Planets is an interactive website that lets learners explore the solar system to get a much clearer understanding about...

  • planet orbits,
  • size, and
  • relative position to one another.

Planets is a fantastic resource for using on an interactive whiteboard.

Planets allows the practitioner or learner to control how they are viewing the solar system. Users can touch and drag to move things around and they have a complete set of controls to change...

  • scale,
  • speed of orbits (passing of time), or
  • planetary object to follow.
e.g. if you follow the Sun, the Sun is stationary and it shows the other planets orbiting the Sun. If you  follow the Earth, then it shows the other planetary objects with a stationary Earth.

Note:  It isn't up to date as this resource shows Pluto as being the farthest "planet" away from the Sun (Pluto is no longer classed as a planet!).

Try it out at http://www.gunn.co.nz/astrotour/?data=tours/retrograde.xml.