The feature image shows a laser heating up the Earth to speed up the cloud rotation with no planetary rim lighting.

Run Steam to download Update 27.1, or buy Universe Sandbox via our website or the Steam Store.

Update 27.1

Cloud speed is now simulated based on an object’s temperature and rotation speed. Surface simulation performance improvements, an Appearance interface redesign, adjustable planetary rim lighting, and more round out this minor update.

The feature image shows a laser heating up the Earth to speed up the cloud rotation and our new atmosphere opacity property.

Simulated Cloud Speed

Cloud speed is now simulated based on an object’s temperature and rotation speed as part of our continued incremental improvements of clouds. Check out our new Clouds guide for a tour through our entire cloud system: Guides > Science > Clouds.

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After

Easier Appearance Editing

As part of our continued user interface improvements, the Properties > Appearance tab has been redesigned to combine color customization with visibility and other options to make changing the appearance of an object even easier.

More Highlights

  • Surface Simulation has been improved to update only objects that are changing each frame, improving performance for simulations with many objects
  • Created simulation of NASA’s Juno spacecraft flyby of Ganymede in June 2021: Open > Historical > Juno Flyby of Ganymede in 2021
  • Star glows correctly fade as you get farther away from them when Object Visibility is set to Realistic again
Before
After
  • Added Atmosphere Density and Speed of Sound Properties to Properties > Surface > Atmosphere
  • Rim Lighting can now be adjusted under View > Object Visibility > Rim Lighting

Check out the full list of What’s New in Update 27.1

You can also check out our 2021 Roadmap to learn more about what we’re currently working on!

Please report any issues on our Steam forum, on Discord, or in-game via Home > Send Feedback.