The Machine · Solar System, Live

The orrery.

A working model of the solar system, computed from real orbital mathematics. Every planet sits where it actually is today. Drag to orbit the machine, scrub through time to watch centuries pass, and see the zodiac ring the planets are measured against — the same ring your birth chart is drawn on.

Showing

—

Drag to orbit · scroll to zoom

Positions are computed from mean Keplerian orbital elements with secular rates and solved with Kepler's equation — accurate to within a fraction of a degree for the inner planets over a span of a few centuries, and progressively rougher further out and further in time. Distances and sizes in the view are scaled for legibility, not to scale; the real solar system is overwhelmingly empty. The zodiac ring shows the ecliptic longitude each planet occupies, which is exactly what astrology reads. How we compute things →