So I decided to program a Solar System simulator in WebGL and Javascript (opens in new tab)

(lab.la-grange.ca)

83 pointsmartimoose12y ago26 comments

26 comments

Huh, looking at that Orrery, I realise my mental map of the solar system was a little off.

I always though comets like Haley's went much further out on their trip away from the sun, but that shows it doesn't even reach past Pluto.

And the orbits of Mercury and Mars are a lot less circular than I thought.

Pxtl12y ago

The Oort cloud/Kuiper-belt area goes way further than Pluto, but the comets that have orbits from out there into the solar system are too long-period to get fancey names like Halley's. Think about it - Halley's comet comes by every 76 years. That's insanely short for a Kuiperoid.

hazz12y ago

Here's the article describing how the simulator was built: http://lab.la-grange.ca/en/building-jsorrery-a-javascript-we...

typpo12y ago

I really like how you've documented the challenges you encountered. The "Building jsOrrery" article is probably one of the best sources on the internet describing the process of building a full solar system viz. Your code is also very logical and easy to follow.

I made a similar simulation that shows the inner planets and asteroids, called Asterank (http://asterank.com/3d). Your code is open source, but does it have a license? I'm interested in adapting your accurate star background for my simulation.

martimooseOP12y ago

MIT license. Glad to know you like it. Your project is nice as well, I like the addition of the asteroid belt!

Joe-Z12y ago

for the people who came here wanting to see a solar system simulation, here's the direct link:

http://mgvez.github.io/jsorrery/

martimooseOP12y ago

You're right, I should probably have posted the link to the live project instead of the blog post. I figured that the story of why I did it is interesting as well though.

garethadams12y ago

I was more expecting to see the link of how you did it on HN. I mean I got there from the link you posted but as this is a technical crowd I'd have thought that was the more interesting thing.

As an aside, I'm very impressed that the Sun appears to dim during a solar eclipse (http://mgvez.github.io/jsorrery/?scenario=EarthMoon&planetSc...) but I'm surprised it isn't hidden completely - have I just got the timestamp wrong for the specific viewpoint you're using?

1 more reply

jeena12y ago

That is more then awesome, I will show it to my daughter, it is funny how different the reality is to the map of our solar system we get through traditional media like TV.

martimooseOP12y ago

I'm very happy to know that this project has educational value!

damon_c12y ago

Looking at this, it's hard to believe that we have subsisted for so long on the standard top down flat version of this that we have seen in books since... Pluto was discovered. The children of the future will not have to remember those dark days.

Solar System visualization industry: Disrupted.

Pxtl12y ago

For fans of this, the biggest project on this subject is traditionally Celestia, but that's pretty long in the tooth now.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/celestia/

damon_c12y ago

This pretty much settles the "Is Pluto a planet?" debate for me.

Pxtl12y ago

I'd let the "scale planets" go to more than 100x. Even at 100x they're crazy small when looking at a full map.

dodo5312y ago

Appropriate to do an orbital mechanics thing for a company called La Grange (=> Lagrange) :oP

lettergram12y ago

What the author forgets is, these projects can help you gain a good reputation.

The_Double12y ago

It would be really cool if this supported multitouch pan/zoom.

xixixao12y ago

It supports scroll to zoom.

fastaguy8812y ago

Doesn't seem to work with Safari.

martimooseOP12y ago

Yeah, it seems that WebGL is not enabled by default on Safari. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3300585?start=0&tstart=...

damon_c12y ago

Works ok for me.

Safari: Version 7.0 (9537.71)

systematical12y ago

Awesome stuff.

benihana12y ago

The Apollo 8 flyby scenario is amazing. It's awesome how much this changes my mental model.

martimooseOP12y ago

Thanks, this is for me the best part. To be honest, I really don't know how realistic it is. All I can say is that I plugged in the numbers and that's the output.

You can read about it, if you haven't already, on http://lab.la-grange.ca/en/showing-an-apollo-mission-free-re...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

26 comments

forktheif12y ago

Huh, looking at that Orrery, I realise my mental map of the solar system was a little off.

I always though comets like Haley's went much further out on their trip away from the sun, but that shows it doesn't even reach past Pluto.

And the orbits of Mercury and Mars are a lot less circular than I thought.

Pxtl12y ago

hazz12y ago

Here's the article describing how the simulator was built: http://lab.la-grange.ca/en/building-jsorrery-a-javascript-we...

typpo12y ago

martimooseOP12y ago

MIT license. Glad to know you like it. Your project is nice as well, I like the addition of the asteroid belt!

Joe-Z12y ago

for the people who came here wanting to see a solar system simulation, here's the direct link:

http://mgvez.github.io/jsorrery/

martimooseOP12y ago

You're right, I should probably have posted the link to the live project instead of the blog post. I figured that the story of why I did it is interesting as well though.

garethadams12y ago

I was more expecting to see the link of how you did it on HN. I mean I got there from the link you posted but as this is a technical crowd I'd have thought that was the more interesting thing.

1 more reply

jeena12y ago

That is more then awesome, I will show it to my daughter, it is funny how different the reality is to the map of our solar system we get through traditional media like TV.

martimooseOP12y ago

I'm very happy to know that this project has educational value!

damon_c12y ago

Solar System visualization industry: Disrupted.

Pxtl12y ago

For fans of this, the biggest project on this subject is traditionally Celestia, but that's pretty long in the tooth now.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/celestia/

damon_c12y ago

This pretty much settles the "Is Pluto a planet?" debate for me.

Pxtl12y ago

I'd let the "scale planets" go to more than 100x. Even at 100x they're crazy small when looking at a full map.

dodo5312y ago

Appropriate to do an orbital mechanics thing for a company called La Grange (=> Lagrange) :oP

lettergram12y ago

What the author forgets is, these projects can help you gain a good reputation.

The_Double12y ago

It would be really cool if this supported multitouch pan/zoom.

xixixao12y ago

It supports scroll to zoom.

fastaguy8812y ago

Doesn't seem to work with Safari.

martimooseOP12y ago

Yeah, it seems that WebGL is not enabled by default on Safari. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3300585?start=0&tstart=...

damon_c12y ago

Works ok for me.

Safari: Version 7.0 (9537.71)

systematical12y ago

Awesome stuff.

benihana12y ago

The Apollo 8 flyby scenario is amazing. It's awesome how much this changes my mental model.

martimooseOP12y ago

Thanks, this is for me the best part. To be honest, I really don't know how realistic it is. All I can say is that I plugged in the numbers and that's the output.

You can read about it, if you haven't already, on http://lab.la-grange.ca/en/showing-an-apollo-mission-free-re...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse