Universe Sandbox

Vorlage:Multiple issues Vorlage:Infobox software Universe Sandbox is an interactive space and gravity simulator. Using Universe Sandbox, one can see the effects of gravity on objects in the universe and run scale simulations of our Solar System, various galaxies or other simulations, while at the same time interacting and maintaining control over gravity, time, and other objects in the universe (moons, planets, asteroids, comets, black holes, etc.). The original Universe Sandbox is only available for Windows-based PCs, but the new version Universe Sandbox ² is on Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux.

Universe Sandbox was designed and developed by Dan Dixon, who worked on this educational project for over fifteen years before launching version 1.0 in May 2008. Universe Sandbox version 2.0 was released on May 2, 2010. Version 2.1 was released on Steam on Friday April 29, 2011.

Dan worked full-time on the project since 2010, and in 2011, he founded the company Giant Army (named after the metaphor of standing on the shoulders of giants). Since then he has hired six additional developers; first Christian Herold and Georg Steinröhder in 2011, then Thomas Grønneløv and Eric Hilton in 2012. Naomi Goldenson joined in 2013 and Chad Jenkins in 2014. Christian works on the architecture and user interface, Georg works on the graphics, Thomas works on implementing physics and mathematics libraries and Eric, who is an astronomer, works on ensuring that the simulated universe is plausible. Naomi implements climate modeling and Chad tackles planetary material composition.

Simulations

Many simulations are included with Universe Sandbox, both realistic and fictional simulations:

• Our Solar System which includes the 8 planets, 5 minor planets, 160+ moons, and hundreds of asteroids
• The Andromeda & Milky Way galaxy collision which will occur in 3.8 or 4.5 billion years
• The 100 largest bodies in our Solar System
• The nearest 1000 stars to our Sun
• The nearest 70 Galaxies to the Milky Way
• A visual size comparison of the largest known stars and planets
• The Apophis asteroid passing near Earth in the year 2029
• The comet, Shoemaker Levy 9’s collision with Jupiter
• The 2008 KV42, a recently discovered trans-Neptunian object with a retrograde motion orbit
• Moons converging into a single planet
• The Rho Cancri (55 Cancri) Solar System – which is a star with 5 known planets
• The Pioneer & Voyager encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune
• Visual Lagrange points of the Earth & Moon
• Gamma Ray Burst locations

See also

• List of PC titles
• List of PC exclusive titles
• Celestia
• Digital Universe
• Google Sky
• RedShift
• Starry Night
• Stellarium
• Worldwide Telescope

External links

• Vorlage:Official website