So there I was, scrolling Stories on Snapchat like any other evening, and out of nowhere three friends had turned themselves into glowing planets. One’s got rings wrapped around her head. Another looks like he’s drifting through a purple galaxy, just casually talking like nothing’s weird about it. I didn’t ask for any of this, but within about ten seconds I wanted in too.
Turns out that’s the solar system planets filter that’s been going around Snapchat lately. I’d seen it float past my feed for weeks before I actually bothered to try it myself. Mostly I just wanted to know if this one had legs, or if it was going to disappear in a week like half the filters that show up and vanish just as fast.
Turns Out It’s Not One Filter It’s a Whole Bunch of Them
This is where a lot of people get tripped up, myself included at first. There’s no single “the” planet filter you find once and you’re set. It’s actually a pile of different lenses, made by a bunch of different creators, and Snapchat’s search just dumps them all together because they share keywords.
Some of these turn your actual face into a stylized planet — think Saturn’s rings sitting around your jaw like a weird halo. Others leave your face alone and instead build a whole animated solar system spinning behind you while you talk. I even ran into one where tiny planets circled around your head like a crown, and I’ll admit, it looked kind of dumb but also kind of great.
So if you type in “planets” and the first thing that pops up doesn’t grab you, don’t stop there. Scroll a bit further — the better ones tend to sit a few rows down, not right at the top.
Why This One Caught On
Nothing complicated going on here, honestly. Space just looks good on camera. Dark backgrounds, glowing colors, a bit of movement — all of it makes even a boring Snap look like you put effort in when you really didn’t.
There’s also a bit of a personality-quiz vibe baked into it. People eat up being told “you’re basically Neptune” the same way they used to eat up those old Buzzfeed quizzes back in the day. It hits that same little dopamine spot. Nobody actually needs a planet filter in their life, but it’s fun in that same pointless way a caption contest is fun.
And on top of that, it’s fast. Ten seconds, no editing, no learning curve. Tap, record, done.
How to Actually Track It Down
Snapchat’s search function can be kind of moody about what it decides to show you, but here’s what’s worked when I’ve gone looking:
- Open the camera and tap the search bar up top, or just swipe through the lens carousel at the bottom instead
- Try a few different words — “solar system,” “planets,” and “galaxy” all pull up slightly different results, so don’t just stick to one
- Skip past the first couple of results; smaller creators tend to make the more interesting ones, not the big default lenses
- Preview before you commit to recording, since a few of these run laggy on older phones
One thing I picked up on by accident: lighting matters way more than you’d expect. These filters track your face pretty closely, so sitting near a window or a lamp makes a noticeable difference compared to sitting under some dim overhead light where everything just looks muddy.
If a friend’s using a version you like and you want that exact one, tap directly on their Snap while it’s playing. Snapchat will usually show you the lens name so you can grab it for yourself.
Turns Out People Use It for More Than Just Fun
I figured this was throwaway content at first, but a handful of people have actually gotten some use out of it:
- Small creators doing science or astronomy content have leaned on it to make their Snaps pop without doing any actual editing
- One teacher I follow mentioned using it to get her students talking about real planets, which is a surprisingly decent way to sneak in a science lesson nobody was excited about
- Plenty of people are just bored of their usual filters and this gave them something new to mess with
Nothing life-changing, but it’s more than nothing.
Should You Bother?
Yeah, probably. It’s free, takes almost no time, and worst case you end up with a strange Snap you delete right after. Best case, you’ve got a new favorite filter until Snapchat moves on to whatever’s next.
These trends don’t stick around forever, though. The solar system planets Snapchat filter will likely fade out in a month or so, replaced by something else entirely — maybe black holes next, who knows. If you’re curious, now’s probably the time to try it, while it’s still showing up all over everyone’s Discover page.
