About & how we keep it accurate

What this is

An interactive, accurate model of the universe — from standing over Earth, out through a real-scale solar system, to the edge of the observable universe. You can fly to every planet and major moon, switch to honest 1:1 scale, watch light crawl outward at its true speed, wind the real sky to any date, and zoom all the way out to the Big Bang. It is built to make one underrated fact land emotionally: space is very, very big.

Where the numbers come from

Accuracy is the entire point — a model that fudges the scale defeats itself. Sizes, distances, gravities, temperatures and orbital periods are taken from primary sources and stated as rounded real values, never invented for effect:

How the live orrery is verified

The planets aren’t decorative — they use real J2000 orbital elements, so when you load the site each world sits where it truly is right now. The orbital mathematics is regression-tested: it reproduces the real Mars solar conjunction of January 2026 to within 0.04°, and that check is re-run after any change to the orbit code. The Voyager 1 marker is computed live from a NASA distance anchor so it never goes stale.

Keeping it current

Some facts move. Moon counts climb as surveys find new ones; Voyager recedes 17 km every second; the Great Red Spot is shrinking. These are re-checked on a rolling basis, and the “facts verified” date on each page reflects the last full sweep — currently July 2026.

Spot an error?

Corrections are welcome and taken seriously — if a figure looks wrong or has gone out of date, please get in touch and it will be fixed promptly, with this page’s verification date updated to match.

Keep going