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Systemsol
Solar System explorer · for iPhone & iPad

Systemsol

A living model of the Solar System where every world comes apart in your hands.

Watch the planets circle the Sun at their real positions for today's date, then peel any world apart from atmosphere to core. Each layer packs itself into a to-scale cube beside the planet.

Coming soon to theApp Store
Systemsol showing the Sun and planets orbiting in the dark, with a list of worlds along the bottom
Features

Peel planets to their core.

  • The whole system, turning

    The Sun, planets, Moon and Pluto circle in the dark at their real positions for today's date. Drag to orbit, pinch to zoom, and run time from paused up to a year per second.

  • Peel every world

    Atmosphere, oceans, crust, mantle and core lift away layer by layer and pack into cubes drawn to the same scale as the planet, so you can see how thin Earth's crust really is.

  • Real Earth

    Real terrain from NOAA's ETOPO1 elevation model and true colour from NASA Blue Marble, with tectonic plate boundaries you can switch on. Remove the oceans to explore the sea floor.

  • Facts at a glance

    Size, mass, surface gravity, rotation, spin speed, year length, axial tilt, temperature and moons, plus the chemical make-up of every layer.

  • Made for iPhone and iPad

    Hundreds of thousands of glowing particles, drawn smoothly on your device. Tap any world, or choose one from the list.

  • Private, and works offline

    No account, no ads and no tracking. Every map and fact is built into the app, so it works anywhere.

See it in action

  • Systemsol showing the Sun and planets orbiting in the dark, with a list of worlds along the bottom
    The Solar System, turning in real time
  • Systemsol showing Earth with its atmosphere and oceans peeled off into cubes above, and its layer list below
    Peel Earth: oceans and atmosphere lifted away
  • Systemsol showing the Sun as a boiling ball of particles, with its layers listed below
    The Sun's boiling surface
  • Systemsol showing Saturn with its rings and a facts panel listing its diameter, mass, gravity and rotation
    Saturn and its facts

Get Systemsol

For iPhone & iPad. Requires iOS 17 or later.

Coming soon to the App Store

Questions

Why is it called Sol on my Home Screen?

The App Store name is Systemsol, and the short name under the icon is Sol. They're the same app.

Are the sizes and distances to scale?

Not quite. Distances and sizes are compressed so every planet fits on one screen, and orbits are shown as circles. Spin speeds keep their real proportions, and the layer cubes are drawn to the same scale as the planet wherever they fit.

Where does the data come from?

NASA Blue Marble imagery, NOAA's ETOPO1 elevation model, Natural Earth land outlines, Bird's 2003 model of plate boundaries, and NASA planetary fact sheets. Where a value is a model estimate, such as the interiors of the gas and ice giants, the app says so.

Do I need an internet connection?

No. Everything the app shows is built in, so it works fully offline.

Which devices does it run on?

Any iPhone or iPad running iOS 17 or later.

What data does the app collect?

None. Systemsol has no accounts, ads or analytics, and it never connects to the internet. Read the full privacy policy.