The New spiral button regenerates the galaxy with a fresh arm count and scatter, so no two spirals look alike.
Color follows structure - a warm dense core fading to blue-white arms with scattered hot stars - all procedural, no images.
The facts panel carries the real Milky Way figures - more than 100 billion stars, about 100,000 light-years across, the sun about 26,000 light-years out with a roughly 230-million-year orbit.
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 a galaxy's disk is.
Color follows structure - a warm dense core fading to blue-white arms with scattered hot stars - all procedural, no images.
The facts panel carries the real Milky Way figures - more than 100 billion stars, about 100,000 light-years across, the sun about 26,000 light-years out with a roughly 230-million-year orbit.
For a step-by-step walkthrough of the spiral-arm controls and the Milky Way figures, read the Galaxy 3D Simulator step-by-step guide. The Space 3D collection also includes a Solar System 3D Explorer and a Black Hole 3D Visualizer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Galaxy 3D Simulator show?
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 a galaxy's disk is.
Is the spiral shape physically accurate?
The page is honest - the spiral is parametric art tuned to look right, not a gravitational model; the table figures are the real ones.
What are the real Milky Way numbers?
The facts panel carries the real Milky Way figures - more than 100 billion stars, about 100,000 light-years across, the sun about 26,000 light-years out with a roughly 230-million-year orbit.