Seeing the Universe in 3D
How AsteriaStar builds an interactive three-dimensional universe from real measured coordinates — true parallax distances, to-scale orbits, and the celestial sphere — and how it stays honest about what can, and cannot, be placed in true 3D.
- 1.1The universe in 3DA cosmos you can turn in your hands — measured, not invented.
- 1.2The Solar System to scaleReal orbit radii — the true spacing of the planets.
- 1.3The nearest stars in 3DThe depth a flat star chart cannot show.
- 1.4What can be shown in true 3DWhich objects have measured positions — and which do not.
Related entities
- Universe scene
The Solar System in 3D
An interactive, to-scale model of the Sun's planetary system. Each orbit ring is drawn at the planet's real semi-major axis, so the true structure of the system — the crowded inner planets and the vast reaches of the outer ones — is genuine. Drag to rotate the system, scroll to zoom.
- Universe scene
The Local Stellar Neighbourhood in 3D
The nearest stars to the Sun, plotted at their true three-dimensional positions from measured parallax distances. This is the view a two-dimensional star chart cannot give: not just where a star lies on the sky, but how far away it truly is. Drag to fly around the neighbourhood; the Sun sits at the centre.
- Universe scene
Constellations on the Celestial Sphere
The stars of a constellation shown by their real directions on the celestial sphere — the pattern as it appears from Earth. Turn on the true-distance figures in the table and a striking fact appears: the stars of a constellation lie at wildly different distances and are not physically connected at all. The familiar shape is a line-of-sight illusion.
- Universe scene
The Milky Way
Our home galaxy and the Sun's place within it. The measured part of this picture — the local stellar neighbourhood — is the real 3D star field; the wider structure of the Galaxy (its disc, bulge, bar, spiral arms, halo, and centre) is presented from the galactic-structure catalogue as described components, because numeric galaxy-scale positions are not part of the data.