Orbit geometry lab

Solar System Simulator

Move the observer through one year and inspect how Earth's orbit changes the apparent direction of a stationary, hypothetical target.

Observer and target

Earth, the Sun and the reference sightline in the selected projection.

Observer epoch
Observer epoch
Earth position
Apparent offset
Target distance

Model scope. Earth-centred observer; approximate heliocentric Earth ephemeris on J2000 equatorial axes. Offsets are gnomonic tangent-plane arcseconds relative to the reference date. This is an educational geometric model, not a predicted source position; it omits spacecraft and target motion, aberration and light-travel time.

Geometry

Set the reference target, time and camera. Every input updates the model immediately.

Target reference
Camera controls