orbits

phet.colorado.edu

Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!

phet.colorado.edu

Build your own system of heavenly bodies and watch the gravitational ballet. With this orbit simulator, you can set initial positions, velocities, and masses of 2, 3, or 4 bodies, and then see them orbit each other.

phet.colorado.edu

Interact with the variables to discover how planetary objects moves in elliptical orbits, and the other characteristics of these orbits described by the three Kepler’s Laws. Connect Astronomy with Math, by experimenting with ellipses, areas, and graphs.