Calculated from NASA JPL orbits, 2000 to 2049
Solar system navigator
The Sun, the eight planets, the Moon and the Tesla Roadster SpaceX launched in 2018, at their real positions for any date from 2000 to 2049. Move the timeline, switch to real scale, click a body for its numbers.
Open the navigator · See the live globe
The Solar system today
- The Sun: 148.1 million km from the Earth. Its light takes 8 min 14 s to reach us.
- The Moon: 404,040 km from the Earth.
- Venus: 47 million km from the Earth, 2 min 37 s at the speed of light.
- Mars: 201.3 million km from the Earth, 11 min 11 s at the speed of light.
- Jupiter: 798.3 million km from the Earth, 44 min 23 s at the speed of light.
- Saturn: 1,294 million km from the Earth, 1 h 12 min at the speed of light.
- Tesla Roadster: 118.8 million km from the Earth and 318.9 million km from Mars, moving round the Sun at 24.2 km/s.
- Since its launch on 6 February 2018 the Roadster has gone round the Sun 5.7 times.
Worked out for November 11, 2026, 12:00 UTC, from JPL orbits. The navigator shows any date you pick.
What the navigator shows
The Sun, the eight planets, the Moon and the Tesla Roadster that SpaceX sent into space in 2018, each at the position it really has on the date you choose. Drag to turn the view, zoom in on any body and click it for its distance from the Earth and the Sun, the time light takes to reach us, its speed round the Sun, its size and the length of its year and day.
Everything is calculated in your browser from published orbits, so the page works for any moment between 2000 and 2049, not only for today.
Readable scale and real scale
The Solar system does not fit on a screen at its true proportions, so there are two views. In readable scale the directions are real but distances from the Sun are squeezed and the bodies are drawn much larger than they are. In real scale every distance and size is true: the planets become dots, and Neptune sits 30 times farther from the Sun than the Earth does. A button switches between them and the planets slide from one layout to the other.
Any date from 2000 to 2049
The slider under the view moves through time. Play runs it at a day, a week, a month or a year per second, and "Play the last year" replays the past twelve months and stops at today. You can watch Mars catch up with the Earth, or the inner planets lap the outer ones.
Where the Tesla Roadster is
The red Tesla Roadster launched on Falcon Heavy's first flight on 6 February 2018 and has been going round the Sun ever since, on an orbit that reaches a little past Mars. Its path comes from NASA JPL's Horizons system. The car stopped transmitting a few hours after launch, so every position you see is calculated, not observed.
Its closest pass by the Earth before 2050 comes around January 11, 2047, at about 4.8 million km, roughly 12 times the distance to the Moon.
Where the numbers come from
The planets come from JPL's approximate orbital elements, which hold from 1800 to 2050, and the Moon from a short series that is right to about a degree. The Roadster comes from JPL Horizons, one orbit a week from launch to 2050, and your browser moves each body from those numbers. Sizes, day lengths and moon counts are from NASA's planetary fact sheets.
How each body is turned, its pole and its spin, follows the IAU's official rotation models, so the side lit by the Sun, day and night on Earth, the Moon's near side and the tilt of Saturn's rings are as they were on the date shown.
Planet maps: Solar System Scope, CC BY 4.0.
More from Skydex
- The live globe: every aircraft and ship our network hears: Every aircraft and ship our receivers hear right now, on a 3D Earth.
- Fly over the real Earth: free browser flight game: Fly a gull or a drone over photoreal cities and spot real aircraft and ships.
- The live map: A flat map of the same sky and sea, with airports, cities and time zones.
- The receiver network: Volunteers who run an antenna and feed us aircraft. Add yours in two minutes.
- How the navigator was built: Why the navigator has two scales and where its numbers come from.
- Where's the Roadster? The globe's joke view: The globe's joke button that folds the Earth out into the Solar system.
From the news
Questions
How far is Mars from the Earth today?
On November 11, 2026 Mars is 201.3 million km from the Earth, and light or a radio signal takes 11 min 11 s to cover that. The distance never stays still: it falls to about 55 million km when both planets are on the same side of the Sun and grows to about 400 million km when they are on opposite sides.
Where is the Tesla Roadster now?
On November 11, 2026 it is 118.8 million km from the Earth and 211.4 million km from the Sun, moving at 24.2 km/s. One trip round the Sun takes it 557 days.
Will the Roadster come close to the Earth again?
Its closest pass before 2050 is around January 11, 2047, at about 4.8 million km. That is still about 12 times farther than the Moon, so there is no chance of it hitting us.
How long does sunlight take to reach the Earth?
Today about 8 min 14 s. The Earth is closest to the Sun in early January and farthest in early July, so the time changes by about 17 seconds over the year.
Is the map to scale?
Only in real scale. The readable view keeps the directions true but squeezes the distances and enlarges the bodies, otherwise the inner planets would sit in a single pixel next to the Sun. Switch to real scale to see the true proportions.
How accurate are the positions?
The planets use the approximate orbits published by NASA JPL, accurate to a small fraction of a degree between 1800 and 2050. The Roadster follows a table of its orbit from JPL Horizons and lands within about 16 km of JPL's own positions.
Why does the timeline stop in 2049?
The planet formulas are only published as valid up to 2050, and the Roadster table we keep ends in 2050 too. Rather than show positions we cannot stand behind, the slider stops there.
Why is Pluto not shown?
Since 2006 Pluto has been classed as a dwarf planet, and the navigator shows the eight planets, the Sun, the Moon and the Roadster. On the real-scale view Pluto would sit beyond Neptune, on a tilted and stretched orbit.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Drag to turn the view and pinch to zoom. It needs a browser with WebGL; without it the page shows the text and today's numbers instead of the 3D view.
What is Skydex?
A free browser flight game over the real Earth and a network of volunteer receivers that hear aircraft and ships. The Solar system navigator started as a joke button on our live globe and grew into its own page.