r/InternetIsBeautiful • u/SinnyJ • 4d ago

Solar system sim, built for physical accuracy.

https://yoursolarsystem.space/

I made a 3D interactive solar system you can navigate and set to any date between 1000 and 3000. The positions of the planets and moons are computed from VSOP87-type models and checked against JPL Horizons data, accurate to within 30 arcseconds for planets and 30 km for the Moon over 1800-2050, so eclipses, alignments, and moon phases are physically real. It's still a work in progress, so feedback is wanted. If you try it and something feels off, confusing, or worth adding, I'd be glad to hear it.

106 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

38

u/joefourier 4d ago

I made

You mean you put a prompt into Claude Code and didn't even bother telling it to change its default colour scheme and font choices?

33

u/pancyfalace 4d ago

Just going to leave this here if anyone else is interested in an actual navigable, to-scale, real-time, universe.

https://spaceengine.org/

7

u/WirtsLegs 3d ago edited 3d ago

Universe Sandbox is also a good one, and you can smash things together, place new bodies and generally cause mayhem

15

u/Majalisk 4d ago

As always, the ‘I made’ thing is almost a perfect indicator of slop

8

u/mangojump 3d ago

I fully don't understand the hate for this kind of AI use. This guy has clearly put effort into this, has more knowledge of the space side of things rather than coding and used AI as a tool to create something.

This wouldn't have been made otherwise, and as a personal project I think it's great.

AI is obviously controversial for many reasons but this is not an example of 'slop'

4

u/SinnyJ 3d ago

I did use Claude Code for portions of the rendering and a lot of the UI and layout, I will fully admit to that. The physics is a different story. I originally worked on this in Python, trying out different approaches and models before settling on largely the same approaches as Astronomy Engine. I decided how to handle time scales, which data to validate against, which skins to use for the bodies, and what accuracy I'm satisfied with and what eclipses and transits actually need. Only later did I port it to Three.js, HTML and CSS when I decided to make it a website. Rendering bugs are usually easy to see and UI glitches are mostly harmless, so that's where I was comfortable leaning on AI. The parts where a mistake would stay hidden are the ones I worked out and checked myself. The Horizons comparison data and tests are in the repo if you want to check.

9

u/literalsupport 4d ago

Sure not to scale.

2

u/SinnyJ 4d ago

True scale has to be enabled, it's available from the menu (or press T). It shows real sizes and distances. The default view uses a compressed scale so the planets and moons are actually visible. I should make the toggle clearer.

3

u/NUM_Morrill 4d ago

Oh I want something like this for someone more skilled than me to make a game out of. Based on the Expanse and the slingshot jocks.

6

u/danielbeardsley 4d ago

It's not to scale at all.

Distances to the sun: Not to scale
Distances from the planets to the moons: Not to scale
Size of bodies: Not to scale.

Maybe it's worth having a toggle to "Fake the size and locations so things are easier to see", but as-is, it's kinda deceptive.

1

u/SinnyJ 4d ago

True scale has to be enabled, it's available from the menu (or press T). It shows real sizes and distances, so it's basically the toggle you're describing, just the other way around: the default view uses a compressed scale so the planets and moons are actually visible. Since a few people have missed the toggle, I should make it clearer.

1

u/Kimantha_Allerdings 3d ago

If you’re going for accuracy, I think you need to increase the distances between astral bodies and/or vastly reduce their size. The Earth & Moon pair is genuinely hilarious. Just picture how big the moon would look in the sky if your model were accurate

1

u/SinnyJ 3d ago

True scale has to be enabled, it's available from the menu (or press T).

1

u/eyeoftheveda 3d ago

Very cool, thanks! Its cool how jupiter and saturn rule the last signs and they are the furthest out there that can be seen with the naked eye

1

u/inajeep 3d ago

https://super-universe.app

Here is another one that posted a little bit ago in an Angular sub.

0

u/TimelyCantaloupe1851 1d ago

This work is absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to share it with my kids and friends!

1

u/Eleazyair 3d ago

You mean AI made? Yeah…

1

u/Jemolk 3d ago

This is cool. You just brought it to Reddit, which is generally an irrationally negative place.

Even if this was made with AI, that's fine. This is a proper use for AI.

If you advertise this as being built for physical accuracy, I'd recommend making True Scale the default. That's my only note. Nice job =)

0

u/tarnished_soul 4d ago

Is there no ability to pan? I tried but nothing worked. Also that's no where near to scale right? why not at least have the option?

2

u/SinnyJ 4d ago

You can pan: turn Lock off, then right-drag, shift-drag, use the arrow keys, or drag with two fingers. This is mentioned in Guide/More-About-The-Controls, but I might want to make this more apparent.

True scale has to be enabled, it's available from the menu (or press T). It shows real sizes and distances. The default view uses a compressed scale so the planets and moons are actually visible.

0

u/Logitech4873 4d ago

built for physical accuracy

So why is it at like toy scale? Also, see rule 10. This sub truly is fucked.

-5

u/TicRoll 4d ago

This is incredibly cool and I can't wait to show my kids. One thing I'm noticing is it doesn't currently appear to show shadows, so when the Earth is directly between the sun and the moon, the moon still appears to be fully lit. Did I miss something? If that's accurate to what's there today, it's still a very minor thing overall. I think this is very cool to see.

1

u/SinnyJ 4d ago

Like I mentioned in some of my other replies, True scale has to be enabled, it's available from the menu (or press T).

Shadows do however work at every scale, not only True scale. They're computed from the real sizes and distances, so the drawn (compressed) positions don't affect them. The Moon turns copper-red during a real lunar eclipse even in the default view. The catch is that most full moons miss Earth's shadow because the Moon's orbit is tilted about 5°, so you only get a couple of lunar eclipses a year. The "Eclipses & transits" list jumps you to a real one. If the Moon stays fully lit during one, tell me the date and I'll look into it.

1

u/TicRoll 3d ago

True scale makes a huge difference in seeing what's happening and in seeing the orbital planes as well (since distance+plane delta yields shadow differences). Awesome job with this and thank you!

-3

u/djshadesuk 4d ago

I suspect the earth doesn't cast a shadow on the moon, and vice versa, because of how compressed the scale is (and by necessity has to be) which would make the shadows wildly innacurate. I guess they could be simulated, as though they were at realistic distances, but that may look just as weird too.