Model of the motion of the planets of the solar system. The solar system is the world in which we live. Belts of asteroids and icy comets

According to the stories of astronauts, there is no more beautiful and bewitching picture than the view of the Earth from space. When you look at a small ball consisting of white clouds, brown earth and blue water, it is impossible to take your eyes off...

Today we will look at several cool online 3D Earth globes, which you can use directly from this page. They are all interactive and you can interact with them. There is no need to download and install additional programs like Google Earth, etc. - just open this page in your browser and enjoy.

Photorealistic 3D Earth globe

This is a three-dimensional model of the world, on which photo textures obtained by NASSA satellites are stretched.

You can spin the ball in different directions by holding down the left mouse button. Rotating the mouse wheel up increases the viewing scale, downwards - on the contrary, decreases it.

At maximum zoom, the textures become blurry, so I recommend that you do not get too carried away with scaling.

Blurring is due to the fact that the model uses low-resolution photographs. Otherwise, loading them in the browser would take too long.

This 3D globe allows you to see our planet almost the way astronauts see it. Well, or close to it :)

Virtual globe of the Earth

This is a three-dimensional interactive virtual globe on which the borders of states, names of cities, regions, settlements, etc. are indicated.

This 3D model of the world does not have raster textures, like the previous one, but vector ones, so here scaling can be done down to individual buildings. At maximum magnification there are even house numbers and street names.

Historical globe

It demonstrates how our ancestors saw our Earth at the end of the 18th century. Its authorship belongs to the famous geographer and cartographer Giovanni Maria Cassini, and it was published in Rome in 1790.

It is also fully interactive, you can twist, rotate, zoom in or out of the map. Looking at it, you understand how much the world has changed in just 200 years, and how many events were behind it all...

And here is the actual globe itself (1790), from which this online 3d model was made:

Finally, a stunningly beautiful video about what the Earth actually looks like from space:

Friends, share your impressions, opinions and ask questions in the comments!

Pluto By decision of the MAC (International Astronomical Union) it no longer belongs to the planets of the Solar System, but is a dwarf planet and is even inferior in diameter to another dwarf planet Eris. Pluto's designation is 134340.


solar system

Scientists put forward many versions of the origin of our solar system. In the forties of the last century, Otto Schmidt hypothesized that the solar system arose because cold dust clouds were attracted to the Sun. Over time, clouds formed the foundations of future planets. In modern science, Schmidt's theory is the main one. The solar system is only a small part of a large galaxy called the Milky Way. The Milky Way contains more than one hundred billion different stars. It took humanity thousands of years to realize such a simple truth. The discovery of the solar system did not happen immediately; step by step, based on victories and mistakes, a system of knowledge was formed. The main basis for studying the solar system was knowledge about the Earth.

Fundamentals and Theories

The main milestones in the study of the solar system are the modern atomic system, the heliocentric system of Copernicus and Ptolemy. The most probable version of the origin of the system is considered to be the Big Bang theory. In accordance with it, the formation of the galaxy began with the “scattering” of the elements of the megasystem. At the turn of the impenetrable house, our Solar system was born. The basis of everything is the Sun - 99.8% of the total volume, the planets account for 0.13%, the remaining 0.0003% are the various bodies of our system. Scientists have accepted the division of planets into two conditional groups . The first includes planets of the Earth type: the Earth itself, Venus, Mercury. The main distinguishing characteristics of the planets of the first group are their relatively small area, hardness, and a small number of satellites. The second group includes Uranus, Neptune and Saturn - they are distinguished by their large sizes (giant planets), they are formed by helium and hydrogen gases.

In addition to the Sun and planets, our system also includes planetary satellites, comets, meteorites and asteroids.

Particular attention should be paid to the asteroid belts, which are located between Jupiter and Mars, and between the orbits of Pluto and Neptune. At the moment, science does not have an unambiguous version of the origin of such formations.
Which planet is not currently considered a planet:

From the time of its discovery until 2006, Pluto was considered a planet, but later many celestial bodies were discovered in the outer part of the Solar System, comparable in size to Pluto and even larger than it. To avoid confusion, a new definition of planet was given. Pluto did not fall under this definition, so it was given a new “status” - a dwarf planet. So, Pluto can serve as an answer to the question: it used to be considered a planet, but now it is not. However, some scientists continue to believe that Pluto should be reclassified back to a planet.

Scientists' forecasts

Based on research, scientists say that the sun is approaching the middle of its life path. It is unimaginable to imagine what will happen if the Sun goes out. But scientists say this is not only possible, but also inevitable. The age of the Sun was determined using the latest computer developments and it was found that it is about five billion years old. According to astronomical law, the life of a star like the Sun lasts about ten billion years. Thus, our solar system is in the middle of its life cycle. What do scientists mean by the word “will go out”? The sun's enormous energy comes from hydrogen, which becomes helium at the core. Every second, about six hundred tons of hydrogen in the Sun's core are converted into helium. According to scientists, the Sun has already used up most of its hydrogen reserves.

