Map of the Universe

An interactive 3D map of the universe that runs in your browser. It opens on Earth; fly past the planets of the Solar System, the nearest stars and the Milky Way to the Local Group, galaxy clusters, superclusters, the cosmic web and the edge of the observable universe, about 46 billion light-years away. Click anything to read about it.

It is a solar system map, a star map of the Sun's neighbourhood, a map of the Milky Way galaxy and a map of the whole observable universe in one, drawn to scale from real astronomical catalogues and free to use.

What makes it 3D

Every object sits at its real position in space. The planets' orbits keep their tilt, stars above or below the Galactic plane sit at their real height, the face-on image of the Milky Way lies in the Galactic plane, and the cosmic microwave background surrounds the observer as a sphere. Lines drop from labelled objects to their plane, and a grid shows the plane itself, so you can read depth as you move.

What the map shows

In all, 2,336,347 objects, 36,152 of them with a card of facts, a short description and often a picture.

How to fly

Drag to look around the point you are looking at, right-drag or Shift-drag to move it, and scroll or pinch to move closer or further. W, A, S, D, R and F fly; the arrow keys turn. Search for any named object to fly there, use the zoom slider to jump between scales, or take a guided tour. Share any view: the link in the address bar reopens it.

The 2D map of the universe

The 2D map of the universe shows the same objects on a flat, zoomable map, like an online street map: pan and zoom from Earth out to the cosmic web. It adds a time slider that moves the planets, a tilt to see heights above and below the plane, and a logarithmic view of the whole universe. "2D map" opens the place you are looking at on the flat map, and "Open in 3D" on the flat map brings you back.

Places to explore

Scales, from Earth outwards

  1. Earth and Moon (0.008 AU across)
  2. Inner planets (4 AU across)
  3. Jupiter's orbit (14 AU across)
  4. Neptune and the Kuiper belt (110 AU across)
  5. Heliopause and Voyagers (400 AU across)
  6. Oort cloud (4 light-years across)
  7. Nearest stars (24 light-years across)
  8. 100 light-years (220 light-years across)
  9. 1,000 light-years (2,400 light-years across)
  10. Local Arm (12,000 light-years across)
  11. Galactic centre (13,000 light-years across)
  12. Milky Way (160,000 light-years across)
  13. Magellanic Clouds (520,000 light-years across)
  14. Satellite galaxies (2 million light-years across)
  15. Local Group (10 million light-years across)
  16. Council of Giants (36 million light-years across)
  17. Virgo Supercluster (230 million light-years across)
  18. Laniakea (850 million light-years across)
  19. Nearby superclusters (2.3 billion light-years across)
  20. Cosmic web (11 billion light-years across)
  21. Observable universe (100 billion light-years across)

Guided tours

Famous places on the map

All 348 places with their own page

Data and credits

The map is built from public astronomical catalogues, credited here with their licences:

Map of the Universe is free and non-commercial. It runs entirely in your browser from static files; nothing you do here is sent anywhere.