What software can prototype a planetary system?
Is there any software tool for quickly prototyping a planetary system? Ideally this should:
- Allow for placement of planets of different sizes and masses around a star.
- Allow for examination of the interactions of the planets caused by gravity.
- Allow for examination of day and night on the planets and eclipses.
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1 answer
My personal favorite is My Solar System, by the University of Colorado-Boulder. You can also access version 2.04 directly here.
It's pretty basic, but it has some cool features. You can choose to view from the perspective of the system's center of mass, of that of a hypothetical stationary observer. Other features include tracing orbits of the objects.
You can adjust a few different quantities:
- Number of objects (up to 4)
- Mass of objects
- Position of objects
- Velocity (magnitude and direction) of objects
These can give a pretty good description of a system of bodies. You can't model day and night, but you can satisfy your other criteria.
By the way, the system is free.
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