Show HN: Real-time Solar System with 526k asteroids and all tracked satellites
A developer launched an interactive WebGL2 browser visualization of the Solar System featuring over 500k asteroids and all tracked Earth satellites using real-time data catalogs.
summary is enough The web app is best experienced directly rather than read about, but the technical details shared by the creator in the discussion are insightful.
The article could not be read automatically; this analysis is based on the title and discussion.
summary
A developer built an interactive browser visualization of the Solar System incorporating 526,000 asteroids from the JPL SBDB and complete satellite tracking from CelesTrak. Rendering is handled via WebGL2 with orbit propagation computed via web workers and vertex shaders, allowing smooth performance on standard hardware. The interface includes time controls, a spacecraft search feature, and visual layers showing orbital debris and major constellations. Users praised the smooth performance and the stark perspective it provides on space congestion.
key points
- Rendering uses WebGL2 with vertex shaders solving Kepler's equations per frame, minimizing CPU load.
- Data updates daily from CelesTrak TLEs, JPL SBDB, and JPL Horizons.
- The visualization vividly highlights the massive proportion of active satellites belonging to Starlink.
who should read it
Space enthusiasts and web developers interested in high-performance browser visualizations.
discussion warm
consensus
Users are highly enthusiastic about the project's performance, smooth frame rates, and the visual clarity it brings to orbital mechanics and space debris.
pushback
Some technical nitpicking occurred regarding whether the visualization is truly 'real scale' since satellites and planets must be visually scaled up to remain visible.
Author here. It's a browser view of the Solar System at real scale, with its current state, plus the objects around Earth from the CelesTrak catalog.
Data: CelesTrak TLEs (SGP4), asteroids and comets from JPL SBDB, spacecraft positions from JPL Horizons. Updated daily.
Rendering is WebGL2, orbit propagation runs in web workers. The asteroid set (~30 MB) loads in the background.
The time slider runs forwards and backwards; satellites appear and disappear by launch date.
The creator provides a concise breakdown of the tech stack, data sources, and rendering mechanisms used.
Generated by an LLM from the article and thread. Check the sources before relying on it.