Download Sunlit Earth
Sunlit Earth renders Earth as seen from space and applies the result as a desktop wallpaper. It combines current sunlight, city lights, cloud cover, and astronomical positions to produce a realistic scene. Users control the camera angle, zoom, and visual effects. The wallpaper updates automatically throughout the day. Multiple monitors are supported with mirrored or panoramic layouts. Images can be exported at custom resolutions. The application runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Sunlit Earth shows the planet with correct day and night lighting, recent satellite clouds, and celestial objects in their proper places. The view can be adjusted by dragging the globe or using presets. Automatic refresh keeps the desktop current. The software stores settings in a configuration file and caches cloud imagery for reuse. Rendering uses the GPU when available and falls back to software otherwise. Command-line options allow image export and display inspection.
Sunlit Earth creates a live view of Earth from space for the wallpaper. It reflects the current time, sunlight, clouds, and positions of the Sun, Moon, and stars. Users choose the camera angle and visual settings. The scene updates in the background and fits various monitor layouts. Textures range from 2048 to 8192 pixels wide. The application is written in Rust and runs on major desktop operating systems.
Use Cases for Sunlit Earth
| Mouse-driven globe rotation, zoom, and frame shifting | Numeric camera position and orientation controls |
| Periodic desktop refresh reflecting current date and solar position | Preview composition before applying as background |
| Near real-time cloud overlay from downloaded satellite imagery | Cached cloud layer with offline surface texture fallback |
| Astronomically accurate Sun, Moon, planet positions | Constellation and galactic plane placement for chosen datetime |
| Panorama distribution across multiple display configurations | Command-line layout inspection diagnoses screen arrangement issues |
| Adjustable lighting, atmosphere, opacity, celestial brightness parameters | Date override enables rendering past or future scenes |
| Headless PNG rendering with custom output resolution | Command-line render subcommand uses saved configuration |
| Texture width selection trades memory for surface detail | GPU rendering with software fallback when unavailable |
| Platform-specific directories store settings, caches, wallpapers | Separate config file simplifies backup and troubleshooting |
| Flags force software rendering or window-only launch mode | Render subcommand accepts custom paths and dimensions |
| Minimize to tray keeps background wallpaper updates active | Tray icon menu reopens settings or exits program |
| Starting views for globe, continent, terminator compositions | Reset restores last saved configuration state |