What are some good simulation programs?

[fatal291]

not Celestia. I want a good program that actually shows galixies colliding and crashing to one another. I want it to actually be physically realistic

 

[qso1]

From what I've seen so far, Celestia is really pretty good...and was free last I checked. None of the commercially available programs show colliding galaxies AFAIK but you may want to google and shop around. I have Starry Night and the version I have doesn't even get you beyond 20K light years. Newer versions take you out far enough to see other galaxies but the timescale Starry Night is set to does'nt cover the time it would take galaxies to collide.<br /><br />Even if it did, Starry Night uses images of galaxies mapped to simple 3D planes. Having two of those appear to collide would not be physically accurate as they simply pass through each other. Colliding galaxies would be more accurately modelled if collision detection is part of the program.<br /><br />Cosmologists have such things as colliding galaxies modeled for them in supercomputers that actually calculate for the distortion and/or redistribution of matter expected in such collisions. Those are expensive programs as you can probably imagine. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[tfwthom]

Ya might try this:<br /><br />http://skytonight.com/resources/software/3304926.html<br /><br />Internet Links to Public Domain, Freeware, and Shareware Astronomy Programs<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1" color="#3366ff">www.siriuslookers.org</font> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thanks, I see a simulation category that something like colliding galaxies may be available in. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[fatal291]

They are freeware

 

[qso1]

Thats even better. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[tfwthom]

The October 2006 issue of Sky & Telescope has a piece on the Milky Way and Andromeda collision. There is a link to http://skytonight.com/skytel/beyondthepage/3726471.html that you might find of interest. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1" color="#3366ff">www.siriuslookers.org</font> </div>

 

[qso1]

Now thats cool, I just bought that issue today and havn't had a chance to read it yet, thanks. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[doubletruncation]

Those are some really neat movies! Particularly the one showing the speculative view of the night sky. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[pyoko]

As far as I know, you need a supercomputer to model galactic collisions 'in a realistic physical way'. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#ff9900" class="Apple-style-span">-pyoko</span> <span style="color:#333333" class="Apple-style-span">the</span> <span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span">duck </span></p><p><span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color:#808080;font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.</span></span></p> </div>