GW170817 neutron-star merger and its light show - free 3D.
-
Carrington Event 3D Explorer - Free Online
Carrington Event 3D Explorer - the real 1859 solar storm that set telegraphs on fire - free 3D.
-
TRAPPIST-1 3D Explorer - Free Online
TRAPPIST-1 3D Explorer - 7 real Earth-sized planets in a rare resonance chain - free 3D.
-
Tabby's Star 3D Explorer - Free Online
Tabby's Star 3D Explorer - see the real evidence that ruled out an alien megastructure - free 3D.
-
'Oumuamua 3D Explorer - Free Online
'Oumuamua 3D Explorer - the real first interstellar visitor and its unsolved puzzle - free 3D.
-
Betelgeuse's Great Dimming 3D Explorer - Free Online
Betelgeuse's Great Dimming 3D Explorer - the real 2019-2020 event, scrubbable day by day - free 3D.
-
Pillars of Creation 3D Explorer - Free Online
Pillars of Creation 3D Explorer - Hubble vs James Webb, same nebula, two wavelengths - free 3D.
-
Pale Blue Dot 3D Explorer - Free Online
Pale Blue Dot 3D Explorer - Voyager 1's real 1990 photo of Earth, recreated - free 3D.
-
Wow! Signal 3D Explorer - Free Online
Wow!
-
Chelyabinsk Meteor 3D Explorer - Free Online
Chelyabinsk Meteor 3D Explorer - the real 2013 Russia airburst, free 3D.
-
Enceladus Geysers 3D Explorer - Free Online
Enceladus Geysers 3D Explorer - Cassini's tiger-stripe plumes and subsurface ocean - free 3D.
-
Phobos Stickney Crater 3D Explorer - Free Online
Phobos Stickney Crater 3D Explorer - Mars moon Phobos and giant Stickney crater - free 3D.
-
Vesta Rheasilvia Basin 3D Explorer - Free Online
Vesta Rheasilvia Basin 3D Explorer - Dawn's giant south-pole basin and central peak on Vesta - free 3D.
-
Miranda Verona Rupes 3D Explorer - Free Online
Miranda Verona Rupes 3D Explorer - Voyager 2's giant cliff on Uranus moon Miranda - free 3D.
-
Charon Serenity Chasma 3D Explorer - Free Online
Charon Serenity Chasma 3D Explorer - New Horizons canyon belt on Pluto moon Charon - free 3D.
-
Iapetus Equatorial Ridge 3D Explorer - Free Online
Iapetus Equatorial Ridge 3D Explorer - Cassini walnut-ridge moon of Saturn - free 3D.
-
Mimas Herschel Crater 3D Explorer - Free Online
Mimas Herschel Crater 3D Explorer - Saturn moon Death Star crater Herschel - free 3D.
-
Hyperion Sponge Moon 3D Explorer - Free Online
Hyperion Sponge Moon 3D Explorer - Saturn chaotic sponge moon - free 3D.
-
Wormhole (Einstein-Rosen Bridge) 3D Explorer - Free Online
Wormhole (Einstein-Rosen Bridge) 3D Explorer - rescale the exact catenoid throat embedding with a slider and read the 1916-1988 fact chain - free 3D, in your b...
-
Satellite Orbit Classes 3D Explorer
Compare LEO, MEO, GEO, Molniya, and Sun-synchronous orbits side by side, each at its real period - free 3D, in your browser.
-
Triton Cantaloupe Terrain 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore Triton's unique cantaloupe terrain in 3D: schematic cavi dimples, ridge X, and Neptune context with Play, Dimples, and Speed controls in your browser.
-
Dwarf Planet Size Comparison 3D Explorer
Compare Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris side by side with real diameters and distances - free 3D, in your browser.
-
Haumea Elongated Dwarf Planet 3D Explorer - Free Online
Explore Haumea elongated shape and narrow ring in 3D: Play, Ring toggle, and Speed with cited Nature 2017 occultation figures in your browser.
-
Sagittarius A* Star Orbit 3D Explorer
Scrub through the S2 star's real 16-year orbit around the black hole Sagittarius A* - the observation that measured its mass, free 3D in your browser.
-
Impact Crater Formation 3D Explorer
Compare three real impact craters to scale and try an impactor-size slider to see how crater diameter scales, in your browser.
-
Axial Tilt Comparison 3D Explorer
Compare all 8 planets' real axial tilt angles side by side and click any planet for its exact obliquity, in your browser.
-
Moon Formation Giant Impact 3D Explorer
Step through the giant-impact hypothesis for how the Moon formed - Theia's collision with proto-Earth, the debris disk, and accretion, in your browser.
-
Milky Way - Andromeda Collision 3D Explorer
Scrub billions of years as the Milky Way and Andromeda close a real 2.5-million-light-year gap and merge - free 3D in your browser.
-
Geocentric vs Heliocentric 3D Explorer
Toggle between the Ptolemaic Earth-centered model and the Copernican Sun-centered model in 3D and see why Mars needed an epicycle, in your browser.
-
Dark Matter Rotation Curves 3D Explorer
Compare the Milky Way's observed flat rotation speed to what visible mass alone predicts - the classic evidence for dark matter, in your browser.
-
Apollo Free-Return Trajectory 3D Explorer - Free-Return vs Hybrid Lunar Path
Explore an Apollo-style free-return lunar path in 3D: toggle free-return vs hybrid, scrub phase, and read NASA figures for pericynthion, Earth distance, and th...
-
Coronal Mass Ejection 3D Explorer - CME Speed and Sun-to-Earth Travel Time
Explore a coronal mass ejection in 3D: scrub CME speed from under 250 km/s to nearly 3000 km/s, watch progress toward Earth, and read NOAA SWPC / NASA GSFC tra...
-
Pluto-Charon Double Planet 3D Explorer - Mutual Orbit and Outside-Pluto Barycenter
Explore Pluto and Charon in 3D: scrub mutual-orbit phase, watch both worlds circle a barycenter outside Pluto, and read NASA New Horizons / JPL radius, mass, s...
-
Globular Star Swarm 3D Explorer - Ancient Star Swarm Size and Census
Explore a globular star swarm in 3D: scrub teaching star count and diameter, see a packed core inside a wider halo, and read NASA/ESA catalog figures for censu...
-
Magnetar 3D Explorer - Extreme Magnetic Field Strength Comparison
Explore a magnetar in 3D: scrub a field-strength comparison ladder and a giant-flare pulse cue, then read NASA Chandra / Swift figures for field strength and c...
-
Titan Methane Lakes 3D Explorer - Cassini's Polar Seas and Thick Atmosphere
Explore Titan in 3D: toggle the haze to reveal Cassini-mapped methane seas near the poles, then see the ice shell and subsurface ocean beneath.
-
Io 3D Volcano Explorer - Real-Time Juno Data
Interactive 3D explorer of Io's active volcanoes with real NASA Juno mission data - click hotspots to view eruption temperatures, heights, and coordinates.
-
White Dwarf Chandrasekhar Limit 3D Explorer - Mass Ceiling and Density
Explore the Chandrasekhar limit in 3D: scrub white-dwarf mass toward ~1.44 solar masses, watch radius shrink and density climb, and read published NASA Chandra...
-
Algol Eclipsing Binary 3D Explorer - Free Online
Algol Eclipsing Binary 3D Explorer - watch two real stars dim every 2.867 days, magnitude 2.1 to 3.4, with a live light curve - free 3D.
-
Stellar Main-Sequence Lifetime Calculator
Interactive 3D Hertzsprung-Russell diagram with stellar evolutionary tracks.
-
Earth Perihelion & Aphelion 3D Explorer - Free Online
Earth Perihelion & Aphelion 3D Explorer - scrub the year and watch the real Sun-Earth distance swing between 147.1M and 152.1M km - free 3D.
-
Exoplanet Atmosphere Spectroscopy 3D Explorer - Free Online
Exoplanet Atmosphere Spectroscopy 3D Explorer - toggle H2O, CO2, SO2 and CH4 and watch JWST's real WASP-39b band positions light up during transit - free 3D.
-
Saros Cycle Eclipse Explorer 3D - Free Online
Saros Cycle Eclipse Explorer 3D - step through a real eclipse series and watch the ground track shift 120 degrees west every 18 years 11 days - free 3D.
-
Starlink Constellation Shells 3D Explorer - Free Online
Starlink Constellation Shells 3D Explorer - see the real 5 orbital shells of Starlink by altitude, inclination and satellite count - free 3D.
-
Proton-Proton Chain Fusion 3D Explorer - Free Online
Watch the Sun's proton-proton fusion chain step by step - 3 real reactions, 26.73 MeV released per full chain - free interactive 3D explorer.
-
Apophis 2029 Flyby 3D Explorer - Free Online
Apophis 2029 Flyby 3D Explorer - see the real 13 April 2029 close approach, inside the geostationary ring, with live distance readout - free 3D.
