Recorded moons in these pages
Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and dwarf-planet moon systems are grouped into separate simulators.
Moon systems
Every planet-moon system as a study simulator.
Separate moon-system pages show parent-relative orbits, rotation, realtime mean-motion movement, live AU/km readouts, fullscreen controls, drag, zoom, and pan. Major moons use measured mean orbital elements; dense irregular families are represented as catalog shell markers for readable performance.
Jupiter selected
- parent distance
- Sun distance AU
- speed
- period
- position
1.00x Earth view- from Sun - - disk - - light
Moon simulator is initializing. Drag to rotate, wheel to zoom, right-drag to pan.
Major planet systems
Mercury and Venus have no confirmed natural moons, so the simulator starts with Earth and continues outward.
Dwarf-planet moons
Pluto, Haumea, Eris, and Makemake moon systems are grouped for compact comparison.
Moon System Pages
Choose a parent world
Each simulator keeps the parent planet fixed at the center so the moon motion is readable.
Earth moons
1 recorded moon(s). 1 measured moon orbits are interactive.
Mars moons
2 recorded moon(s). 2 measured moon orbits are interactive.
Jupiter moons
101 recorded moon(s). 10 measured moon orbits are interactive; 91 additional confirmed/catalog moons are shown as outer catalog shell markers.
Saturn moons
285 recorded moon(s). 12 measured moon orbits are interactive; 273 additional confirmed/catalog moons are shown as outer catalog shell markers.
Uranus moons
29 recorded moon(s). 8 measured moon orbits are interactive; 21 additional confirmed/catalog moons are shown as outer catalog shell markers.
Neptune moons
16 recorded moon(s). 8 measured moon orbits are interactive; 8 additional confirmed/catalog moons are shown as outer catalog shell markers.
Dwarf planets moons
9 recorded moon(s). 9 measured moon orbits are interactive.
Interpretation
What the simulator does and does not claim
Mean orbit propagation
Positions update from the browser clock and selected time rate using Kepler-style mean orbital periods, eccentricity, and inclination.
AU readout
The live AU value is the parent planet's mean heliocentric distance plus the moon's parent-relative displacement, useful for scale but not a precision ephemeris.
Catalog shell markers
Many small irregular moons lack compact public teaching data in this build; they are counted and represented without claiming precise realtime ephemerides.
Mathematical model
Natural-satellite orbital model
Moon-system simulations use local two-body approximations around the parent planet. The layout is computed from orbital periods, eccentricities, inclinations, and mean distances rather than from a reference image.
Local orbit radius
\[r=\frac{a(1-e^2)}{1+e\cos(\nu)}\]
Each tracked moon follows the same conic equation used for planetary orbits, with the parent planet as the focus.
Period consistency
\[n=\frac{2\pi}{P}\]
Mean motion n is derived from orbital period P. The animation phase is therefore tied to the catalog period and remains internally consistent.
Inclined orbit plane
\[\mathbf{r}_{\mathrm{scene}}=R_x(i)\,\mathbf{r}_{\mathrm{orbit}}\]
Inclination i rotates the moon's local orbital plane. This proves the visible path is a transform of the mathematical orbit, not a freehand ring.
Verification standard: the rendered object must be reproducible from stated equations, catalog parameters, or explicit geometric transforms. Visual reference images may inform presentation only; they are not the source of orbital positions, field vectors, accretion-disk gradients, timing, or engineering layout.
Limitations: browser scenes may use bounded scale, compressed distances, simplified two-body dynamics, schematic transfer curves, or educational approximations where full numerical ephemerides, CFD, finite-element models, or general-relativistic ray tracing are outside the page scope. Those simplifications are part of the model contract, not hidden image-based construction.