A live, interactive orrery: every planet and dwarf planet on its real orbit from NASA/JPL data. Press play to run time forward and watch the inner planets race while the outer giants crawl.
A live map of the Solar System. Every planet sits where its real orbit puts it, computed from NASA/JPL orbital data. Press play to run time forward and watch the inner planets race while the outer giants crawl.
Year 2026
Click any body to open its page. Planet positions use real J2000 orbital elements; distances are compressed so every orbit is visible (toggle True scale for the real spacing). Dwarf-planet along-orbit positions are approximate.
Paused. Fit-to-view scale. Planets only.
A live map of the Solar System
The Solar System is the Sun and everything bound to it by gravity: eight planets, at
least five dwarf planets, and countless moons, asteroids, and comets. The orrery above is
a live model of it. Each planet is not drawn in a fixed spot; it is placed where its
real orbit actually puts it, recomputed from the same NASA/JPL orbital data
astronomers use. Press play and time runs forward, so you can watch the whole system
turn.
Play / pause and speed run the clock; the year is shown as you go.
Fit to view / True scale switches between a compressed view (all orbits visible)
and the real spacing.
Dwarf planets adds Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.
Click any body to open its page of facts.
Why the inner planets race and the giants crawl
The most striking thing in the orrery is how differently the planets move. Mercury blurs
around the Sun while Neptune barely inches along. That is Kepler’s third law: a planet
farther from the Sun has both a longer path to travel and a slower speed along it.
The planets
In order from the Sun, the eight planets split into four small rocky worlds and four
giants:
Each links to its own page with size, mass, orbit, moons, temperature, and a diagram.
The dwarf planets
Turn on dwarf planets to add the five official ones: Ceres in the
asteroid belt, and Pluto, Haumea,
Makemake, and Eris out in the Kuiper Belt and beyond.
They orbit the Sun and are round, but unlike the eight planets they share their orbits
with many other icy bodies, which is why they are classed separately.
The trouble with scale
An honest model
The planet positions come from real J2000 orbital elements (NASA/JPL), fed through
Kepler’s equation, so the shape, tilt, and timing of each orbit are accurate to within
arcminutes for the modern era. Two honest caveats: this is a 2.5D view of a
three-dimensional system (the orbits are gently tilted, not seen edge-on), and the
dwarf-planet positions along their orbits are approximate (their orbits are correctly
shaped and correctly paced, but their exact starting point is representative). It’s free
to embed on your own site or classroom page.
Frequently asked questions
How many planets are in the Solar System?
There are eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In 2006 the International Astronomical Union defined a planet as a body that orbits the Sun, is round, and has cleared its orbital neighbourhood of other objects. Pluto did not meet the third rule, so it and four others (Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris) are now called dwarf planets.
Why do the inner planets move faster than the outer ones?
Kepler's third law: the farther a planet is from the Sun, the longer its orbit AND the slower it travels along it. Mercury orbits the Sun in 88 days; Neptune takes about 165 years. In the orrery you can watch Mercury whip around many times before Jupiter completes a single lap.
What is an orrery?
An orrery is a model of the Solar System that shows the planets moving on their orbits around the Sun. This one is computed live from real orbital data rather than being a fixed animation, so each body is placed where its true orbit puts it for the date shown.
Are the distances in this orrery to scale?
By default, no. The real Solar System is mostly empty space, so at true scale the inner planets would huddle invisibly near the Sun while Neptune sat far off the screen. The orrery compresses the distances so every orbit is visible; switch on 'True scale' to see the real spacing.