The universe

Earth

Buying guides and the shops behind them — kitchen, power, outdoors, music, style.

Moon

Brand-owned buildings and open plots.

Mars

A place for local and professional services. Coming soon.

The Solar System

Real positions for today, in the Milky Way:

• Sun — The star at the centre of the Solar System.
• Mercury — The smallest planet, and the closest to the Sun.
• Venus — The hottest planet, wrapped in thick cloud. It spins backwards.
• Ceres — The largest object in the asteroid belt, and a dwarf planet.
• Jupiter — The largest planet: a gas giant with a storm called the Great Red Spot.
• Saturn — A gas giant known for its bright, wide rings.
• Uranus — An ice giant that rolls around the Sun tipped on its side.
• Neptune — The farthest planet from the Sun: a deep-blue ice giant.
• Pluto — A dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt. Its largest moon is Charon.
• Eris — A distant dwarf planet about as large as Pluto, on a steeply tilted orbit.
• Haumea — A fast-spinning, egg-shaped dwarf planet with a day under four hours.
• Makemake — A reddish dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt.

Neighbouring stars and galaxies

Real objects, shown in their real direction from the Sun.

• Sirius — The brightest star in the night sky. about 8.6 light-years, in Canis Major.
• Alpha Centauri A — The nearest bright star system to the Sun. about 4.4 light-years, in Centaurus.
• Proxima Centauri — The closest known star to the Sun, a faint red dwarf. about 4.2 light-years, in Centaurus.
• Betelgeuse — A red supergiant marking Orion’s shoulder. about 498 light-years, in Orion.
• Rigel — A blue supergiant marking Orion’s foot. about 863 light-years, in Orion.
• Vega — A bright blue-white star of the summer sky. about 25 light-years, in Lyra.
• Arcturus — An orange giant, the brightest star of the northern sky. about 37 light-years, in Boötes.
• Canopus — The second-brightest star in the night sky. about 309 light-years, in Carina.
• Antares — A red supergiant, the heart of the Scorpion. about 554 light-years, in Scorpius.
• Altair — A fast-spinning white star, one of the closest bright stars. about 16.7 light-years, in Aquila.
• Deneb — A luminous white supergiant at the tail of the Swan. about 1,412 light-years, in Cygnus.
• Andromeda Galaxy (M31) — The nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. about 2.5 million light-years, in Andromeda.
• Triangulum Galaxy (M33) — The third-largest galaxy in the Local Group. about 2.7 million light-years, in Triangulum.
• Large Magellanic Cloud — A satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. about 160,000 light-years, in Dorado.
• Small Magellanic Cloud — A satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. about 200,000 light-years, in Tucana.
• Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) — A grand-design spiral interacting with a smaller companion. roughly 23 million light-years, in Canes Venatici.
• Sombrero Galaxy (M104) — A galaxy with a bright nucleus and a prominent dust lane. roughly 29 million light-years, in Virgo.
• Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) — A large face-on spiral galaxy. roughly 21 million light-years, in Ursa Major.
• Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) — A bright spiral galaxy in a nearby group. roughly 12 million light-years, in Ursa Major.
• Centaurus A — A galaxy with a dark dust lane and a powerful radio source. roughly 12 million light-years, in Centaurus.

Data sources