-
Space Debris & Kessler Syndrome 3D Explorer - Free Online
Scrub from 2007 to 2026 and see tracked orbital debris grow from about 13,000 to about 44,800 objects - free interactive 3D Kessler-syndrome explorer.
-
Europa Subsurface Ocean 3D Explorer
Peel back Europa's ice shell layer by layer to the ocean, mantle, and core - free 3D explorer with real NASA depth figures in your browser.
-
Galactic Coordinate Transforms 3D Explorer - Free Online
Galactic Coordinate Transforms 3D Explorer - overlay the galactic, ecliptic, and equatorial planes and scrub the real 25,772-year precession cycle - free 3D.
-
Karman Line & Atmosphere Layers 3D Explorer
Drag an altitude probe from the ground to 650 km through Earth's four named atmosphere layers and the Karman line, US boundary, and ISS orbit markers.
-
Twilight Types 3D Explorer: Civil, Nautical & Astronomical - Free Online
Sweep a sun-depression dial from 0 to 18 degrees to see civil, nautical and astronomical twilight bands, and find which latitudes get white nights - free inter...
-
Fast Radio Burst (FRB) 3D Explorer - Dispersion Sweep
Play a fast radio burst in 3D: watch the dispersion sweep, then compare real Lorimer Burst, FRB 121102, and FRB 180916 figures from CHIME and Parkes.
-
JWST L2 Halo Orbit 3D Explorer - Free Online
JWST L2 Halo Orbit 3D Explorer - Watch Webb loop around Sun-Earth L2 on a procedural halo path with play and scrub controls, plus NASA and STScI figures.
-
Type Ia Supernova Standard Candle 3D Explorer - Free Online
Type Ia Supernova Standard Candle 3D Explorer - scrub a white dwarf through accretion and explosion, then slide the distance to see the real distance-modulus m...
-
Venus Runaway Greenhouse 3D Explorer
Drag a CO2 slider on a 3D Venus and see the real figures: 464 C surface temperature, 92 bar pressure, and why Venus is hotter than Mercury despite reflecting 7...
-
Yarkovsky Effect 3D Explorer - Bennu's Measured Thermal Drift
Watch a spinning asteroid's thermal-lag hot spot drive its orbit in 3D, then compare Bennu's real OSIRIS-REx-measured drift rate to the prograde/retrograde rul...
-
Torino Impact Hazard Scale 3D Explorer - Apophis and 2023 DW Real Ratings
See a 3D asteroid approach Earth colored by its real Torino Impact Hazard Scale band - compare Apophis's 2004 rating of 4 against its refined 2006 rating of 0.
-
GPS Time Dilation 3D Explorer - Relativity in Every GPS Fix
See a 3D GPS satellite orbit Earth while -7 and +45 microsecond relativistic effects combine into the +38 microsecond net drift it must correct.
-
Chariklo Rings 3D Explorer - The Smallest Known Ring System, Compared to Saturn
See the two dense rings discovered around the small icy body 10199 Chariklo in 2013 - the first ring system ever found around anything other than a giant plane...
-
DART Asteroid Deflection 3D Explorer - Free Online
DART Asteroid Deflection 3D Explorer - replay NASA's real 2022 impact on Dimorphos and see the measured before/after orbit-period change - free 3D.
-
Curiosity Rover Traverse 3D Explorer - Real Mars Mission Milestones
Scrub 6 real mission milestones to watch Curiosity move from Bradbury Landing through Gale Crater to its most recent reported position on Mount Sharp.
-
Great Red Spot Jupiter 3D Explorer - Real Storm Size History
Scrub 5 real measurements of Jupiter's Great Red Spot to see how the storm has shrunk from about 41,000 km in the late 1800s to about 16,500 km in 2014.
-
Photon Sphere & ISCO 3D Explorer - Kerr Black Hole Spin
Drag a spin slider on a 3D Kerr black hole and watch the exact photon-sphere and ISCO radii shrink for prograde orbits and grow for retrograde ones, live.
-
Proxima Centauri System 3D Explorer - Free Online
Proxima Centauri System 3D Explorer - the Sun's nearest star and its 3 known/candidate planets, with a habitable-zone band and a flare toggle - free 3D.
-
Sun Red Giant Future 3D Explorer - Free Online
Sun Red Giant Future 3D Explorer - scrub 8 real epochs as the Sun swells, engulfs Mercury and Venus, and Earth's fate stays disputed - free 3D.
