Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Distant Suns (VR)
Space - Up close and personal
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier. Distant Suns (VR) launched in 2018; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1
Periscope▲1,049Explore the world through someone else's eyes
2015 · periscope.tv · its alternatives →
- 2PA
We have a black hole at home — with actual relativistic physics, live in your browser. I'm Sasha (Alexander) Plavin, an astrophysicist at Harvard's Black Hole Initiative studying quasars and black hole environments. I work with raytracing/radiative transfer simulations professionally, and wanted to make one anyone can play with — so I built this app. Put the black hole onto your screen (any browser), or directly into your room with AR or VR (requires WebXR, for example Chrome on Android, or any VR headset). When looking around, pay attention to unintuitive relativistic effects: rays…
Jul 2026 · blackhole.plav.in · its alternatives →
- 3AAAstro App▲291
I really like Stellarium and SkySafari but I felt like these are primarily geared towards exploring the sky but not so much "here are the long list of things I want to see, when can I see them tonight and where". There's also not really a great option I've found that combines sky object planning + location weather details while still being free so I built this. The UI's heavily inspired by NINAs sky atlas + Robinhood. Right now you can: View the altitude chart of objects and 3D view Create lists of objects of interest View the annual max/min daily altitude of an object to find the best…
2024 · astro.sshh.io · its alternatives →
- 4
Shadowmap▲292Interactive 3D maps app to visualize solar shadows worldwide
2021 · app.shadowmap.org · its alternatives →
- 5
Live NASA solar imagery in 12 wavelengths, the moon phase tonight for 200+ cities, and real space weather. Free on iOS and Android. No ads, no signup.
Apr 2026 · lumara-space.app · its alternatives →
- 6
- 7
Download Black Hole Vision by Alexandru Lupsasca on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps like Black Hole Vision.
2024 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 8
AstraPixelsfree tier, from $5/mo▲267A pixel-art solar system at its real current positions.
Aug 2026 · astrapixels.com · its alternatives →
- 9
AstroGrid▲113Explore the entire universe in your browser, in real 3D
Apr 2026 · velonspace.com · its alternatives →
- 10
Explore the world through someone else's eyes
2015 · periscope.tv · its alternatives →
- 11
- 12AR
2016 · play.google.com · its alternatives →
- 13
This is a little hobby project that I hope you enjoy. You can see where the International Space Station is now, with live HD video from NASA, on a realistic 3D globe. The positions of the sun and moon are also accurate, though distances aren't to scale. The clouds are also near-realtime; I span that out into a separate project at https://clouds.matteason.co.uk, where the cloud images I create from EUMETSAT data are freely available. I've got more features almost ready to go, like the ability to turn off all UI, toggleable clouds and turning off the day/night cycle I'd love for…
2024 · iss.matteason.co.uk · its alternatives →
- 14TA
2012 · telesc.pe · its alternatives →
- 15
SOLAR by Aireal ▲88Walk among the planets via geospatial augmented reality
2016 · aireal.io · its alternatives →
- 16
Our SolAR▲91Visualize our Solar System in augmented reality 🌌
2017 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 17
An exciting book (+ soon game) about a year long game in VR!
2016 · amazon.com · its alternatives →
- 18
- 19
Vector 36▲63Physics-based racer set on the terraformed surface of Mars
2015 · store.steampowered.com · its alternatives →
- 20
- 21
3D movements telling you the time to the next sunrise
2024 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Sun Seeker▲86Augmented reality 3-D viewer that shows the solar path
2015 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 23
- 24
Also compare
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →