Sky Explorer

Pan and zoom across the real night sky — stars, galaxies and nebulae from professional survey imagery, like an online map of the whole celestial sphere. Powered by Aladin Lite from CDS Strasbourg. Free, no sign-up, no API key.

Explore the sky
Where are they now? — the Solar System, live

Sky imagery: DSS2 colour and other all-sky surveys (STScI / CDS), served as HiPS tiles. Map viewer: Aladin Lite © CDS, Université de Strasbourg / CNRS.

Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom. Use the layers button in the map to switch surveys (DSS, 2MASS). The Aladin Lite viewer runs in your browser; only the sky tiles stream from CDS.

100% free, no sign-up Real survey imagery (CDS) No API key, runs in your browser

Asteroid Tracker

Near-Earth asteroids passing close to us — size, speed and miss distance in lunar distances, from NASA/JPL data.

Open tool

ISS Tracker

Watch the International Space Station orbit Earth in real time on a world map — live latitude, longitude, altitude and speed.

Open tool

How It Works

Open it and the sky loads — no account, no key.

1

Move around the sky

Drag to pan and scroll or pinch to zoom, exactly like an online map — but across the whole celestial sphere, from bright stars down to faint galaxies.

2

Jump to famous objects

Use the preset buttons to fly straight to the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades or the centre of the Milky Way — then zoom in for the detail. The Solar System row jumps to where the Sun, Moon and planets are right now; tick "Show markers" to label each of them on the star map.

3

Switch surveys

Open the layers control in the map to swap between sky surveys such as DSS (visible light) and 2MASS (infrared). Then check what's overhead with the ISS Tracker or Asteroid Tracker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What am I looking at?
Real imagery of the night sky, stitched from professional all-sky surveys such as the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) and 2MASS. Pan by dragging and zoom with the scroll wheel or pinch — like an online map, but of the whole celestial sphere.
Where does the imagery come from?
The map is powered by Aladin Lite, developed by the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS). Survey imagery is served as HiPS tiles from the CDS servers. LK Forge hosts the Aladin Lite app itself and streams the sky tiles from CDS.
Do I need an account or API key?
No — completely free, no account, no sign-up and no API key. The Aladin Lite viewer and the public HiPS surveys are open to everyone.
Why does it need WebAssembly?
Aladin Lite v3 uses a WebAssembly core to render the sky smoothly. It runs entirely on your device — nothing about your viewing is uploaded or stored.