Mission briefing
About
Who runs this spaceship, what it's built from and where all the pictures come from.
What is Explore Universe?
A playful guide to the universe: galaxies, nebulae, planets, stars and the machines we sent to see them. Wander through the gallery, watch the Sun and the Earth live, or pick a destination and see what we know about it.
The universe is big and this site is young, so new destinations keep arriving. Some corners are still under construction. They're marked, so you won't fall into a black hole by accident.
Who's at the controls?
Explore Universe is a hobby project by Filip Janovský, built in spare time out of curiosity about space and the joy of making things for the web.
What keeps it flying
The site is built with open-source tools and a small amount of rocket fuel:
- Next.js and React for the pages
- Material UI and Tailwind CSS for the looks
- TypeScript to catch mistakes before launch
- Resend to deliver your feedback
Where the pictures come from
Every photo, illustration and live stream comes from the space agencies and observatories that made it. The credit is shown next to each image, and where the licence asks for it, a link to the licence too.
NASA Image and Video Library (opens in a new tab)
Most photos: planets, missions, astronauts and the Spitzer telescope
NASA on YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Live video from the International Space Station
Solar Dynamics Observatory (NASA) (opens in a new tab)
Today's Sun in several wavelengths
James Webb Space Telescope images
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
The Milky Way panorama, the first image of a black hole (EHT) and the Paranal webcam
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
SOHO (ESA & NASA) (opens in a new tab)
The Sun's corona, live
Licence: SOHO terms (opens in a new tab)
Send us a signal
Found a bug, a wrong fact or a stream that went dark? Got an idea for the next destination? Tell us. Every message lands in our inbox, and we read them all.