AstraPixels: the solar system, live and in pixels
AstraPixels
You have looked up and wondered where the planets are. AstraPixels draws the whole solar system in pixel art, on one free web page. A poster is just a picture. This one is the real sky, every planet exactly where it is right now.
A live map of the whole solar system, free in your browser
A live map of the whole solar system, free in your browser.
Open the page, and here is the whole solar system. The Sun in the middle, the planets on their rings, thousands of asteroids in the belt. A live clock ticks in the corner, and it all moves with the real sky. Free, no account, no download.
Click any world for the facts, the source, and where it is tonight
Click any world for the facts, the source, and where it is tonight.
So who is it for? Anyone who likes the sky, from a curious kid to a stargazer. Every planet and moon has its own page, and there are over a hundred and seventy of them. Each page lists plain facts, with a link to where each fact came from.
Every position is computed, not copied
Every position is computed, not copied.
Here is the part that is clever. That picture is not saved anywhere. AstraPixels rebuilds it from scratch. Every orbit can be written as a handful of numbers: how big it is, how tilted, and where the planet was at one known moment. AstraPixels takes those numbers, adds the exact time right now, and works out where each body has moved to since. Do that for the Sun, the planets, the moons, and thousands of asteroids, and you have rebuilt the whole sky as it looks this second. And because it is math, you can run it forward, to the eclipses and close pass-bys coming up.
A real sky you can go outside and check this week
A real sky you can go outside and check this week.
The same math also writes a six-month calendar of things you can go outside and see. This week alone, there is a total solar eclipse and a meteor shower, both on the same night. So, product or feature? It is a real little astronomy tool, not wallpaper. What makes this one lovely is how open it is. Every fact is sourced, it opens in a second, and it is free.
Free, no account, and it opens right in your browser
Free, no account, and it opens right in your browser.
It is a free web page, with no sign-up. There is even a plain version a screen reader can read aloud, so almost anyone can get in. It is built by Nick. Open it in your browser, and the real sky is right there.
The sky you already look at, live and in pixels
The sky you already look up at, drawn exactly where it is right now, and running forward to what is next. One free page away.
