The Milky Way, to scale is built on public astronomical data. The catalogues below were downloaded once and baked into the piece; the Earth layers are fetched live. Thank you to everyone who measures the sky and publishes it openly.
How the data is used, and the distances it gives, is on the about page.
Star and deep-sky catalogues
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| Chornay & Walton 2021, A&A 656, A110 (Gaia EDR3) | Planetary nebulae and their distances |
| Zucker et al. 2020, A&A 633, A51 | Molecular clouds and their distances |
| Hunt & Reffert 2023, A&A 673, A114 (Gaia DR3) | Open star clusters |
| Karachentsev et al. 2013, AJ 145, 101 | Nearby galaxies |
| NASA Exoplanet Archive, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters | 306 planetary systems within 30 pc, 510 planets |
| JPL Small-Body Database (NASA/JPL Solar System Dynamics) | Orbits of 25,000 main-belt asteroids |
| HYG Database v4.0 (Hipparcos, Yale Bright Star and Gliese catalogues, with Gaia distances), by David Nash / astronexus | Positions, distances, luminosities and motions of the constellation stars |
This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France. This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program.
Constellations
- Figures: the 88 IAU constellations as drawn by Sky & Telescope, from the Stellarium “modern” sky culture.
- Illustrations: constellation drawings by Johan Meuris, from Stellarium, used under the Free Art License 1.3.
Planet textures
Surface maps of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon by Solar System Scope, based on NASA mission imagery, used under CC BY 4.0.
Live Earth feeds
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| CelesTrak | The ISS's current orbital elements, propagated with SGP4 |
| USGS Earthquake Hazards Program | Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 and above over the past week |
| Live cloud maps by Matt Eason (CC0); contains modified EUMETSAT data | The current global cloud deck |
| NASA GIBS, IMERG precipitation rate | Rain and snow over the last hours |
| GDACS, Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System | Tropical cyclones and their tracks |
| NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center | The planetary Kp index that sizes the aurora |
We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). The feeds are fetched by the site's own server every ten minutes; your browser never contacts them, and they never receive your address.
Scientific references for the models
- Spiral arm positions and pitch angles: Reid, M. J. et al. 2019, ApJ 885, 131.
- The Sun's circular speed (233 km/s): Reid, M. J. & Brunthaler, A. 2020.
- The Sun's motion relative to its neighbours: Schönrich, R., Binney, J. & Dehnen, W. 2010, MNRAS 403, 1829.
- Orbits of the S-stars round Sagittarius A*: Gillessen, S. et al. 2017, ApJ 837, 30; Peißker, F. et al. 2020.
- Sagittarius A*: GRAVITY Collaboration (S2 orbit, precession, flares) and the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (shadow size, shown for comparison).
- Galactic nucleus: Schödel, R. et al. 2014 (nuclear star cluster); Launhardt, R. et al. 2002 (nuclear disc).
- Spiral arms in old-star light: Benjamin, R. A. et al. 2005 and Churchwell, E. et al. 2009 (Spitzer GLIMPSE).
- The Local Bubble: Zucker, C. et al. 2022, Nature.
- Stellar evolution and supernovae: Ekström et al. 2012, Heger et al. 2003, Sukhbold et al. 2016, Cummings et al. 2018, Tremblay et al. 2019, Kasen & Woosley 2009.
- Satellite orbits: SGP4, after Vallado, Crawford, Hujsak & Kelso 2006.
- Geomagnetic pole: IGRF-14 (International Geomagnetic Reference Field), epoch 2025.0.
- Image tone mapping: the asinh stretch of Lupton et al. 2004.