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Show HN: A solar system simulation in the browser

12 points by watermelonson ago | 4 comments

I didn't realize Universe Sandbox ran on MacOS, and I was in the mood to play around a bit.

Some functions it's got: - Random system generation - Sonification is super fun too - Habitability Simulation (Just for fun, don't cite this please) - Replacing, spawning, deleting objects

I've had tons of fun building this, so I hope someone else can share the joy. It's free and runs in the browser.

I'd love to hear any feedback. I think this is at a state where I might leave it as it is, but if people are interested in other features, maybe I'll keep working on it. I've kept saying I'll stop working on this for a while now though.

chistev |next [-]

Nice job. I'm never failed to be impressed by any representation of the scale of space. It's humbling every single time.

Question though.

For Venus I saw Life Probability: 31.3% and Mars I saw Life Probability: 0.0%,

Isn't the likelihood of life greater for Mars? I thought Venus was the hottest planet in our solar system (hotter than Mercury even), so how could it possibly be more probable to have life than Mars (a planet that humans are hoping to get to)?

watermelonson |root |parent [-]

Yes, so I added some super rudimentary simulations. I am reading into astrobiology at the moment, so I should probably put a huge asterisk on those numbers.

If you generate random systems, there's a random atmosphere generation that also plays into it. But I think maybe in the default solar system I should be a bit more conservative with the phrasing.

Thank you for checking it out. And your feedback!

And yes, I fully agree that space is fascinating. One of my obsessions for sure

1970-01-01 |previous [-]

Kudos, it works! I don't know why, but I found your rendering of the sun terrifying. It just looks angry from every angle.

Also, Jupiter seems to be rotating on it's side.

watermelonson |root |parent [-]

Haha I just took some textures for the planets. They do look wild. If I continue, maybe i would make custom artworks for them.

I’ll double check the rotations. Thanks for the note!