What is 100,000 Stars?
100,000 Stars is a Chrome Experiment from Google's Data Arts Team, first released in 2012. It is a 3D visualisation of the stars around our Sun, built with WebGL so it runs directly in the browser.
You start near the Sun and can zoom out past the named stars of our neighbourhood all the way to a view of the Milky Way. Stars are coloured by temperature, and clicking a named star opens a short description of it. A guided tour and an atmospheric soundtrack make it a calm way to get a sense of scale.
Main Features
- 3D map of over 100,000 nearby stars
- Zoom from the Sun out to the whole Milky Way
- Click named stars for a short description
- Stars coloured by their temperature, with a colour scale
- Guided tour for first-time visitors
- Runs in the browser, no install
How to Get Started with 100,000 Stars
- Open stars.chromeexperiments.com in a desktop browser.
- Take the tour, or skip it to explore freely.
- Scroll to zoom and drag to rotate around the stars.
- Click a star's name to read about it.
100,000 Stars Pricing
100,000 Stars is completely free with no ads and no account. It works best on a desktop computer with a modern browser.
Who Should Use It?
- Space and astronomy fans
- Teachers and students learning about the galaxy
- Anyone curious about how big our neighbourhood is
- Fans of beautiful web experiments
100,000 Stars Alternatives
- The Size of Space: zoom from astronauts to galaxies
- If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel: scrolling scale model of the solar system
- Ancient Earth: see Earth through deep time
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 100,000 Stars free?
Yes. It is a free Chrome Experiment with no ads and no sign-up.
Who made 100,000 Stars?
It was made by Google's Data Arts Team as part of Chrome Experiments.
Does 100,000 Stars work on phones?
It is built for desktop browsers with WebGL and is best on a computer; mobile support is limited.