If instead of the Moon there were planets of the solar system:

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The Earth, like all the planets in our Solar System, revolves around the Sun. And their moons revolve around the planets.

Since 2006, when it was transferred from the category of planets to dwarf planets, there are 8 planets in our system.

Planetary placement

All of them are located in almost circular orbits and rotate in the direction of rotation of the Sun itself, with the exception of Venus. Venus rotates in the opposite direction - from east to west, unlike Earth, which rotates from west to east, like most other planets.

However, the moving model of the solar system does not show so many small details. Among other oddities, it is worth noting that Uranus rotates almost lying on its side (the mobile model of the Solar System does not show this either), its rotation axis is tilted by approximately 90 degrees. This is associated with a cataclysm that occurred a long time ago and influenced the inclination of its axis. This could have been a collision with any large cosmic body that was unlucky enough to fly past the gas giant.

What groups of planets exist

The planetary model of the solar system in dynamics shows us 8 planets, which are divided into 2 types: terrestrial planets (these include: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and gas giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).

This model does a good job of demonstrating the differences in planet sizes. Planets of the same group share similar characteristics, from structure to relative sizes; a detailed model of the Solar System in proportions clearly demonstrates this.

Belts of asteroids and icy comets

In addition to planets, our system contains hundreds of satellites (Jupiter alone has 62 of them), millions of asteroids and billions of comets. There is also an asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and the interactive Flash model of the Solar System clearly demonstrates it.

Kuiper Belt

The belt remains from the formation of the planetary system, and after the orbit of Neptune extends the Kuiper belt, which still hides dozens of icy bodies, some of which are even larger than Pluto.

And at a distance of 1-2 light years there is the Oort cloud, a truly gigantic sphere encircling the Sun and representing the remains of building material that was thrown out after the formation of the planetary system. The Oort cloud is so large that we are not able to show you its scale.

Regularly supplies us with long-period comets, which take about 100,000 years to reach the center of the system and delight us with their command. However, not all comets from the cloud survive their encounter with the Sun, and last year’s fiasco of comet ISON is clear evidence of this. It is a pity that this model of the flash system does not display such small objects as comets.

It would be wrong to ignore such an important group of celestial bodies, which were singled out into a separate taxonomy relatively recently, after the International Astronomical Union (MAC) held its famous session in 2006, in which the planet Pluto.

Background of the opening

And the prehistory began relatively recently, with the introduction of modern telescopes in the early 90s. In general, the beginning of the 90s was marked by a number of major technological breakthroughs.

Firstly, it was at this time that the Edwin Hubble Orbital Telescope was put into operation, which, with its 2.4 meter mirror placed outside the earth’s atmosphere, discovered an absolutely amazing world inaccessible to ground-based telescopes.

Secondly, the qualitative development of computer and various optical systems has allowed astronomers not only to build new telescopes, but also to significantly expand the capabilities of old ones. Through the use of digital cameras, which have completely replaced film. It became possible to accumulate light and keep track of almost every photon falling on the photodetector matrix with unattainable accuracy, and computer positioning and modern processing tools quickly moved such an advanced science as astronomy to a new stage of development.

Alarm bells

Thanks to these successes, it became possible to discover celestial bodies of quite large sizes beyond the orbit of Neptune. These were the first “bells”. The situation became greatly aggravated at the beginning of the 2000s; it was then that in 2003-2004 Sedna and Eris were discovered, which, according to preliminary calculations, had the same size as Pluto, and Eris was completely superior to it.

Astronomers have reached a dead end: either admit that they have discovered the 10th planet, or there is something wrong with Pluto. And new discoveries were not long in coming. In 2005, it was discovered that, together with Quaoar, discovered back in June 2002, Orcus and Varuna literally filled the trans-Neptunian space, which, beyond the orbit of Pluto, had previously been considered almost empty.

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union, convened in 2006, decided that Pluto, Eris, Haumea and Ceres, which joined them, belong to. Objects that were in orbital resonance with Neptune in a ratio of 2:3 began to be called plutinos, and all other Kuiper Belt objects were called cubevanos. Since then, we have only 8 planets left.

The history of the formation of modern astronomical views

Schematic representation of the Solar system and spacecraft leaving its limits

Today, the heliocentric model of the solar system is an indisputable truth. But this was not always the case, until the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the idea (which was also expressed by Aristarchus) that it is not the Sun that revolves around the Earth, but vice versa. It should be remembered that some still think that Galileo created the first model of the solar system. But this is a misconception; Galileo only spoke out in defense of Copernicus.

