Paloma's Orrery🌝

Paloma's Orrery

An interactive astronomical visualization tool designed to model the orbits of planets, moons, spacecraft, and plots nearby stars. This orrery includes solar system plots from JPL Horizons, stellar data from Gaia, Hipparcos, and SIMBAD, and supports features like star neighborhood mapping and Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams.

You’ll find downloadable HTML-based plots and animations—rendered from Python and Plotly—that bring planetary motion and stellar data to life. These visualizations are hosted on Google Drive, and while they’re large (some over 200 MB), they are view-only and safe to use. Please open them on a PC (not mobile), and download the files before opening.

I also invite you to explore the “Our Common Home” page for reflections and practical ways to care for our planet.

You can reach me at my email tonyquintanilla@google.com.

Credits: I made these visualizations using an ever-growing Python program to create Plotly 2D and 3D plots from various astronomical databases, JPL Horizons for the solar system plots, and Simbad, Hipparcos and Gaia for the stellar plots. I have written the Python program with the indispensable assistance of AI. I had one course in Fortran way back in college, which provided a foundation, but I really could not have done this without the new AI assistants. They call this approach, "vibe coding". Initially around September 2024, I used the new ChatGPT 3 as an experiment and to my surprise it worked! From there I progressed to the newer models as they were released. When I got stuck, I would sometimes use other models like Gemini and Claude. More recently, I started using Claude 3 and now Claude 4 primarily, especially its project system, while I still use Gemini for research and ChatGPT when I get stuck -- although less and less. In this way, I am also learning Python bit by bit. For more information about my Python program, including my GitHub code repository, see "The Orrery" tab. Of course, I accept responsibility for the final product.

Thanks! -- Tony 8-20-2025

What's New:

