Milankovitch Cycles — Interactive Orbit & Insolation Visualization

About this visualization

Milankovitch cycles are quasi-periodic variations in Earth's orbital configuration that modulate the seasonal and latitudinal distribution of insolation, and are widely regarded as the pacemaker of Quaternary glaciation. This page animates the three orbital parameters from −1000 to +60 kyr:

Eccentricity (e, ~100 kyr) — shape of the orbit;

Obliquity (ε, ~41 kyr) — axial tilt; controls seasonal contrast;

Climatic precession (e·sinϖ, ~21 kyr) — timing of the seasons relative to perihelion.

Each pane offers two views of how the orbital parameters modulate seasonal insolation. Left pane: Orbit (the full geometry from above the north ecliptic pole — the ellipse deforms with eccentricity, the perihelion advances, the axis precesses) and Solstice drift (two static schematics plus a live animation with the Earth locked at the June solstice — watch climatic precession drag the season along the orbit relative to perihelion). Right pane: Precession (axial precession under fixed illumination) and NH summer (June-solstice Sun–Earth distance and daily insolation at 65°N — the quantity central to the Milankovitch hypothesis — with the orbit overlaid edge-on: the amber perihelion marker periodically passes through the Earth).

Data & credits

Orbital data: Laskar et al. (2004), doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041335 (La2004 orbital solution) — orbital elements and the 65°N June-solstice insolation series computed with the insolation Python package.

The solstice-drift schematic (left pane, second view) follows the geometry of Berger, A. (1978), “Long-term variations of daily insolation and Quaternary climatic changes”, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 35(12), 2362–2367, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1978)035<2362:LTVODI>2.0.CO;2; the insolation series itself is computed from the La2004 orbital solution with the insolation package above.

Note: NH-summer Sun–Earth distance and axial-tilt swing (×6) exaggerated in the summer view; the solstice-drift schematic uses an exaggerated eccentricity; Earth's orbital phase is schematic.

Version 2.1 · Updated 2026-09-20

−1000.0 kyr

Eccentricity (e)—

Obliquity (ε)—

Climatic precession (e·sinϖ)—

NH summer solstice—

Perihelion (closest to Sun)

eccentricity exaggerated ×3

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−1000.0 kyr