ASCII Magic
Open tool

Animated ASCII space art

These ASCII art space scenes move: a rocket climbs off the pad, the moon runs through its phases, a black hole bends light around itself and seven planets sweep along tilted orbits. Each one is hand-coded in characters, layer by layer, so stars, gas clouds and hardware stay readable even at small sizes.

18 pieces

View use cases
Asteroid BeltCosmos
Black HoleCosmos
Comet CrossingCosmos
Rotating EarthCosmos
Solar EclipseCosmos
Meteor Shower LakeCosmos
Moon PhasesCosmos
Nebula DriftCosmos
Orbiting PlanetsCosmos
Saturn Ring ShadowCosmos
Ringed Gas GiantCosmos
Rocket LaunchCosmos
Rover on Red DunesCosmos
Satellite OrbitCosmos
Solar Flare EruptionCosmos
Spiral GalaxyCosmos
Starfield WarpCosmos
Tethered SpacewalkCosmos

Where to start

Use them where a little wonder helps: a product launch page, an astronomy club site, the README of a project with a space name, or a terminal that opens onto the stars. Wide scenes like Meteor Shower Lake fill a hero banner, while the Moon Phases loop sits neatly beside a block of text.

Rocket LaunchA rocket ignites at dusk and climbs away on a column of flame, a natural fit for launch announcements and release notes.Moon PhasesThe moon waxes and wanes as its terminator sweeps across the craters, compact enough for a README or a sidebar.Black HoleA swirling accretion disk with its far side bent into a glowing halo makes a dramatic dark hero or wallpaper.Orbiting PlanetsSeven lit planets on tilted elliptical orbits, inner worlds racing the outer ones, for science pages and classrooms.Tethered SpacewalkAn astronaut drifts on a curling tether above the turning earth, a friendly choice for a page that feels lost in space.Starfield WarpHundreds of stars streak outward at warp speed, a fast loop that works as a loading screen or a bold background.

ASCII rocket art for launches and release notes

Rocket Launch runs through ignition, liftoff and the climb away from a billowing cloud, which makes it the obvious pick when you ship something. If you want the wait before liftoff, the Coming Soon Rocket at Coming Soon Rocket vents steam through a ten second countdown first, a good fit for a page that is not live yet. A few ways to use a rocket:

  • Launch page hero: embed Rocket Launch at a large size above your headline.
  • Release notes and changelog emails: download the GIF and place it above the first entry.
  • Project README: commit the GIF and reference it from the README tab snippet.
  • Deploy scripts: run npx --yes https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/cli.tgz rocket-launch --seconds=3 when a deploy finishes.

ASCII moon art: phases, eclipses and night skies

Moon Phases sweeps the terminator slowly across the craters from new moon to full and back, so it reads as calm rather than busy. Solar Eclipse slides the moon across the sun until the pale corona flares out at totality, and Meteor Shower Lake pairs a deep violet sky with its reflection in a still mountain lake. These suit sleep and meditation apps, dark mode announcements, astronomy newsletters and event pages for an eclipse watch. For a cuter take, the Drowsy Crescent Moon at Drowsy Crescent Moon snores in a striped nightcap. Pause any of them on the frame you like and press Copy as text to paste the moon into a code block or a chat.

Stars, galaxies and planets as wallpapers and backgrounds

Deep space pieces such as Spiral Galaxy, Nebula Drift, Black Hole and Asteroid Belt are built to fill a frame edge to edge, which makes them strong wallpapers. Pause on the frame you want, then export Desktop 4K, Desktop 1080p or the phone size as a PNG. For a page background, embed the piece behind your content and keep the text on a solid panel so it stays readable. The looks change the mood: Halftone dots turn a starfield into soft points of light, Binary gives Starfield Warp a data stream feel, and the mono attribute draws a whole scene in one color to match a brand. Ringed Gas Giant and Saturn Ring Shadow also make striking square posts for social media.

Space scenes in your terminal

Every piece plays in a terminal in color, so your shell can open onto the stars. Run npx --yes https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/cli.tgz orbiting-planets to watch the solar system loop, or npx --yes https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/cli.tgz satellite-orbit for a satellite slipping behind a cloudy planet. Add npx --yes https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/cli.tgz comet --seconds=3 to your shell profile for a short welcome each time a terminal opens. On a shared server, print one still frame with --frame and use it as the message of the day, so everyone who logs in sees Rover on Red Dunes or the Spiral Galaxy. The terminal welcome guide at A terminal welcome screen with animated ASCII art walks through the setup for zsh, bash and fish.

Ways to use ASCII cosmos

Step-by-step guides with a live builder and code to copy.