8/27/25: New page, "Observation", provides an explanation of new Right Ascension and Declination information for plotted objects. Here.
8/2725: Updated Orbital Element Rotations page. Here.
8/20/25: Near-Earth asteroid 2025 PY1 fly-by on August 18, 2025. Geocentric. Heliocentric. Here.
8/16/25: Updated: Orbit of 3I/ATLAS (2025) static (4.8 MB) and animated (31.7 MB).
8/15/25: Google Drive Repository: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jeqguLboO3H8Y0m1jJnGbNyyJrhhPMFU?usp=sharing (here)
8/15/25: Updated README (here)
7/21/25: Apsidal dates (page), when an orbiting body reaches its closest or farthest point from the object it is orbiting, and solar system apsides plot.
7/15/25: Updated detailed README for this project including project description, Python structure and use, use of the GUI, etc. in The Orrery (here)
7/12/25: Comet C/2025 K1 page. (here)
7/10/25: Orrery plots of the Earth-Moon system with asteroid 2023 JF: (here)
7/10/25: Paloma's Orrery - Dialogue with Gemini
7/9/25: Paloma's Orrery - Artificial Intelligence You Tube videos
7/5/25: Deriving Orbital Paths from Orbital Elements
7/5/25: Orbit of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (2025) (here)
7/4/25: Examples of animated orbit visualizations (here)
6/27/25: Orbital Mechanics of Planetary Satellites and Orbital Element Rotations
6/26/25: Updated README file
6/25/25: Plot of the Saturn system, 6-26-2025 (45.1 MB) here
6/25/25: Plot of the Saturn system, animated 22 days, 6-26-2025 (13.7 MB) here
6/25/25: You Tube video: Saturn's Satellites and Their Orbits
6/21/25: Static plot of all the Solar-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points (Large File: 7.2 MB) here
6/19/25: 52-week animation of the Webb Space Telescope (JWST) orbiting around L2 (File: 383 KB) here
6/19/25: Static plot of L2 and the Sun, with the Earth's Hill Sphere (Large File: 5.3 MB) here
6/19/25: 52-week animation of L2 and the Sun from an Earth-centered perspective (File: 143 KB) here
6/19/25: 52-week animation of L2, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Sun from an Earth-centered perspective (File: 194 KB) here
6/18/25: (Updated) Closest approach to Earth's surface, December 22, 2032, 8:36 UTC -- 260,487 km (Large File: 7.7 MB) here
6/18/25: (Updated) Closest approach to the Moon's surface, December 22, 2032, 15:10 UTC -- 8,945 km (Large File: 5.1 MB) here
6/17/25: Earth System with Moon, showing the Moon's idealized orbit (File: 4.5 MB)
6/17/25: You Tube: Project website overview
6/16/25: A Dialogue on Intelligence and Humanity's Test with Google Gemini here
6/15/25: Mermaid diagram illustrating some of the system problem issues with AI development. here
6/15/25: You Tube: Navigating my GitHub Web Page
6/13/25: You Tube: Orrery Simulator Walkthrough
6/13/25: You Tube: Astronomy Simulation Project Info
6/10/25: Solar System (Very Large File: 63.5 MB): Shows the entire solar system from the Sun's core to the outer limits of gravitational influence. Updated to show a more complex Oort cloud structure. here
6/10/25: Planet 9 orbit (Very Large File: 24.8 MB): Shows the hypothetical Planet 9 in a possible orbit in relation to Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) or Kuiper Belt Objects. here
6/6/25: Plot of the Earth-Moon system (Large File 17.1 MB) here
6/3/25: Plot of Apollo 11 S-IVB at the point of separation on 1969-07-16 18:12 and injection into heliocentric orbit (Large File: 4.7 MB) here
6/3/25: Earth-centered animation of Apollo 11 S-IVB from 1969-07-16 17:40 through 1969-07-19 13:40, into its heliocentric orbit (Large File: 3.9 MB) here
6/3/25: Moon-centered animation of Apollo 11 S-IVB from 1969-07-16 17:40 through 1969-07-19 13:40, into its heliocentric orbit (File: 676 KB) here
6/2/25: Plot of the Earth-Moon system with the Earth's atmospheric and space structures, and the Moon's interior and atmospheric structures (Large File 20.8 MB) here
5/28/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from February 2026 through mission end in March 2033 (future) (Very Large File: 39.5 MB) here
5/27/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from Launch through November 2028 (completed and future) (Very Large File: 35.8 MB) here
5/26/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from Launch through June 2025 (completed) (Large File: 9.9 MB) here
5/26/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from June 2025 through February 2029 (future) (Large File: 7.8 MB) here
5/26/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from February 2029 through March 2033 (future) (Large File: 8.7 MB) here
5/24/25: Plot of Kuiper Belt Objects, plus hypothetical Planet 9 (Large File: 5 MB) here
5/23/25: Planet 9 structure (Large File: 13 MB) here
5/23/25: Solar system structure (Very Large File: 94.4 MB) here
5/23/25: Eris structure (Very Large File: 22.5 MB) here
5/23/25: Pluto structure (Very Large File: 30 MB) here
5/22/25: Neptune structure (Very Large File: 41.7 MB) here
5/22/25:Uranus structure (Very Large File: 30.9 MB) here
5/22/25: Saturn structure (Very Large File: 41.6 MB) here
5/22/25: Jupiter structure (Very Large File: 23.3 MB) here
5/22/25: Mars structure (Very Large File: 29.5 MB) here
5/21/25: Plot of planetary Hill Spheres (Very Large File: 41.2 MB) here
5/21/25: Mercury structure (Large File: 15.6 MB) here
5/21/25: Venus structure: (Very Large File, 26.1 MB) here
5/21/25: Earth structure (Large File: 13 MB) here
4/24/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 5, 2016, 30-minute animation starting at 2:30 UTC (Very Large File 399 MB) here for Jupiter links
4/18/25: Jupiter system, animated 17 days, all interior moons and cloud layer (Very Large File 33.3 MB)
4/18/25: Jupiter system, animated 4 days, all interior moons and shells (Very Large File 109.5 MB)
4/10/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 1, 2016, 58-days animation, with Jupiter structure (Very Large File 487 MB)
4/10/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 4, 2016, 24-hours animation, with Jupiter structure (Very Large File 206 MB)
4/10/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 5, 2016, 40-minute animation, with Jupiter structure. Closest approach at 2:25 UTC (Very Large File 338 MB)
4/10/25: Jupiter's interior structure, atmosphere, magnetosphere and hill sphere, animated (Very Large File 156.4 MB)
4/9/25: Jupiter's interior structure, atmosphere, magnetosphere and hill sphere (49 KB)
4/8/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 1, 2016, 30-days animation, with Jupiter structure. (Very Large File 36 MB)
4/8/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 4, 2016, 60-hours animation, with Jupiter structure. Closest approach 7-5 3 UTC (Very Large File 36 MB)
4/8/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 5, 2016, 60-minute animation, with Jupiter structure. Closest approach at 2:49 UTC. (Very Large File 36 MB)

Earlier updates are not listed.

Paloma's Orrery🌝

Paloma's Orrery

7/15/25: Updated detailed README for this project including project description, Python structure and use, use of the GUI, etc. in The Orrery (here)

7/12/25: Comet C/2025 K1 page. (here)

7/10/25: Orrery plots of the Earth-Moon system with asteroid 2023 JF: (here)

7/10/25: Paloma's Orrery - Dialogue with Gemini

7/9/25: Paloma's Orrery - Artificial Intelligence You Tube videos

7/5/25: Deriving Orbital Paths from Orbital Elements

7/5/25: Orbit of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (2025) (here)

7/4/25: Examples of animated orbit visualizations (here)

6/27/25: Orbital Mechanics of Planetary Satellites and Orbital Element Rotations

6/26/25: Updated README file

6/25/25: Plot of the Saturn system, 6-26-2025 (45.1 MB) here

6/25/25: Plot of the Saturn system, animated 22 days, 6-26-2025 (13.7 MB) here

6/25/25: You Tube video: Saturn's Satellites and Their Orbits

6/21/25: Static plot of all the Solar-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points (Large File: 7.2 MB) here

6/19/25: 52-week animation of the Webb Space Telescope (JWST) orbiting around L2 (File: 383 KB) here

6/19/25: Static plot of L2 and the Sun, with the Earth's Hill Sphere (Large File: 5.3 MB) here

