NASA's Eyes on the Solar System
eyes.nasa.gov
Ride along with any NASA mission, on any date you choose
Cosmos & Scale
The planets where they actually are, right now
solarsystemscope.com
A minute · Works anywhere
Free, no sign-up · online since 2012
A 3D model of the solar system running on real orbital data, so every planet and moon sits where it genuinely is at the moment you load it. You can switch between a heliocentric view, a geocentric one and a flat night sky, and wind the clock forward to line up an eclipse or a conjunction.
Switching from the sun-centred view to the earth-centred one, and watching the outer planets suddenly loop backwards, explains retrograde motion in about four seconds.
Keep going
Picked for a shared category and overlapping vibe, not for popularity.
eyes.nasa.gov
Ride along with any NASA mission, on any date you choose
stars.chromeexperiments.com
Fly out through our stellar neighbourhood, one star at a time
apod.nasa.gov
One space image a day, explained by a working astronomer
sky.esa.int
Search the sky the way the ESA science archives see it
trek.nasa.gov
Fly the whole of Mars on real orbiter mapping data
spacetelescopelive.org
What Hubble and Webb are pointed at this very minute