Images from a computer program i wrote to simulate 9 planets and 1 sun.
All planets are initialized on the horizontal axis with respective distances and velocities.
Orbital paths of first 8 planets:
Orbital path of Mercury over time:
Orbital path of Earth over time:
:idea: Maybe i should throw in a comet or another star.
Writing a software is a very commendable feat. More for personal joy and fun. Just like making homemade telescopes. It's really great fun and learning too.
What happens if a Sun-mass star comes close to our Sun, passing slightly outside the orbit of Pluto?
The orbits of all planets, especially the outer ones, get perturbed. The orbits of the inner planets become more eccentric.
Because of increase in eccentricity, the energy Earth receives throughout the year becomes more extreme. Each cycle below represents a year, with W/m2 on the vertical axis.
Interesting Project ChaosKnight.
Perhaps you can share your program with those who are interested? Also, you can make the post more meaningful by relating what got you started, how you created the programme, what info source you used, etc.
Cheers
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R United Federation of the Planets
It is easy to write such a simulation. You require only 15minutes or so, but running the simulation can take as long as a few days, depending on the degree of accuracy you are after. This program is only 2d, but can easily be extended to 3d.
The main part is the equations, ie discretizing and computing the differential equations. Unfortunately as of now, the program is only first order accurate in space and time. It can be made second order with a little effort.
The input info is the starting positions of the planets, with their respective velocities. Because it isn't easy to get those data, the planets are simply strung out along the horizontal axis with their average velocities. Hence situations simulated are all hypothetical, with little quantitative value.
