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I'll take this opportunity to recommend Universe Sandbox[1], which is pretty cheap on steam and worth every penny. Turning on projected orbital lines in an N-b

I'll take this opportunity to recommend Universe Sandbox[1], which is pretty cheap on steam and worth every penny. Turning on projected orbital lines in an N-body simulation of our solar system and seeing what happens when you toss a star in there is really enlightening... the rings all shift in tandem in a visceral way that really helps me "feel" what happens. There's a simulation that comes out of the box that simulates the circumstances of the book "Nomad" (I haven't read the book) where a small solar-mass rogue black hole drifts past the solar system at high speed. With orbital path projections turned on you get to watch all the paths shift like wobbling hula hoops as the unseen object drifts past. Most orbits remain stable but very deeply shifted from where they were (earth's aphelion ends up far out where Jupiter was, with its perihelion much closer than before...) The effects described in the article are obviously less extreme, but the game helps me get a sense of just how perilous our planetary orbits are and how vulnerable to outside influences they can be. [1] http://universesandbox.com/ http://universesandbox.com/

shock-value 9y ago
Space engine http://spaceengine.org/ http://spaceengine.org/ is also worth mentioning
- tehsauce 9y ago
  Space engine doesn't have nbody or collisions yet, but if you want to explore a beautifully rendered and endlessly exolorable universe, highly recommend space engine. It's also developed almost entirely by a single guy in Russia.
antisthenes 9y ago
> Most orbits remain stable but very deeply shifted from where they were (earth's aphelion ends up far out where Jupiter was, with its perihelion much closer than before...) That's incredibly terrifying. Although from what I see in the book description, it focuses more on the drama aspect. I wouldn't mind someone exploring the technical aspect in more detail, e.g. what would be possible to do to prepare for such an event (if anything) and how likely it would lead to the extinction of civilization.
- saalweachter 9y ago
  Past a certain level of extreme disaster planning, every disaster plan converges on the same point: build (what amounts to) a space station. Whether your station is actually in space or five miles underground, you ultimately need to plan a fully self-contained, self-sufficient environment that will support human life.
- mirimir 9y ago
  Reminiscent of "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber (1951). The image of bringing in a pail of oxygen, to melt/boil by the fire, is wild.
- Merad 9y ago
  The scenario described is almost certainly the end of human civilization and the majority of life on earth. Assuming I’ve done the math right, an aphelion of ~5 AU and perihelion of ~0.9 AU gives a highly eccentric (e = 0.69) orbit taking 5 years. I’m just guessing here, but I imagine each orbit would start with 6-8 months of relatively normal temperatures as we made or closest pass by the sun, a year or so worth of dropping temperatures, 2.5 years of deep, deep freeze, and a year of slow warming as we approach the sun again. Each orbit is probably going is probably going to see the planet spending at least 3 years competely outside the habitable zone. I’d expect virtually all life as we know it on the surface to die in the first orbit. With enough warning we might be able to dig some deep facilities that could harness geothermal energy to generate power and avoid freezing. They might be able to use hydroponics or something to sustain themselves for a long time, but to what end?
  - meric 9y ago
    There’s life beneath deep oceans that thrive on geothermal - I think it’s possible some life can survive.
maskedinvader 9y ago
if you are going to bite the bullet and get this game, Id recommend the 2nd iteration of the game, think they call it Universe Sandbox^2 (squared) . Nicer graphics and speed improvements in the second version.Its got a steam VR version too for those with VR hardware.
- always_good 9y ago
  Looking at the link, what else are people going to buy? I'm confused as to what you're clarifying.
  - burnte 9y ago
    If you search Steam, there used to be V1 and this is V2, so there's that potential confusion.
mih 9y ago
... or if you want a casual experience for free right in your browser you can try http://www.stefanom.org/spc/ http://www.stefanom.org/spc/
ninkendo 9y ago
Made a gif of this from the game: https://imgur.com/a/6NXQ7 https://imgur.com/a/6NXQ7

shock-value 9y ago

Space engine http://spaceengine.org/ http://spaceengine.org/ is also worth mentioning

tehsauce 9y ago
Space engine doesn't have nbody or collisions yet, but if you want to explore a beautifully rendered and endlessly exolorable universe, highly recommend space engine. It's also developed almost entirely by a single guy in Russia.

antisthenes 9y ago

> Most orbits remain stable but very deeply shifted from where they were (earth's aphelion ends up far out where Jupiter was, with its perihelion much closer than before...) That's incredibly terrifying. Although from what I see in the book description, it focuses more on the drama aspect. I wouldn't mind someone exploring the technical aspect in more detail, e.g. what would be possible to do to prepare for such an event (if anything) and how likely it would lead to the extinction of civilization.

saalweachter 9y ago
Past a certain level of extreme disaster planning, every disaster plan converges on the same point: build (what amounts to) a space station. Whether your station is actually in space or five miles underground, you ultimately need to plan a fully self-contained, self-sufficient environment that will support human life.
mirimir 9y ago
Reminiscent of "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber (1951). The image of bringing in a pail of oxygen, to melt/boil by the fire, is wild.
Merad 9y ago
The scenario described is almost certainly the end of human civilization and the majority of life on earth. Assuming I’ve done the math right, an aphelion of ~5 AU and perihelion of ~0.9 AU gives a highly eccentric (e = 0.69) orbit taking 5 years. I’m just guessing here, but I imagine each orbit would start with 6-8 months of relatively normal temperatures as we made or closest pass by the sun, a year or so worth of dropping temperatures, 2.5 years of deep, deep freeze, and a year of slow warming as we approach the sun again. Each orbit is probably going is probably going to see the planet spending at least 3 years competely outside the habitable zone. I’d expect virtually all life as we know it on the surface to die in the first orbit. With enough warning we might be able to dig some deep facilities that could harness geothermal energy to generate power and avoid freezing. They might be able to use hydroponics or something to sustain themselves for a long time, but to what end?
- meric 9y ago
  There’s life beneath deep oceans that thrive on geothermal - I think it’s possible some life can survive.

maskedinvader 9y ago

if you are going to bite the bullet and get this game, Id recommend the 2nd iteration of the game, think they call it Universe Sandbox^2 (squared) . Nicer graphics and speed improvements in the second version.Its got a steam VR version too for those with VR hardware.

always_good 9y ago
Looking at the link, what else are people going to buy? I'm confused as to what you're clarifying.
- burnte 9y ago
  If you search Steam, there used to be V1 and this is V2, so there's that potential confusion.

mih 9y ago

... or if you want a casual experience for free right in your browser you can try http://www.stefanom.org/spc/ http://www.stefanom.org/spc/

ninkendo 9y ago

Made a gif of this from the game: https://imgur.com/a/6NXQ7 https://imgur.com/a/6NXQ7