Copernicus' model of the solar system was not to everyone's taste, and many of his followers, such as the monk Giordano Bruno, were burned. But the model according to Ptolemy could not fully explain the observed celestial phenomena and the seeds of doubt in the minds of people had already been planted. For example, the geocentric model was not able to fully explain the uneven movement of celestial bodies, such as the retrograde movements of planets.

At different stages of history, there were many theories about the structure of our world. All of them were depicted in the form of drawings, diagrams, and models. However, time and the achievements of scientific and technological progress have put everything in its place. And the heliocentric mathematical model of the solar system is already an axiom.

The movement of the planets is now on the monitor screen

When immersed in astronomy as a science, it can be difficult for an unprepared person to imagine all aspects of the cosmic world order. Modeling is optimal for this. The online model of the Solar System appeared thanks to the development of computer technology.

Our planetary system has not been left without attention. Graphics specialists have developed a computer model of the Solar System with date entry, which is accessible to everyone. It is an interactive application that displays the movement of planets around the Sun. In addition, it shows how the largest satellites revolve around the planets. We can also see the zodiac constellations between Mars and Jupiter.

How to use the scheme

The movement of the planets and their satellites corresponds to their real daily and annual cycle. The model also takes into account relative angular velocities and initial conditions for the movement of space objects relative to each other. Therefore, at each moment of time their relative position corresponds to the real one.

An interactive model of the solar system allows you to navigate in time using a calendar, which is depicted as an outer circle. The arrow on it points to the current date. The speed of time can be changed by moving the slider in the upper left corner. It is also possible to enable the display of moon phases, in which the dynamics of the lunar phases will be displayed in the lower left corner.

Some assumptions

> Interactive 2D and 3D model of the Solar System

Consider: real distances between the planets, a moving map, phases of the Moon, the Copernican and Tycho Brahe systems, instructions.

FLASH Model of the Solar System

This solar system model created by developers in order for users to gain knowledge about the structure of the Solar System and its place in the Universe. With its help, you can get a visual idea of ​​how the planets are located relative to the Sun and each other, as well as the mechanics of their movement. Flash technology allows you to study all aspects of this process, on the basis of which an animated model is created, which gives ample opportunities to the user of the application to study planetary motion both in the absolute coordinate system and in the relative one.

Control of the flash model is simple: in the upper left half of the screen there is a lever for adjusting the speed of rotation of the planets, with which you can even set its negative value. Below is a link to help – HELP. The model has a well-implemented highlighting of important aspects of the structure of the Solar System, which the user should pay attention to while working with it; for example, they are highlighted here in different colors. In addition, if you have a long research process ahead of you, then you can turn on musical accompaniment, which will perfectly complement the impression of the grandeur of the Universe.

In the lower left part of the screen there are menu items with phases, which allows you to visualize their relationship with other processes occurring in the Solar system.

In the upper right part, you can enter the date you need in order to obtain information about the location of the planets for that day. This function will greatly appeal to all astrology lovers and gardeners who adhere to the timing of sowing garden crops depending on the phases of the moon and the position of other planets in the solar system. A little below this part of the menu there is a switch between constellations and months, which run along the edge of the circle.

The lower right part of the screen is occupied by a switch between the Copernican and Tycho Brahe astronomical systems. In the heliocentric model of the world created, its center depicts the Sun with the planets revolving around it. The system of the Danish astrologer and astronomer, who lived in the 16th century, is less well known, but it is more convenient for carrying out astrological calculations.

In the center of the screen there is a rotating circle, along the perimeter of which there is another model control element, it is made in the form of a triangle. If the user drags this triangle, he will have the opportunity to set the time required to study the model. Although working with this model you will not get the most accurate dimensions and distances in the Solar System, it is very easy to use and very visual.

If the model does not fit on your monitor screen, you can make it smaller by simultaneously pressing the "Ctrl" and "Minus" keys.

Model of the Solar System with real distances between planets

This option solar system models was created without taking into account the beliefs of the ancients, that is, its coordinate system is absolute. The distances here are indicated as clearly and realistically as possible, but the proportions of the planets are conveyed incorrectly, although it also has a right to exist. The fact is that in it the distance from the earthly observer to the center of the solar system varies in the range from 20 to 1,300 million kilometers, and if you gradually change it in the process of studying, you will more clearly imagine the scale of the distances between the planets in our star system. And in order to better understand the relativity of time, a time step switch is provided, the size of which is day, month or year.

3D model of the solar system

This is the most impressive model of the Solar System presented on the page, as it was created using 3D technology and is completely realistic. With its help, you can study the Solar System, as well as constellations, both schematically and in three-dimensional images. Here you can study the structure of the solar system looking from the Earth, which will allow you to make an exciting journey into outer space that is close to reality.

I must say a huge thank you to the developers of solarsystemscope.com who made every effort to create a tool that is truly necessary and needed by all lovers of astronomy and astrology. Anyone can verify this by following the appropriate links to the virtual model of the solar system they need.

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