About Helios
A quieter way to read the Solar System.
Helios turns scale, orbital motion and planetary data into an exploration experience without hiding where the science ends and the visual interpretation begins.
It is an independent portfolio project developed as a complete product: cited reference values, validated external records, clear unavailable states and keyboard-accessible primary pages surround a centrally managed Three.js scene.
- Detail destinations
- 6157 real bodies and 4 regional context layers.
- Planet stories
- 8Distinct editorial pages with human-scale and mission context.
- Scene profiles
- 2Exploration and scientific scale share one scene and one visual standard.
- Quality rule
- 1A single High visual direction with automatic capability handling.
01 · Purpose
Not a dashboard. Not a physics claim.
Helios sits between a reference catalogue and a cinematic scene. The goal is to help a visitor understand why worlds feel different, not merely list their diameters.
A useful model explains both what it shows and what it leaves out.
02 · Principles
The rules behind the experience
These constraints govern the 3D scene, editorial routes and data surfaces together.
Scientific honesty
The label is part of the data
Reference values, historical observations, latest-available records and fallbacks are not blended into a false present. Source and time context stay visible wherever they change the meaning of a value.
Cinematic restraint
Visual drama serves orientation
Glow, camera movement and compressed distance make the system legible. They never turn an exploration view into an unstated claim of exact physical scale or current appearance.
Accessible by design
The canvas is not the only route
Every real body represented in Explore and each regional context layer has a semantic detail page. Core navigation, comparison, data provenance and fallback content remain available without relying on hover or a working WebGL scene.
Product depth
A world is more than a stat card
Planet pages use different editorial priorities, while moons and small bodies retain their own orbital, visual and source context instead of becoming anonymous points in a catalogue.
03 · Product map
Four ways into the same system
Each route answers a different question while using the same source and scale language.
Explore
Where is it?
Navigate a timed 3D scene, change scale profile and focus any body or regional context included in the catalogue.
Open ExploreBody library
What kind of world is it?
Read server-rendered pages for the Sun, planets, moons, dwarf-system satellites, selected small bodies and system regions.
Compare
How different is it?
Place two planets in one reference frame with explicit definitions, human-scale calculations and a shareable URL.
Compare two worldsData
When and from where?
Inspect observation time, retrieval time, source status, fallback state and the limits of each external service.
Open the data record04 · Reading guide
Three distinctions matter
- ScaleExploration mode prioritizes legibility. Scientific mode preserves shared physical ratios. Neither changes the underlying source records.
- TimeObservation time belongs to an event or instrument. Retrieval time belongs to the Helios request or verified snapshot.
- RepresentationA real map, derived map or reference-guided visual reconstruction describes the surface. Orbit precision is documented separately.
Continue with the decisions, not a feature list.
The case study follows the project from the scale problem through scene ownership, asset provenance, data fallbacks and the regression tests that protect established behavior.