3D Eclipse Simulator

Watch the Moon's shadow race across the Earth in real time, in full 3D.

3D Solar Eclipse Simulator renders the Moon's umbra and penumbra as true 3D cones hitting a WGS84 ellipsoid Earth over photorealistic terrain, instead of a flat 2D shaded band on a map. Built in Unreal Engine 5 with a Python backend (Skyfield + NASA JPL DE441 ephemerides). Free, and made as a bachelor's thesis project.

Features

• 71,264 solar eclipses over 30,000 years (13,000 BC to 17,000 AD), plus lunar eclipses
• Validated contact times: checked against Xavier Jubier's reference data (~1 s for the 12 Aug 2026 eclipse, ~1.5 s for 2 Aug 2027; Stellarium was off by 8 minutes for the 2017 eclipse)
• Eclipse catalogue browser with search, totality path drawn as a 3D band
• City list along the path with coverage %, exportable as CSV/TXT
• Time controls (play, pause, rewind, adjustable speed) and live telemetry
• Drone free-flight over Cesium terrain, bookmarks for places and moments
• Night sky with 5,079 stars and constellations
• Other planet-moon systems (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune)
• Romanian / English interface

How to run

1. Download and unzip the archive anywhere.
2. Run Proiect_Eclipsa.exe.
3. If Windows shows a SmartScreen warning, click More info, then Run anyway (the app is not code-signed).
4. On first launch, the app asks for a free Cesium ion access token (create one at cesium.com/ion) to stream the terrain.

Requirements

• Windows 10/11, 64-bit
• A dedicated GPU is recommended
• Download size: about 5.5 GB

Download

Free download, hosted on Gumroad: gabyboncan.gumroad.com/l/txlkbg

What's next

I'm working on weather conditions along the totality path. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome, in the comments below.