-
Relativistic Jets & Doppler Beaming 3D Explorer - M87 Black Hole
Drag a Lorentz-factor and viewing-angle slider on a 3D black hole jet and watch relativistic Doppler beaming brighten one jet and fade the other, live, using t...
-
Olbers' Paradox 3D Explorer - Why the Night Sky Is Dark
Toggle an infinite static universe against the real, finite-age universe to see why the night sky stays dark instead of blazing bright with starlight.
-
Io Plasma Torus 3D Explorer - Jupiter's Ring of Ionized Gas
Watch the doughnut-shaped cloud of ionized gas that Io's volcanoes feed into Jupiter's magnetic field, and see its real co-rotating bright sector lap Io's own...
Honest about accuracy
These scenes are educational visualizations, not physical simulations. The solar system view compresses planet sizes and orbital distances onto one screen - true scale would leave the planets invisible - and the page says so next to the scene. The black hole scene is an artistic approximation of an accretion disk; it does not solve the equations of general relativity. The facts panels, in contrast, carry real published figures: planet diameters and orbital periods, and measured properties of known black holes. Where a number is rounded or a scale is compressed, the page states it.
What you need
A browser with WebGL - every current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari qualifies, on desktop and on phones. On a device without WebGL the page shows a plain notice instead of a broken canvas. Each scene has a fullscreen button beside the canvas, and Escape returns to the page. Lower-powered phones automatically get lighter scenes (fewer rendered points) so rotation stays smooth.
Made for curiosity
| Scene | Good for | Real figures in the panel |
|---|---|---|
| Solar System 3D Explorer | Comparing orbits and looking up planet facts while you watch them move | Diameters in km, distances in AU, orbital periods for all 8 planets |
| Black Hole 3D Visualizer | Seeing why the disk glows and reading what an event horizon actually is | Sagittarius A* and M87* masses, the km-per-solar-mass horizon rule |
| Galaxy 3D Simulator | Getting a feel for spiral structure and the sheer point-count of a galaxy | Milky Way star count, diameter, the sun's position and orbit |
What each scene teaches
The solar system scene is really a lesson about ratios. Planet positions are animated so the period relationships hold: at any speed setting Mercury laps Neptune the way it does in the sky, and pausing the orbits turns the scene into a diagram you can walk around. Clicking a planet fills the panel with its real figures, which is where the scale honesty matters - Jupiter's on-screen ball is a few times Earth's, but the panel tells you the real answer is about eleven times the diameter, and that the distances between orbits are compressed far more than the sizes are.
The black hole scene answers the question most people bring to it: if a black hole is black, what is the picture everyone has seen? The glowing ring is not the hole - it is the accretion disk, gas heated by friction as it spirals inward, and the scene animates the detail that makes disks physical: inner material orbits faster than outer material. The panel pairs that with the real numbers for the two best-known black holes and the rule of thumb that an event horizon spans roughly three kilometers of radius per solar mass.
The galaxy scene is about structure emerging from count. Individually the rendered points are nothing; at tens of thousands they become arms, a bar, a core with depth. Regenerating the spiral with a new arm count makes the parametric nature of the scene obvious - which is exactly why the page calls it art tuned to look right rather than a gravitational model - while the panel keeps the real Milky Way figures in view for contrast.
Using the scenes with a class or a curious kid
Each page works as a two-minute demonstration: fullscreen the scene on a projector, orbit it slowly while the panel is visible, and let the questions drive which object gets clicked next. Because everything renders locally, the pages behave the same on school hardware as at home - there is no stream to buffer and no account wall - and the honesty notes beside each scene give a natural opening for the difference between a visualization and a measurement, which is itself worth teaching.
The pages are free and load fast - the 3D engine downloads once and is then served from the browser cache. Fullscreen keeps the controls and facts panel visible, and Escape always returns to the page.
Why trust these tools
- Ten-plus years of web tooling. The freetoolonline editorial team has shipped browser-based utilities since 2015. The goal has never changed: get you to a working output fast, without an install.
- No install, no sign-up. Open a tool and get a working output in seconds - nothing to download and no account to create. Tools that need heavy processing run it on our service, so even a low-powered machine gets the job done.
- Analytics stops at the page view. We measure which pages get visited, not what you type or upload inside a tool. There is nothing to sign in to and no profile is attached to your input.
- Open-source core components. The processing engines underneath (libheif, libde265, pdf-lib, terser, clean-css, ffmpeg.wasm, and others) are public and audit-able. We link to each one in its tool page's footer.
- Free, with or without ads. All tools are fully functional without sign-up. The Disable Ads button in the header is always available if you need a distraction-free run.