All 18 use cases →
Wallpaper

ASCII art wallpapers for desktop and phone

Download ASCII art wallpapers in 4K, 1080p and phone sizes. Pick any scene, choose dark or light, and export a full-resolution PNG in one click.

Website

An animated ASCII hero for GitHub Pages

Add a live, animated ASCII art hero to a GitHub Pages or personal website with one script tag. No framework, no build step, under 10 KB per piece.

Error page

Animated ASCII art for 404 and error pages

Make a 404 or 500 page people remember with animated ASCII art. Ready-made error pieces plus any scene or creature, embedded with one tag.

Terminal

A terminal welcome screen with animated ASCII art

Show an animated ASCII piece every time you open a terminal, or set a still one as your server's message of the day. Works with zsh, bash and fish.

/FAQS

ASCII cosmos: frequently asked questions

Answers about using ASCII cosmos on websites, in READMEs, in terminals and in exports.

Q. Where can I find animated ASCII art space scenes?
This category collects them: planets, galaxies, comets, eclipses, rockets, satellites, a rover and an astronaut on a spacewalk. Each piece has its own page with a live player, an embed tag, a terminal command and GIF, video and wallpaper exports. All of them are MIT licensed for personal and commercial use.
Q. Are these ASCII art space pieces made from telescope photos?
No, every space piece is hand-coded as an animation rather than converted from a photo. That is why the layers stay clean: stars, gas, rings and hardware are each drawn and colored separately. To turn your own astrophotography into ASCII, use the ASCII Magic editor at ASCII Magic editor.
Q. Is there an animated ASCII rocket I can add to my website?
Yes, Rocket Launch shows a rocket igniting at dusk and climbing away on a column of flame. Add the script tag once, then <ascii-art piece="rocket-launch"><ASCII library-art> where the rocket should appear. It plays only while it is on screen and shows a still frame to visitors who prefer reduced motion.
Q. How do I put ASCII art of a rocket in a GitHub README?
Download the GIF from the Rocket Launch page, commit it to your repository and reference it with an img tag. GitHub does not run scripts in READMEs, so an animated image is the way to get motion there. The README tab on the piece page gives you the snippet to paste.
Q. Is there ASCII moon art that shows the phases?
Yes, Moon Phases waxes from new to full and wanes back again, with the terminator sweeping slowly across the craters. It is compact, so it fits a sidebar, a README or a newsletter header. For the moon crossing in front of the sun, see Solar Eclipse in the same category.
Q. Can I copy ASCII art of the moon as plain text?
Yes, pause Moon Phases on the phase you want and press Copy as text to copy that frame. Paste it inside a code block in chat apps or Markdown so a monospace font keeps its shape. The copy is plain characters, so the colors stay on the page.
Q. Where can I find ASCII art stars for a background?
Starfield Warp, Spiral Galaxy, Nebula Drift and Meteor Shower Lake are all star-filled scenes that work as backgrounds. Embed one behind your content, or export a 4K PNG for a static background. For a slim strip of twinkling stars between sections, try the Twinkle Star Band divider at Twinkle Star Band.
Q. Which space animation works as a loading screen?
Starfield Warp is the best fit, since streaking stars read as motion and progress at any size. Rocket Launch also works for a longer wait, such as a deploy or an upload. Show the embed while loading and remove it when your content arrives, as the website loaders guide at ASCII loading spinners and progress bars for websites explains.
Q. What does the Black Hole piece show?
It shows a black hole's accretion disk swirling around the dark shadow, with the far side of the disk bent by gravity into a glowing halo. That bending is gravitational lensing, the effect that makes these objects look so strange. The piece works as a dark, dramatic hero or a desktop wallpaper.
Q. Are the planet orbits realistic?
They are artistic, but they follow the real pattern: in Orbiting Planets the inner worlds race around the sun while the outer ones move slowly on tilted elliptical paths. For orbits driven by gravity itself, see Binary Star Orbit and Three Body Orbit in Motion Lab at Motion Lab.
Q. Can I use an ASCII space scene on a 404 page?
Yes, Tethered Spacewalk and Starfield Warp are both tagged for 404 pages, and a drifting astronaut says lost in space without a word. Embed the piece on your 404.html with a plain link back home underneath. The 404 page guide at Animated ASCII art for 404 and error pages has a complete example to copy.
Q. Can I change the colors of a space piece to match my site?
Yes, the embed tag takes attributes for that. Add mono to draw the scene in one color, bg to set the background and contrast to adjust the tone. Use look to redraw it as Halftone dots, Blocks or Binary, or chars to supply your own characters, and preview the looks on the piece page first.

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