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Radial Velocity Method: Detecting Exoplanets by Stellar Wobble

Interactive 3D radial-velocity simulator: a star wobbles around its barycenter as an unseen planet orbits it, Doppler-shifting the star's spectrum. Tune planet mass, period, eccentricity and inclination and watch the real radial-velocity curve astronomers use to detect exoplanets.

Space & Astronomy3DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version

Planets are almost always too faint to see directly next to their host star, so most confirmed exoplanets were found indirectly — by watching the star itself move. This simulator renders the real two-body Kepler orbit of a star and an unseen planet around their shared barycenter, tilts that orbit by an adjustable inclination, and derives the star's line-of-sight (radial) velocity from the same physics real spectrographs measure: the periodic blueshift and redshift of its absorption lines. Tune the planet's mass, orbital period, eccentricity and inclination and watch the semi-amplitude K, the live radial velocity, and the resulting Doppler curve — the exact signal astronomers fit to discover and weigh planets they've never directly seen.

⚙ Under the hood

Watch a star wobble around its barycenter as an unseen planet tugs on it, Doppler-shifting its spectrum toward blue and red. Tune planet mass, orbital period, eccentricity and inclination and see the real radial-velocity curve astronomers use to detect and weigh exoplanets.

exoplanetsradial velocitydoppler shiftorbital mechanicsastronomykepler orbit

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install