Solar System Odyssey — Interactive Orbital Simulator & Physics Lab

MISSION TIME YEAR 0, DAY 000

TARGET HELIOCENTRIC VIEW

VELOCITY 29.8 km/s

LATENCY 8m 20s

WARP SPEED 1.0x

Visual scale is on: planet sizes and distances are adjusted so they can be explored on one screen.

Drag to pan · Scroll to zoom · Select a planet. Use the named planet buttons for keyboard access.

LEARNING GOALS

Explore, predict, explain

Compare a planet's size, gravity, and orbit with Earth.
Use the Gravity Lab to predict how the same jump changes on another world.
Explain why the display uses a visual scale instead of a literal solar-system scale.

STAR

THE SUN

/ˈsʌn/

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. It radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation, providing the primary source of energy for life on Earth.

DISTANCE FROM SUN 0.00 AU 0 km

EQUATORIAL RADIUS 109.1 x Earth 696,340 km

ORBITAL PERIOD (YEAR) N/A Heliocentric Center

ROTATION PERIOD (DAY) 27 Earth Days Differential rotation

SURFACE GRAVITY 274 m/s² 27.9g (Heavyweight)

MOONS COUNT 0 None

TEMPERATURE PROFILE

-273°C SURFACE 5,500°C

COSMIC DATA SHEET

Accounts for 99.86% of the mass of the entire Solar System.
Its core reaches a scorching 15 million degrees Celsius.
Light takes approximately 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel from the Sun to Earth.

GRAVITY SIMULATOR

Experience how gravitational field strength affects falling speed and jump height. Predict first: will the same launch rise higher on Mars or Earth?

Model note: every jump starts at the same speed and ignores air resistance, terrain, and spacesuit effects. Use it to compare gravity, not to predict a real jump.

0.0m

5m+

CURRENT GRAVITY 9.81 m/s²

COMPARED TO EARTH 1.00x (Earth standard)

ORBITAL LAUNCH PAD

Try a prograde launch toward Mars, then compare how changing the speed or angle changes the displayed path.

Model note: this is a visual orbital sandbox, not a trajectory planner. It simplifies launch conditions, planetary positions, and gravity assists.

DESTINATION PLANET

BURNOUT VELOCITY 12,500 m/s

INJECTION ANGLE 45°

PROBE PRE-LAUNCH: STANDBY

PLANETARY COMPARE

Choose Earth and Mars. Which differences could explain why the same jump behaves differently? Support your answer with the data shown.

BODY A

BODY B

EQUATORIAL RADIUS

6,371 km RADIUS 3,389 km

SURFACE GRAVITY

9.81 m/s² GRAVITY 3.71 m/s²

DISTANCE FROM SUN

1.0 AU DISTANCE 1.52 AU

ROTATIONAL DAY

24 Hours DAY 24.6 Hours

NUMBER OF MOONS

1 MOONS 2

ACADEMY CHALLENGE

Test your command of planetary science and orbital mechanics. Earn your rank as a Solar Navigator.

ASTROBIOLOGY LAB

EXOPLANET CREATOR

Design a hypothetical world and observe how a simplified model changes its estimated gravity, temperature, and orbital period.

TEMPERATE-ORBIT ESTIMATE A simplified starting point, not a test for life

STAR MASS ($M_{\text{sun}}$) 1.0 x Sun

ORBIT DISTANCE (AU) 1.00 AU

PLANET RADIUS ($R_{\text{earth}}$) 1.0 x Earth

ATMOSPHERE DENSITY 1.0 atm

MODEL GRAVITY 9.81 m/s²

ESTIMATED TEMP 15°C

ORBIT PERIOD 365 Days

CLASSIFICATION SUPER-EARTH

These values are classroom estimates. They do not model composition, albedo, clouds, internal heat, atmospheric chemistry, or whether a planet has life.

Interactive sky unavailable

THE SUN: SOLAR CORE