6/19/25: 52-week animation of L2 and the Sun from an Earth-centered perspective (File: 143 KB) here

6/19/25: 52-week animation of L2, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Sun from an Earth-centered perspective (File: 194 KB) here

6/18/25: (Updated) Closest approach to Earth's surface, December 22, 2032, 8:36 UTC -- 260,487 km (Large File: 7.7 MB) here

6/18/25: (Updated) Closest approach to the Moon's surface, December 22, 2032, 15:10 UTC -- 8,945 km (Large File: 5.1 MB) here

6/17/25: Earth System with Moon, showing the Moon's idealized orbit (File: 4.5 MB)

6/17/25: You Tube: Project website overview

6/16/25: A Dialogue on Intelligence and Humanity's Test with Google Gemini here

6/15/25: Mermaid diagram illustrating some of the system problem issues with AI development. here

6/15/25: You Tube: Navigating my GitHub Web Page

6/13/25: You Tube: Orrery Simulator Walkthrough

6/13/25: You Tube: Astronomy Simulation Project Info

6/10/25: Solar System (Very Large File: 63.5 MB): Shows the entire solar system from the Sun's core to the outer limits of gravitational influence. Updated to show a more complex Oort cloud structure. here

6/10/25: Planet 9 orbit (Very Large File: 24.8 MB): Shows the hypothetical Planet 9 in a possible orbit in relation to Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) or Kuiper Belt Objects. here

6/6/25: Plot of the Earth-Moon system (Large File 17.1 MB) here

6/3/25: Plot of Apollo 11 S-IVB at the point of separation on 1969-07-16 18:12 and injection into heliocentric orbit (Large File: 4.7 MB) here

6/3/25: Earth-centered animation of Apollo 11 S-IVB from 1969-07-16 17:40 through 1969-07-19 13:40, into its heliocentric orbit (Large File: 3.9 MB) here

6/3/25: Moon-centered animation of Apollo 11 S-IVB from 1969-07-16 17:40 through 1969-07-19 13:40, into its heliocentric orbit (File: 676 KB) here

6/2/25: Plot of the Earth-Moon system with the Earth's atmospheric and space structures, and the Moon's interior and atmospheric structures (Large File 20.8 MB) here

5/28/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from February 2026 through mission end in March 2033 (future) (Very Large File: 39.5 MB) here

5/27/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from Launch through November 2028 (completed and future) (Very Large File: 35.8 MB) here

5/26/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from Launch through June 2025 (completed) (Large File: 9.9 MB) here

5/26/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from June 2025 through February 2029 (future) (Large File: 7.8 MB) here

5/26/25: Lucy mission, animated monthly from February 2029 through March 2033 (future) (Large File: 8.7 MB) here

5/24/25: Plot of Kuiper Belt Objects, plus hypothetical Planet 9 (Large File: 5 MB) here

5/23/25: Planet 9 structure (Large File: 13 MB) here

5/23/25: Solar system structure (Very Large File: 94.4 MB) here

5/23/25: Eris structure (Very Large File: 22.5 MB) here

5/23/25: Pluto structure (Very Large File: 30 MB) here

5/22/25: Neptune structure (Very Large File: 41.7 MB) here

5/22/25:Uranus structure (Very Large File: 30.9 MB) here

5/22/25: Saturn structure (Very Large File: 41.6 MB) here

5/22/25: Jupiter structure (Very Large File: 23.3 MB) here

5/22/25: Mars structure (Very Large File: 29.5 MB) here

5/21/25: Plot of planetary Hill Spheres (Very Large File: 41.2 MB) here

5/21/25: Mercury structure (Large File: 15.6 MB) here

5/21/25: Venus structure: (Very Large File, 26.1 MB) here

5/21/25: Earth structure (Large File: 13 MB) here

4/24/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 5, 2016, 30-minute animation starting at 2:30 UTC (Very Large File 399 MB) here for Jupiter links

4/18/25: Jupiter system, animated 17 days, all interior moons and cloud layer (Very Large File 33.3 MB)

4/18/25: Jupiter system, animated 4 days, all interior moons and shells (Very Large File 109.5 MB)

4/10/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 1, 2016, 58-days animation, with Jupiter structure (Very Large File 487 MB)

4/10/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 4, 2016, 24-hours animation, with Jupiter structure (Very Large File 206 MB)

4/10/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 5, 2016, 40-minute animation, with Jupiter structure. Closest approach at 2:25 UTC (Very Large File 338 MB)

4/10/25: Jupiter's interior structure, atmosphere, magnetosphere and hill sphere, animated (Very Large File 156.4 MB)

4/9/25: Jupiter's interior structure, atmosphere, magnetosphere and hill sphere (49 KB)

4/8/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 1, 2016, 30-days animation, with Jupiter structure. (Very Large File 36 MB)

4/8/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 4, 2016, 60-hours animation, with Jupiter structure. Closest approach 7-5 3 UTC (Very Large File 36 MB)

4/8/25: Jupiter Arrival and Orbit Insertion on July 5, 2016, 60-minute animation, with Jupiter structure. Closest approach at 2:49 UTC. (Very Large File 36 MB)