Instructify

Learn the workings of the solar system by building your own. With My Solar System you can see how suns, planets, moons and comets interact.

You choose the number and size of heavenly bodies in your solar system. And size matters – make your sun too big, and watch a planet crash into it (which is kinda cool, actually). Make a planet too small and its moon will ditch it to just revolve around the sun instead.

My Solar System also has preset solar system alignments, which are definitely worth checking out. My favorite – the slingshot, where a planet is revolving around the sun, minding its own business, then gets caught in another planet’s gravitational field. Next thing it knows, it’s getting flung into deep space because that meddling planet #2 doesn’t have enough gravity to hang onto it. So tragic. So fun.

Your students should enjoy My Solar System whether you’re an elementary teacher studying the planets for the first time, or if you’re a physics instructor demonstrating gravitational pull. And don’t forget to discuss the ethical implications of creating planets specifically hoping they’ll collide. -BILL FERRIS

My Solar System