A model of the solar system was built from a corrupted database. You audit it: spot the bodies whose size, orbit, or composition breaks the pattern, say what you suspect, fix what's wrong, and publish your corrected catalog. No numbers appear inside the sim — the pattern is the instrument; the values arrive with the published data.
Data format
Publishing sends one row per body (23 rows): name, type, average distance from the Sun (AU), orbital period (years), diameter (km), composition, orbit shape, and number of moons. A good first graph: Diameter vs Average distance from Sun, colored by Composition.
Model details
All true values are real NASA/JPL measurements; moon counts are as of the 2025 listings and are still growing as instruments improve. The map keeps true distance scale at every zoom: pins mark locations, and a body's disc appears at true relative scale only once zooming makes it honestly visible — no view ever pretends sizes and distances fit one picture. Near-circular orbits draw as circles and eccentric ones as true ellipses with the Sun at the focus; highly elliptical bodies sit near aphelion, where such bodies spend most of their time, and positions are otherwise schematic, not today's sky. A moon's distance is its planet's; on the map it sits on a small local orbit drawn at true radius. Composition uses three categories — rocky, icy, gas (Uranus and Neptune count as icy; the Sun as gas).
How do I explore?
- Pick a challenge level: 5, 10, or 15 errors are hidden in the model.
- Read the chart below the map — every dot is a body, its height is its size, its position is its distance, its color is what it's made of. A dot that breaks the pattern is a suspect. Zoom and pan the map too, and look at orbit shapes.
- Click a body and say what you suspect: size, distance, orbit shape, or composition. Guess right and the repair appears — drag the body's edge to fit the dotted outline, drag it to the gold ring, or pick the right category.
- Stuck? "Flag a corrupted body" circles one in the chart and flies you to it with its neighbors in view — figuring out what's wrong with it is still your job.
What should I do/notice?
- Which kinds of bodies sit close to the Sun, and which sit far away?
- Zoom in on Earth until you see it as a globe, then press "fit all". What happens to Earth — and why do the pins stay?
What about the data?
When every error is fixed, Publish catalog sends one row per body — real measured values you verified without ever seeing the numbers. Now the numbers are yours: plot Diameter against Average distance from Sun, colored by Composition, and check the pattern you used. Then try Orbital period against Average distance, and Number of moons against Diameter — columns the sim never showed you as numbers.