Topics › Astronomy

Thursday, 22nd April 2010

Solar system evolution

After running my solar system simulation several times I was interested to see how robust the system was. By this I mean that despite the fact that the particles start off randomly distributed, the progress of the simulation is quite similar each time. The details weren't exactly the same each times, but in general, a star formed at the centre of the universe at about the same time and ended up with a few satellites, while several particles were sent flying off into space.

Topics:

Wednesday, 14th April 2010

Solar system simulation

I was searching the net for physics simulations made in Pygame (scouting out the competition) when I found a gravity simulation. The simulation is very straightforward (and hence very good): it starts with some randomly distributed particles, which coalesce due to the force of gravity, often leading to some particles orbiting others. It is basically a simulation of how a cloud of dust can become a sun, or solar system.

Topics:

Sunday, 11th October 2009

Martian landscape photography

Here’s an interesting mixture of science and photography: high-resolution photos of various Martian landscapes. I was quite surprised at how varied the environment is (though it should be noted that the images have been pseudo-coloured). Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised; earth’s landscapes would still be very varied without life. It just goes to show that beauty and complex patterns are not exclusive to life.

Topics: