Gloomia's Astronomy Wallpapers Aren't Just Pretty: They Show Real Data
Most space-themed live wallpapers, on Gloomia and elsewhere, are animation for its own sake: a spiral galaxy turning, a tunnel of light streaking past, two black holes locked in an endless orbital dance. They look great and they are not pretending to be anything else. But three wallpapers in Gloomia's catalog work differently. Constellations, Orrery, and Asteroid Watch are not looping a pre-rendered animation at all; they are drawing a picture of the sky, the solar system, or nearby space using real inputs, computed or fetched fresh, rather than a fixed scene that happens to look like space.
That distinction is easy to miss at a glance, since all of it renders as a moving desktop background either way. This post walks through what is genuinely live or real about each of the three, what the optional network permission unlocks and what it does not touch, and how they differ from the purely artistic space wallpapers sitting right next to them in the same catalog.
What "real data" means on a desktop background
Three separate things get lumped together under "space wallpaper," and it is worth pulling them apart. There is pure animation, where the shapes, colors, and motion are designed to look dramatic with no reference to anything measurable, which is exactly what Galaxy Spiral, Nebula Drift, Wormhole, Binary Black Holes, and Black Hole Devour are. There is computed simulation, where the positions on screen come from real physics or real orbital mechanics even though nothing is fetched over a network, which describes the base version of Orrery and all of Constellations. And there is live data, where the wallpaper is displaying numbers that were true minutes or hours ago and pulled from an outside source, which is what the near-Earth asteroid layer in Orrery and everything in Asteroid Watch actually is.
Gloomia's free Starfield and Planet System sit in the first category too, alongside the dedicated space collection covered in the best space wallpapers roundup; a slow star drift and a stylized miniature solar system are both meant to be calm and pretty rather than accurate. Nothing wrong with that. The point of this post is simply to be precise about which three wallpapers cross the line from "space themed" into "showing you something that is actually true right now."
Constellations: the real night sky for your coordinates
Constellations does not draw a generic sky. You enter a latitude and longitude, and the wallpaper works out which stars are actually above the horizon from that spot on Earth, places them in their true relative positions, and joins them into the named constellation figures that connect them, the same patterns people have been tracing since antiquity. As the night goes on, the sky turns the way it really does, with stars rising in the east and setting in the west rather than looping in place.
That is a meaningfully different thing from a photo of stars or a randomly scattered star field. If you set your actual coordinates, the constellation currently overhead on your wallpaper is the same one you would find by stepping outside and looking up on a clear night. It also means two people running Constellations in different cities, or the same person running it at different times of year, will see genuinely different skies, not the same loop with a different tint.
Constellations does not need the network permission at all. Once you have entered your coordinates, everything it draws is computed locally from that input and the current time, so it keeps working the same whether you are online or not.
Orrery: the real solar system, right now
The word "orrery" has a specific meaning outside of Gloomia: it is traditionally a mechanical model of the solar system, the Sun fixed at the center with a planet mounted at the end of each of a set of rotating arms, so that turning a crank moves every planet at once. The device takes its name from Charles Boyle, the Earl of Orrery, after a clockmaker built one for him in the early 1700s, though the basic idea goes back much further, all the way to the ancient Antikythera mechanism used to calculate astronomical positions more than two thousand years ago.
Gloomia's Orrery wallpaper is a screen-based version of that same idea, with one important upgrade: instead of a fixed illustration or a crank-driven approximation, it computes the actual current positions of the Sun, the planets, Pluto, the other dwarf planets, and the Moon's current phase from real orbital data, and updates them continuously. It also marks which planets currently appear to be in retrograde from Earth's point of view, a real observational effect that comes out of the actual orbital math rather than being a stylistic flourish added on top.
On its own, none of that needs a network connection; it is all computed from orbital elements the same way an offline planetarium program works. Grant Orrery the network permission, though, and it adds a second, genuinely live layer on top: current near-Earth asteroid data pulled from NASA and JPL, with any asteroid passing near Earth marked and labelled with its miss distance. That turns Orrery from "an accurate model of the solar system" into "an accurate model of the solar system plus whatever happens to be flying past Earth this week."
Asteroid Watch: an Earth-centered live feed, not a simulation
Asteroid Watch is the wallpaper built specifically around that live layer, rather than adding it as an extra on top of something else. With the network permission granted, it pulls current near-Earth close-approach data from NASA and JPL's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the same organization responsible for cataloguing and tracking near-Earth objects and assessing their impact risk. Each object gets placed on a path at its true miss distance and real relative speed around an Earth-centered view, labelled with its official designation, its distance expressed in lunar distances (multiples of the distance from the Earth to the Moon, the standard unit astronomers use for close approaches), and its velocity.
Practically, this is the wallpaper for anyone who has ever glanced at a headline about an asteroid "safely passing Earth" and wondered what that actually looks like at scale, or how many of these passes happen that never make the news. CNEOS tracks a steady stream of close approaches, most of them too small or too distant to be newsworthy, and Asteroid Watch surfaces that same feed directly on your desktop instead of leaving it buried in a research database. Nothing about the layout is invented for effect; the miss distance and velocity shown for each object are the same figures CNEOS publishes.
On a multi-monitor setup, Asteroid Watch lets you choose which display Earth centers on, the same way Orrery lets you choose which screen the Sun centers on. If you are already running different wallpapers across two or three monitors, the dual-monitor setup guide covers assigning a different wallpaper to each display and picking sensible pairings.
