Stage 5. asteroids.js: 1500-strong main-belt sample from SBDB (sb-class=MBA),
propagated by the shared Kepler core, one Points cloud refreshed ≤10 Hz, off by
default. comets.js: 1P/2P/67P/96P from SBDB (elliptical only) with full drawn
orbits, marker + anti-sunward tail scaled 1/r², on by default. neos.js: CAD ±30d
close-approach radar around Earth, colored by miss distance, clickable, lunar-
distance labels, off by default. All fail-soft. verify.html gate: belt view-radii
12.1–13.9 ∈ (Mars 10.7, Jupiter 17.4); Halley aphelion 35.3 AU > Neptune. Also
serialized verify's live Horizons checks (burst-throttle fix) → 13/13 green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Stage 4. spacecraft.js: Voyager 1/2, New Horizons, JWST, Parker, Juno, Lucy,
Psyche. Fetches VECTORS (heliocentric ecliptic AU) over a multi-year span through
serve.py's cache, Catmull-Rom interpolated per frame; glowing diamond marker +
fading trail + label with live distance from Sun and one-way light-time from
Earth. Fail-soft per craft. Robustness: sequential fetch (Horizons throttles
bursts), serve.py skips caching non-$$SOE (error) responses, and span
auto-recovery clamps START/STOP to a craft's SPK coverage from Horizons' own
"prior to / after" hints (Psyche pre-launch, Juno past coverage) → 8/8 tracked.
Gate: Voyager 1 @2026-07-15 = (-32.07,-136.21,98.55) Δ0.002 AU; JWST Δ0.011 AU
from Earth. verify.html gates 10-11 green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Stage 3. moons.js: 21 moons as lit spheres with local per-parent compression
(clear the exaggerated parent, ordering preserved), retrograde via negative
period. rings.js: Saturn textured annulus (true 74500–140220 km scaled with
parent) + Uranus thin schematic ring, tilted with axial tilt, DoubleSide. Moons
draw at the parent's exaggeration so Io/Jupiter ≈ 0.026 ratio holds. Label
visibility gated via CSS2DObject.visible (CSS2DRenderer clobbers div.style.display
every frame — fixed). Gate: Galilean laps 1.00:0.50:0.25 (1:2:4), Triton
retrograde (Δθ<0), moons ordered io<europa<ganymede<callisto.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Stage 1. ephem.js: JPL SSD approximate elements (Table 1 + 2a/2b plumbing),
Newton Kepler solver, reusable eclFromElements core (planets + small bodies),
orbitPath sampler. planets.js: 8 planets + Pluto as textured exaggerated spheres
on MEGA-compressed orbits with labels, rebuild-on-drift. verify.html: 9 gates all
green IN BROWSER incl. live Horizons via proxy — Mars @2026-07-15 Δ3.3e-4 AU,
Jupiter Δ2.9e-3, Earth Δ3.9e-5; Mars @J2000 vs live Δ4.8e-5; Jupiter @1900 Δ2.0e-3.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
