Watch sea ice grow and recede with the seasons because of the tilt of the Earth: change the tilt and change the seasons. Real science, real physics, no supercomputer required. N-body simulation at almost any speed using Newtonian mechanics. Collide Planets & StarsĮpic, mind blowing collisions of massive planetary bodies that leave behind molten craters. It is not going to make you cry, and it won’t sit in the top of your most-played. Universe Sandbox is not going to change your life. The gamma-ray burst locations, found in distant galaxies, can be found. Visual Lagrange points of the Earth and Moon can be seen, along with the galaxy and star system. The Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft can be seen in its encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Players are able to view the Rho Cancri (55 Cancri) star in the constellation of Cancer they can see the five known planets in the system. Moons are able to be converged into planets, and may be able to affect the planet’s atmosphere or minerals. The trans-Neptunian object 2008 KV42 with a retrograde motion orbit can be seen in a simulation. Such as the Shoemaker Levy 9’s collision with Jupiter. Comets can be observed colliding into planets. A visual size comparison of the largest known stars and planets can be explored, and real time animations of events like the Apophis asteroid passing near Earth in the year 2029 can be watched. During gameplay, the player may be introduced to the regions that include the 100 largest bodies in the Solar System, the nearest 1000 stars to the Sun or the nearest 70 galaxies to the Milky Way.
Real simulations include the Solar System, which includes the eight planets, five minor planets, 160+ moons, and hundreds of asteroids and predictions of future events such as the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxy collision which will occur in 3.8 to 4.5 billion years. Simulationsīoth realistic and fictional simulations appear in Universe Sandbox, with each area of outer space being placed by default or according to the player’s preference. If Copernicus and Galileo were alive today, they would surely delight in exploring the sandbox for days on end. All this is presented in a gorgeous visualization with a very elegant user interface. Players can select any of these objects, view their properties and even change them, seeing how changes impact trajectory and orbit, and how the object would interact differently with other objects. Universe Sandbox may take the award for most literal name - well, maybe it if were prefaced with “Amazingly Effective and Detailed.” In it, players can experiment with an immense 3-D simulation of our universe, including its galaxies, star systems, planets, moons, and comets. The original Universe Sandbox was only available for Windows-based PCs, but an updated version was released for Windows.
This older version of Universe Sandbox looks a little plain, but there's still plenty of educational space exploration to be had here.Universe Sandbox 2 Free Download RepacklabĪnd other objects in the universe, such as moons, planets, asteroids, comets, and black holes. It's hugely improved in every area - graphics, physics, climate simulation and more - and can be yours for $24.99. Or, if you're really enthusiastic about the idea, you might prefer Universal Sandbox 2. But Universal Sandbox Premium ($9.95) removes that restriction, and allows you to create simulations as well as open them. (That's an hour of manipulating the simulations - you can browse them in a basic way forever.). You only get one hour of playing around like this in the free version, unfortunately, so use it wisely. Maybe explode something, and watch how the orbits change.
The program has a lengthy list of other simulations to explore, from relatively local (Saturn and its rings, various planets and their moons), to very distant (distant stars or entire galaxies) and historic (Pioneer, Voyager, Ulysses and other spacecraft as they fly past planets).īest of all, you can play around with any of this just to see what happens. That's good, but you're not restricted to the Solar System. It's easy to zoom in and out, or click and drag to move your viewpoint in 3D space. Open the "Solar System" simulation, for instance, and you'll see an animated view of our solar system showing all the planets, the moons and their actual orbits.Ĭlicking near an interesting celestial body displays details like its velocity, mass, diameter, density and more. The program works well as an educational tool.
Universe Sandbox Legacy is a physics-based space simulator with some unusual fun extras.