Every place in gcdatlas

294 places in the real universe, each drawn in ASCII characters at its real position and size, from the Sun and Earth to the edge of the observable universe. Pick one to read about it, or open the atlas and fly there.

Solar System36

the Sun G2V main-sequence star
the Solar System our planetary system
the Oort cloud shell of icy bodies
Mercury rocky planet
Venus rocky planet
Earth rocky planet
the Moon Earth's natural satellite
Tranquility Base Apollo 11 landing site on the Moon
Apollo 12 landing site in the Ocean of Storms, on the Moon
Apollo 14 landing site at Fra Mauro, on the Moon
Apollo 15 landing site at Hadley-Apennine, on the Moon
Hadley Rille a lava channel on the Moon
Apollo 16 landing site at Descartes, on the Moon
Apollo 17 landing site in the valley of Taurus-Littrow, on the Moon
Tycho a young crater on the Moon
Copernicus a crater on the Moon
Bennu near-Earth asteroid
Mars rocky planet
Vesta asteroid
Ceres dwarf planet
Jupiter gas giant
Io moon of Jupiter
Europa moon of Jupiter
Ganymede moon of Jupiter
Callisto moon of Jupiter
Saturn gas giant
Mimas moon of Saturn
Enceladus moon of Saturn
Tethys moon of Saturn
Dione moon of Saturn
Rhea moon of Saturn
Titan moon of Saturn
Uranus ice giant
Neptune ice giant
Pluto dwarf planet
Arrokoth contact binary in the Kuiper belt

Comets & meteors11

Kreutz sungrazers a family of comets that dive through the Sun's corona
the Leonids meteor shower in November
the Perseids meteor shower in August
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Rosetta's comet
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 the comet that hit Jupiter in July 1994
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS the bright comet of October 2024
3I/ATLAS the third interstellar object
Comet NEOWISE the bright comet of July 2020
Halley's Comet periodic comet
Comet Hale-Bopp the great comet of 1997
'Oumuamua the first interstellar object

Stars & stellar remnants37

Proxima Centauri red dwarf
Alpha Centauri nearest Sun-like star
Barnard's Star red dwarf
Sirius brightest star in the night sky
Sirius B white dwarf
Epsilon Eridani young Sun-like star with debris belts
Tau Ceti nearby Sun-like star
Altair rapidly rotating A star
Vega fast-spinning A star seen pole-on
Arcturus orange giant
TRAPPIST-1 ultracool dwarf with seven Earth-sized planets
55 Cancri Sun-like star with five planets
Capella yellow giants
Aldebaran orange giant
HR 8799 young star with four photographed giant planets
Spica hot blue stars
Canopus white bright giant
Polaris the North Star
Betelgeuse red supergiant
Antares red supergiant
KELT-9 hot blue-white star
M40 a chance pair of stars
Rigel blue supergiant in Orion
Tabby's Star the star with mysterious dips
M73 four stars by chance
Deneb white supergiant
T Coronae Borealis recurrent nova
RS Ophiuchi recurrent nova
WR 140 colliding-wind binary
UY Scuti red supergiant
Crab Pulsar neutron star
Eta Carinae hypergiant binary inside the Homunculus Nebula
WR 124 Wolf-Rayet star shedding its skin
Stephenson 2-18 red supergiant
SGR 1806-20 magnetar
R136a1 Wolf-Rayet star
SN 1987A core-collapse supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Other worlds9

Proxima b exoplanet
TRAPPIST-1e exoplanet
55 Cancri e lava world
51 Pegasi b the first planet found around a Sun-like star
HD 189733 b the deep blue planet
K2-18 b sub-Neptune in the habitable zone
HR 8799 b young giant planet
Kepler-16b circumbinary planet
KELT-9b the hottest planet known

