Where the planets are

Positions are calculated for the date shown from NASA JPL's approximate orbital elements, which stay within about 0.2° of the true positions between 1800 and 2050. The Sun and planets are drawn far larger than life so you can see them. With compressed distances, the outer planets are pulled in so everything fits, but each orbit is shrunk as a whole, so its shape is exact in both views; true scale shows the real spacing. Most planets' orbits really are close to circles: Earth's is only 0.01% narrower than it is long. What shows the ellipse is the Sun sitting off-center; select a planet to see its closest and farthest points. The Planets & moons view shows every planet with its largest moons at once; directions are real there, but distances and moon sizes are enlarged. In the other views, select a planet to see its largest moons: the planet and its moons are then drawn at true scale relative to each other (and, in true-scale mode, to the whole solar system). Moon positions come from the Astronomy Engine library for our Moon and Jupiter's four big moons, from Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms for Saturn's, and from orbit models fitted to NASA JPL Horizons data for the rest. Checked against JPL, they are within about 0.5° of the true positions as seen from their planet (Saturn's Hyperion 1°, Mars's moons 3°, Uranus's Miranda 5°).