What the network permission does and does not touch
It is worth being precise here, because "network permission" can sound broader than it is. Granting it only affects the two features described above: the near-Earth asteroid layer on Orrery, and the entire close-approach feed on Asteroid Watch. It does not change how Constellations behaves, since the night sky it draws is computed from your coordinates and the current time with no outside data involved. It also does not affect any other wallpaper in the catalog, including the audio-reactive set covered in the audio-reactive wallpaper guide, which read system audio output locally and never touch the network at all.
If you would rather keep everything fully offline, Orrery still works as a complete, accurate model of the solar system without the permission granted; you simply will not see the current asteroid flybys layered on top. Asteroid Watch is the one wallpaper of the three where the live feed is the entire point, so leaving the permission off there means the display has nothing current to show.
Real data versus pure animation: the rest of the space collection
Placed next to Constellations, Orrery, and Asteroid Watch, the rest of Gloomia's space wallpapers are unapologetically artistic, and that contrast is worth spelling out rather than leaving implied. Galaxy Spiral turns a grand spiral galaxy with realistic differential rotation, but the arm count, star count, and tilt are all things you choose, not something modeled on one real galaxy. Wormhole is an endless plunge down a tunnel of streaking light with no real-world reference point at all. Binary Black Holes and Black Hole Devour render gravitational lensing and accretion disks that look physically plausible without being tied to any specific real object. Even Meteor Shower and Nebula Drift, both visually spectacular, are built to be tuned for mood rather than to represent an actual meteor shower or nebula.
None of that is a knock on those wallpapers; a wormhole you can actually fly a camera through is not something anyone can point a telescope at, and that is exactly why it works as pure animation. The point is just that "space wallpaper" covers two genuinely different products in Gloomia's catalog, and if what you actually want is something that reflects reality rather than just resembling it, Constellations, Orrery, and Asteroid Watch are the three to reach for.
Picking the right one for your desktop
If you want the sky above your own city rendered accurately and updating through the night, Constellations is the one to set up, and it is worth taking the few minutes to enter your real coordinates rather than leaving a default location in place. If you want a sense of where the planets actually are right now, plus a live read on anything passing near Earth, Orrery with the network permission enabled covers both in a single wallpaper. If asteroid tracking specifically is the draw, whether out of genuine interest in near-Earth objects or just wanting a live feed of something concrete happening in real time, Asteroid Watch is built around exactly that and shows more per-object detail than Orrery's asteroid layer does.
All three are part of Gloomia Pro, alongside the rest of the more than twenty wallpapers in the catalog, and like every premium wallpaper they can be tried live on your own desktop as a watermarked preview before you decide to buy. If you have not set up Gloomia yet, the setup guide covers installation and picking a first wallpaper, and the free vs. Pro breakdown covers exactly what unlocking Pro gets you beyond these three. You can also browse the full collection, including the three data-driven wallpapers covered here, on the wallpaper library page, or check current pricing on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Which Gloomia wallpapers use real astronomical data instead of just animation?
Three: Constellations, which draws the real night sky for the latitude and longitude you set; Orrery, which computes the current positions of the Sun, planets, dwarf planets, and Moon from real orbital data; and Asteroid Watch, which places real near-Earth objects from NASA/JPL's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies on their true flyby paths.
Do these wallpapers need an internet connection to work?
Constellations and the base version of Orrery run entirely offline, computing the sky and the planets from orbital data stored locally. Only the live NASA/JPL near-Earth asteroid layer, available on Orrery and on Asteroid Watch, requires the network permission to fetch current close-approach data.
What does the network permission actually unlock in Gloomia?
On Orrery, granting the network permission adds live NASA/JPL near-Earth asteroid data, marking asteroids passing near Earth with their miss distance. On Asteroid Watch, it pulls live NASA/JPL CNEOS near-Earth close-approach data and labels each object with its designation, distance in lunar distances, and velocity. Nothing else in Gloomia depends on this permission, and it can be left off entirely if you only want the offline sky and orbital views.
What is an orrery, and is Gloomia's Orrery wallpaper based on a real one?
An orrery is traditionally a mechanical model of the solar system, with the Sun at the center and a planet at the end of each rotating arm, named after the Earl of Orrery in the early 1700s. Gloomia's Orrery wallpaper is a modern, on-screen take on that same idea: the Sun at the center, with the planets, Pluto, dwarf planets, and the Moon's phase placed at their real current positions rather than a fixed illustration.
How is Constellations different from just a picture of stars?
Constellations computes which stars are actually visible from the latitude and longitude you enter, places them in their true positions, joins them into named constellation figures, and tracks the sky turning in real time as the night goes on, rather than looping a fixed star pattern.
Are Galaxy Spiral, Wormhole, and Nebula Drift also based on real data?
No, and that is by design. Galaxy Spiral, Wormhole, Nebula Drift, Binary Black Holes, and Black Hole Devour are purely artistic animations meant to look dramatic, with controls for color, speed, and shape. Only Constellations, Orrery, and Asteroid Watch are built from live or computed real astronomical data.
Can I choose which monitor the sky or the solar system centers on?
Yes. On a multi-monitor setup, Orrery lets you choose which screen the Sun centers on, and Asteroid Watch lets you choose which screen Earth centers on, the same way Starfield and Planet System let you pick which screen their focal point streams from.