Nebulae & star clusters80

the Pleiades young star cluster
HL Tauri newborn star and planet-forming disk
Beehive Cluster open star cluster
Helix Nebula planetary nebula
Ptolemy's Cluster open star cluster
M39 open star cluster
Dumbbell Nebula planetary nebula
M78 reflection nebula
Orion Nebula stellar nursery
Horsehead Nebula dark nebula
Butterfly Cluster open star cluster
M47 open star cluster
M34 open star cluster
M25 open star cluster
M23 open star cluster
M41 open star cluster
Veil Nebula supernova remnant
M48 open star cluster
Southern Ring Nebula planetary nebula
Ring Nebula planetary nebula
Owl Nebula planetary nebula
M67 open star cluster
M35 open star cluster
M50 open star cluster
M93 open star cluster
Cat's Eye Nebula planetary nebula
Little Dumbbell Nebula planetary nebula
M38 open star cluster
M36 open star cluster
M21 open star cluster
Trifid Nebula star-forming region
Lagoon Nebula star-forming region
M37 open star cluster
M18 open star cluster
M46 open star cluster
M52 open star cluster
Omega Nebula star-forming region
M29 open star cluster
M26 open star cluster
M4 globular cluster
Crab Nebula supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula
Pillars of Creation star-forming columns in the Eagle Nebula
Eagle Nebula star-forming region
Bubble Nebula wind-blown bubble
Wild Duck Cluster open star cluster
Carina Nebula giant star-forming region
M103 open star cluster
Sagittarius Star Cloud star cloud
M22 globular cluster
Cassiopeia A supernova remnant
M71 globular cluster
M10 globular cluster
M12 globular cluster
Omega Centauri globular cluster
M55 globular cluster
M28 globular cluster
M107 globular cluster
M62 globular cluster
M5 globular cluster
Great Hercules Cluster globular cluster
M9 globular cluster
M19 globular cluster
M30 globular cluster
M92 globular cluster
M69 globular cluster
M14 globular cluster
M70 globular cluster
M3 globular cluster
M80 globular cluster
M56 globular cluster
M68 globular cluster
Pease 1 planetary nebula
M15 globular cluster
M2 globular cluster
M79 globular cluster
M72 globular cluster
M53 globular cluster
M75 globular cluster
M54 globular cluster
Tarantula Nebula the most active star-forming region in the Local Group

Galaxies & black holes72

Gaia BH1 the nearest known black hole
Gaia BH3 dormant black hole
Cygnus X-1 black hole feeding on a blue supergiant
the Milky Way barred spiral galaxy
Sagittarius A* supermassive black hole
S2 and the S-stars stars orbiting the black hole
the Galactic Centre the crowded core of the Milky Way
Sagittarius Dwarf dwarf spheroidal galaxy
Large Magellanic Cloud barred irregular galaxy
Small Magellanic Cloud dwarf irregular galaxy
Draco Dwarf dwarf spheroidal galaxy
Sculptor Dwarf dwarf spheroidal galaxy
Fornax Dwarf dwarf spheroidal galaxy
Leo I dwarf spheroidal galaxy
Barnard's Galaxy barred dwarf irregular galaxy
IC 1613 dwarf irregular galaxy
M32 compact elliptical galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy giant spiral
Triangulum Galaxy spiral galaxy
M110 dwarf elliptical galaxy
Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte dwarf irregular galaxy
Cigar Galaxy starburst galaxy
Sculptor Galaxy dusty starburst spiral
Bode's Galaxy grand-design spiral
Centaurus A elliptical galaxy with a swallowed spiral
M94 spiral galaxy with a bright ring
Black Eye Galaxy spiral galaxy
Southern Pinwheel Galaxy barred spiral galaxy
Pinwheel Galaxy face-on spiral
M106 spiral galaxy
Sunflower Galaxy flocculent spiral galaxy
M108 barred spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on
Whirlpool Galaxy grand-design spiral with a companion
Sombrero Galaxy spiral seen nearly edge-on
M95 barred spiral galaxy
Phantom Galaxy grand-design spiral galaxy
M96 spiral galaxy
M77 spiral galaxy with an active centre
M66 barred spiral galaxy
M105 elliptical galaxy
M65 spiral galaxy
M99 lopsided spiral galaxy
M59 elliptical galaxy
M102 lenticular galaxy seen edge-on
M100 grand-design spiral galaxy
M89 elliptical galaxy
M91 barred spiral galaxy
M98 spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on
M87 giant elliptical galaxy at the heart of the Virgo Cluster
the M87 jet relativistic jet
M87* supermassive black hole
M60 giant elliptical galaxy
M49 giant elliptical galaxy
M61 barred spiral galaxy
M90 spiral galaxy
M86 lenticular galaxy
M85 lenticular galaxy
M84 elliptical galaxy
Antennae Galaxies colliding galaxies
M58 barred spiral galaxy
M88 spiral galaxy
M109 barred spiral galaxy
GW170817 neutron star merger
A star torn apart tidal disruption event
NGC 1275 giant galaxy at the heart of the Perseus Cluster
Stephan's Quintet compact galaxy group
Cartwheel Galaxy ring galaxy
Einstein Cross a quasar split into four by gravity
Hoag's Object ring galaxy
GW150914 two black holes merging
3C 273 quasar
TON 618 hyperluminous quasar

The large-scale universe7

the cosmic web filaments of galaxies around vast empty voids
the observable universe everything light has had time to reach us from, in 13.8 billion years
Virgo Cluster cluster of galaxies
Boötes Void one of the largest empty regions known
Bullet Cluster colliding galaxy clusters
El Gordo colliding galaxy clusters
JADES-GS-z14-0 one of the most distant galaxies ever confirmed

Travellers12

Starship rocket
Falcon 9 rocket
Falcon Heavy rocket
Crew Dragon capsule for crew and cargo
International Space Station crewed space station
Hubble Space Telescope space telescope
James Webb Space Telescope infrared space telescope at Sun-Earth L2
Starman and the Tesla Roadster a car in orbit round the Sun
the Halo long-range cruiser
New Horizons space probe
Voyager 2 space probe
Voyager 1 space probe

Places on Earth30

Antarctica: Ross Island and the Ross Ice Shelf an island and an ice shelf in Antarctica
Bora Bora an island in French Polynesia
Denali a mountain in Alaska, United States
Geirangerfjord a fjord in Norway
Grand Canyon a canyon in Arizona, United States
Great Barrier Reef: Whitsundays and Heart Reef a coral reef in Australia
Great Wall at Mutianyu a wall in China
Greenland: Ilulissat Icefjord a glacier and its fjord in Greenland
Ha Long Bay a bay in Vietnam
Hawaii: the Big Island and Kilauea a volcanic island in Hawaii, United States
Hoover Dam and Lake Mead a dam in the United States
Iceland: Vatnajokull and Jokulsarlon an ice cap in Iceland
Meeting of Waters, Amazon rivers in Brazil
Mount Everest and the Himalaya mountains on the border of Nepal and China
Mount Fuji a volcano in Japan
Mount Kilimanjaro a volcano in Tanzania
Nile Delta a river delta in Egypt
Okavango Delta an inland delta in Botswana
Palm Jumeirah, Dubai an island built in the sea, Dubai
Panama Canal a canal in Panama
Pyramids of Giza pyramids in Egypt
Richat Structure, Sahara a ring of rock in Mauritania
Sossusvlei dunes, Namib dunes in Namibia
Suez Canal a canal in Egypt
The Alps: Matterhorn and Mont Blanc mountains in France, Italy and Switzerland
The Maldives coral atolls in the Indian Ocean
Three Gorges Dam a dam in China
Torres del Paine a national park in Chile
Uluru and Kata Tjuta a sandstone rock in Australia
Yosemite Valley a valley in California, United States