Space Atlas vs Simple Orbit Simulator

Space Atlas: Cosmos Guide Explore the universe from your pocket. Space Atlas turns astronomy into an immersive experience with interactive 3D visuals, real-time space data, daily NASA imagery, educational articles, and challenging quizzes built for curious minds. EXPLORE THE SOLAR SYSTEM IN 3D Navigate a beautiful interactive solar system with animated orbits, smooth zoom controls, and detailed planet views. Rotate, pinch, and explore celestial bodies up close. LIVE SPACE DATA Stay connected to what is happening above Earth: Track the ISS in real time Follow upcoming rocket launches Check aurora activity with the Kp index Monitor near-Earth asteroids See how many astronauts are currently in space NASA IMAGE OF THE DAY Discover a new astronomy image every day with NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, complete with clear explanations available in your language. DEEP SPACE LEARNING Read hundreds of educational articles across astronomy, cosmology, black holes, galaxies, exoplanets, nebulae, space exploration, astrobiology, observation techniques, and space technology. SMART SPACE QUIZZES Test your knowledge with a large quiz library across multiple difficulty levels. Build streaks, earn XP, unlock badges, and progress from beginner to expert. SKY OBSERVATION TOOLS Plan your stargazing sessions with moon phase details, viewing conditions, and helpful night-sky guidance. MADE FOR SPACE LOVERS Space Atlas is built for anyone who wants to understand the cosmos, from beginners discovering astronomy for the first time to enthusiasts looking for a richer daily space companion. Features include: Night mode for comfortable sky watching Offline access to articles and quizzes Daily challenges and streak tracking XP, badges, and progress stats English, French, Spanish, and Italian support Free to start, with Pro access for the full experience

Simple Orbit Simulator brings the elegance of Einstein's general relativity to your fingertips. Watch two celestial bodies dance under the influence of gravity — not as a textbook approximation, but as a true Schwarzschild geodesic simulation — the same physics that governs real planets, stars, and black holes. Real Physics, Visually Beautiful Unlike typical orbit simulators that use Newtonian gravity, Simple Orbit Simulator traces actual curved-spacetime paths. Every orbit is a genuine geodesic of the Schwarzschild metric. The result: Mercury-style perihelion precession that slowly paints a rosette pattern on screen, gravitational time dilation that deepens as the planet plunges toward the star, and event horizon dynamics that are physically meaningful — not just decorative. Black Hole Mode Switch to Black Hole Mode and watch a supermassive compact object warp the simulation. The event horizon, photon sphere, and innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) become visible boundaries. Push the planet too close and it crosses the point of no return. Accretion disk glow and a dynamically warped spacetime grid make the physics viscerally tangible. Full 3D Orbits Tilt the orbital plane with the inclination slider and drag the canvas to rotate the camera freely. Horizontal drag changes the azimuth — spinning the scene left and right. Vertical drag changes the elevation — from a top-down view to edge-on. A circular orbit becomes an ellipse, a line, or a spiral rosette depending on your viewpoint. Physics is computed in full three-dimensional space. Live Relativistic Metrics Track real-time data as the simulation runs: • Gravitational time dilation factor • Accumulated proper time of the orbiting body • Lorentz gamma factor • Orbital velocity as a fraction of the speed of light • Perihelion precession angle in degrees • Orbits completed Explore and Experiment Adjust star mass, planet mass, and orbital distance with intuitive logarithmic sliders. See how increasing the star's mass deepens the gravitational well. Increase separation and watch relativistic precession shrink as GR effects fade with distance. Combine an inclined orbit with Black Hole Mode for a dramatic 3D plunge trajectory. Built for Clarity Every design decision prioritises understanding over complexity. The simulation uses scaled constants so relativistic effects are visible at screen scale — preserving all qualitative behaviour predicted by general relativity in a form humans can actually see. Simple Orbit Simulator is for students, educators, curious minds, and anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what holds it all together.