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4XCiv Explore

The whole solar system in your browser, from the orbit of Pluto down to the surfaces of planets, moons and asteroids. No game, no passphrase. Just the real place, rendered from the data humanity has gathered.

01 · Atlas

Real orbits, at real scale

The Atlas is the map everything hangs off. Planets on JPL approximate positions, moons on JPL Horizons fits, and the points between them that physics cares about.

  • Lagrange points for Sol-Earth, Sol-Mars, Sol-Jupiter and Earth-Luna.
  • Barycenters, including Sol-Jupiter: Jupiter is massive enough to orbit a point outside the Sun.
  • Real satellites from an October 3 snapshot, color-coded: crewed stations, observatories, navigation, communications.
  • Timelapse at up to one day per second, with belts and moon-orbit spirals you can toggle.
Satellites, phase 1. Earth inside the halo of every tracked satellite, pulled back to show the whole constellation. Hover to play.
Earth-Luna Lagrange points in the Atlas
Earth-Luna L1–L5. All five Lagrange points of the Earth-Moon pair.
Mars with Phobos and Deimos orbits
Mars system. Phobos and Deimos orbit lines, with Pluto's orbit streaking through frame.

02 · Bodies

Every body from real imagery

37 tracked bodies. The imagery comes from the missions that took it.

Earth, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
EarthNASA Blue Marble
Jupiter, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
JupiterCassini color
Europa, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
EuropaVoyager · Galileo
Io, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
IoVoyager · Galileo
Saturn, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
SaturnCassini
Mercury, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
MercuryMESSENGER
Phobos, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
PhobosShape model
Saturn, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
SaturnCloud-top deck
Mars, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
MarsFrom Phobos
Ganymede, rendered in 4XCiv Explore
GanymedeJovian moon

03 · Surfaces

From orbit to the ground

Descend through the atmosphere and walk the terrain at sites humanity has mapped in detail.

The MoonApollo 15 · Hadley
LROC NAC terrain at 2 m per pixel. Descend to where the rover drove.
Sunset at Jezero Delta, Mars
MarsJezero Delta
MOLA and HRSC elevation with HiRISE imagery at Perseverance's landing site.
EarthMount Everest
The first real-Earth terrain sites: Everest and the Alps, at golden hour.
The Alps from 119 km
The Alps119 km
Saturn from the surface of Enceladus
EnceladusSaturn on the horizon

04 · Light

Eclipses, sunsets, and real shadows

Light is simulated, not painted. Shadows fall between bodies, eclipses happen when the geometry says they do, and the Sun is white in space and reddened through air.

  • Europa eclipse. The small black dot crossing Jupiter's face is Europa's shadow, spotted in the sim and confirmed.
  • Body shadows checked against the real November 8, 2022 lunar eclipse.
  • No air, no twilight. Lunar night lasts about fifteen Earth days; night vision amplifies exposure about 12x.
Europa eclipse, October 2. Zooming in on Jupiter to the shadow transit. Hover to play.
Crescent Earth from the Shackleton rim
Crescent EarthShackleton rim
The Sun's surface
SolSurface detail
Jupiter as a crescent
JupiterCrescent

Public · no login

The solar system is open.

No account, no install. Pick a body and fly there.