Grand tour
From the Sun out past Neptune, with a pass over Earth's night side and its city lights, then out to the Milky Way and a black hole. Each move is one continuous flight.
Screensaver for Mac, Windows and Linux
The solar system, live on your desktop.
Every planet sits where it really is right now, at true scale, lit by the real Sun. When your computer goes idle, the camera sets off from world to world.
One-time purchase · Mac, Windows and Linux, all included · Runs offline
What you see
The sky as it is at this moment.
Today's positions
Each world is placed from its orbit for the current date and time, and the clock runs at the real rate. Earth's day side, the phase of the Moon and the planets' lighting all match this moment.
True proportions
Sizes and distances are to scale. The Sun dwarfs everything, Jupiter dwarfs the rest, and the trip between them crosses real emptiness.
Close, and still sharp
The camera comes in until a world's surface map runs out of detail, and stops there. Earth and Mars, with 8K maps, come the closest.
Two ways to watch
A grand tour, or one world.
One world
Pick a single body and stay with it: the whole disc, a close pass over the surface, the curve of the limb where day turns to night, and a high view that takes in its rings and moons.
Also in the screensaver
The black hole, as its own show
A disc of glowing gas bent over and under its shadow, traced ray by ray. See what you’re looking at →
Desktop bundle · $4.99
The screensaver and the live wallpapers
Real planets animated behind your icons all day on a Mac, and the screensaver when you step away. One purchase for both →
The grand tour
Sun to Neptune, to scale.
The grand tour flies this route. Scroll it here: each world is drawn at its true size against the others, and the dark space between them is to scale too, 120 pixels for every astronomical unit.
00 · The centre
The Sun
Where every show begins. Everything else on this page adds up to less than a thousandth of its mass.
01 · 0.387 AU
Mercury
The smallest planet, scorched on one side of every long day.
- From the Sun right now
- 64,258,972 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 3 min 34.3 s
02 · 0.723 AU
Venus
Wrapped in cloud so thick its surface never shows.
- From the Sun right now
- 108,544,827 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 6 min 2.1 s
03 · 1 AU
Earth
The only world we know with oceans on the surface, and the only one with life.
- From the Sun right now
- 149,248,557 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 8 min 17.8 s
04 · 1.524 AU
Mars
Red dust, the tallest volcano in the solar system and a canyon longer than the United States.
- From the Sun right now
- 235,434,425 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 13 min 5.3 s
05 · 5.203 AU
Jupiter
More than twice the mass of every other planet put together.
- From the Sun right now
- 794,189,457 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 44 min 9.1 s
06 · 9.537 AU
Saturn
Rings 280,000 km across and, in places, only about ten metres thick.
- From the Sun right now
- 1,410,846,467 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 1 h 18 min
07 · 19.19 AU
Uranus
Tipped over on its side, rolling around the Sun.
- From the Sun right now
- 2,907,215,785 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 2 h 42 min
08 · 30.07 AU
Neptune
The windiest world, where a year lasts 165 of ours.
- From the Sun right now
- 4,469,561,217 km
- Sunlight arrives after
- 4 h 8 min
Straight from the screensaver
Every frame here is the real thing.
How it works
Three steps, about a minute.
- BuyPay $1.99 through Stripe's secure checkout, by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- DownloadYour download is on the next page. Keep it: it always gives you the latest version, updates included.
- InstallOn a Mac, double-click Solar System.saver and choose it in System Settings under Screen Saver. On Windows, run the installer, which makes it your screen saver. On Linux, run the AppImage or install the .deb.
Windows: the installer is not yet code-signed, so SmartScreen warns the first time; press More info, then Run anyway. It installs for you only, no administrator needed.
Linux: GNOME and KDE have no slot for a third-party screensaver, so it runs as a small app from login and starts the show after the idle time you choose. It stands aside while a video keeps the screen awake.
Questions
Good to know.
What does it run on?
Mac: macOS 12 Monterey or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Windows: Windows 10 or 11, on Intel, AMD or Arm. Linux: 64-bit Intel, AMD or Arm, as an AppImage or a .deb for Ubuntu and Debian. One purchase covers all three.
Does it need an internet connection?
No. The planets, textures and star field are all inside the download (about 125 MB), so it runs offline.
Where do the planet positions come from?
From orbital elements for each body, evaluated for the current date and time. Earth turns at its real rate, so the day side you see is the day side right now.
Can I choose what it shows?
Yes: the grand tour, or one world from the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, and the other shows. On a Mac, pick Solar System in System Settings and press Options. On Windows, press Settings in the Screen Saver dialog, or open Solar System Screensaver from the Start menu. On Linux, open it from your app menu.
Windows says it protected my PC. Is that right?
Yes, for now. The Windows version is not yet code-signed, so SmartScreen warns the first time you run the installer. Press More info, then Run anyway. It installs for you only, with no administrator password, and the uninstaller in Settings, Apps removes it cleanly.
How does it work on Linux?
GNOME and KDE have no slot for a third-party screensaver, so on Linux it is a small app that starts when you log in and plays the show full screen once the computer has been idle for the time you choose, closing on any key, click or mouse movement. It stands aside while a video or presentation keeps the screen awake, and your desktop keeps its own lock and screen blanking.
Is the website still free?
Yes. The 3D viewer stays free for everyone. Buying the screensaver helps keep it running.