Only on this site
Plenty of websites describe the planets. This one is built to be used, from a British back garden, on a real night.
The Solar System on Britain
Make the Sun the size of the O2 and Earth becomes a family car near Chatham, while Neptune orbits as far away as Oslo. Drop the Sun on your own town.
Try itDark sky places
All seventeen International Dark Sky Places in Britain and Ireland on one map, sorted by distance from you, with what is up tonight from each.
Find one near youBritish astronomy
Uranus found in a Bath garden, Neptune predicted in Cambridge, Triton spotted from Liverpool. The people and places to visit.
Meet themThe orrery
A live map of the Solar System. Every planet is shown in its true direction from the Sun for the date you choose, from 1900 to 2100. Select anything to read about it.
Real distances from the Sun
This bar is to scale. One astronomical unit (AU) is the average distance from Earth to the Sun, about 150 million km. Notice how much empty space lies beyond Jupiter.
A guide to every world
From the archive
Photographs from the spacecraft that went to look. There are more in the gallery.