Orrery — Solar System & Total Solar Eclipse Predictor

A from-first-principles orrery that propagates the planets by solving Kepler's equation from J2000 orbital elements, finds real total solar eclipses by scanning new moons, and cuts to a ground-level point of view to watch totality — corona and all — at the place and time it actually happens.

Live: https://dennisgavrilenko.com/projects/eclipse

What it does

• Orrery — top-down solar system. Planet positions come from Newton–Raphson solutions of Kepler's equation (src/physics/kepler.js), shown live in the computation log. The Moon uses mean elements plus the main perturbations (evection, variation, annual equation).
• Eclipse search — ⏭ Find next eclipse races the clock forward and locks onto the next total solar eclipse.
• Ground POV — stand at the path of totality and watch the partial phases, the sky darken, and the corona blaze at totality.
• Earth path (bonus) — a 3D globe with the path of totality drawn on it and the umbra sweeping across at the real times.

Accuracy

Eclipse dates/times, totality paths, and the ground geometry are computed with astronomy-engine (VSOP87 + NOVAS-grade models) — verified against published events (e.g. 2026-08-12 over Iceland/Spain, 2027-08-02 over Egypt). The Kepler engine drives the orrery visuals and the on-screen math; it agrees with astronomy-engine to a fraction of a degree.

Develop

npm install
npm run dev          # http://localhost:5174/projects/eclipse/
npm run build

See DEPLOY.md for deployment.

Stack

Vite · Three.js (3D views) · 2D canvas (orrery) · astronomy-engine · no backend.