What about adding this to "Historical"

[xkev320x]

Hey everyone, I recently came up with the idea, that it would be cool to have a preset simulation in the "Historical" tab which shows the formation of the moon since the most famous theory is that a celestial body (as big as mars) hit the earth and some material was then thrown in an orbit around the earth 4.5 billion years ago (correct tense?). I think it'd be cool to see how this probably happened if it's true ps: Great game/simulation My astronomy teacher just uses "Stellarium" to show us some things 

[ahoop]

I second this. I don't know how they'll figure out how exactly it hit though. That is also the correct tense

[xkev320x]

Of course it would be hard to implement but maybe they could add a "not confirmed"-tab or "Theories"-Tab

[Physics_Hacker]

This'll probably become a thing once SPH (Smoothed particle hydrodynamics) is put to use, but not for now, as it wouldn't be realistic enough.

Also, to even consider the theory that a Mars-sized object hitting the earth formed the moon, it had to be figured out what angle would be needed to have this happen, and other factors, all which have been figured out, and just need to be replicated in Universe Sandbox 

[codefantastic]

GreenLeaf tried doing a test like this but it didn't work out.

[Arian]

Wouldn't it be more fun to have the users figure out how exactly that collision must have happened to get the current situation as a result?
This will ofc only work once the SPH is fully functional, but I think that's exactly what simulators like US2 are for. Having it a preset would make the users watch a video basically.

[xkev320x]

Well, ok I haven't thought it all through. SPH is a completely new thing to me @Arian Would also be cool, but most fragments in universe sandbox 2 dont stay in the orbit and so on..

[Greenleaf]

GreenLeaf tried doing a test like this but it didn't work out.

I tried that in a an old project described on http://www.greenleaf.dk/projects/sph_astronomy
and did not put much effort into making the initial conditions right. It was just as much an example of how not every impact would create even a small moon.


Having the moon forming impact as a preset in US² has been a plan for a long time, since it is something most users would be able to relate to. Having a challenge, as someone else suggested here, where you need to set up the initial conditions to make it "work", is a good idea.


We plan on eventually making more such challenges where there is a well defined goal, since that will work well for teaching purposes while also being more obvious what to do. A lot of new users see the tools and then wonder what they are supposed to do.


 

[Arian]

Challenges like that are actually my reason to use US2. There are so many theories about stuff in space and there have so many theories been brought up and dropped over time, that the only thing that's certain is that very few of the things we think to know are really certain.
What I mean is: science facts have always been subject to revisions and changes and some things that were considered facts only make us laugh now. What we currently accept as facts remain hypotheses until they are actually observed.
US2 gives me a chance to test things out. If I can reproduce the Moon being born from planet collisions, at least I know that it is possible under very specific conditions. That's not a proof for anything but at least it gives me a rough idea of which conditions must be met.

For instance experimenting with binary planets taught me a lot about what orbits they need and what their star(s) must look like to have them suitable for life. Sure those things can be calculated, but nothing beats a model (aside from reality maybe).

You folks at Giant Army do a great job there and I wouldn't be surprised if your "game" would some day become a standard tool for astrophysicists. Maybe you laugh now, but I see the potential.
US2 gives me a rough idea of how particle physicists feel if they get the chance to work with the LHC.
Uh, ehm, great expectations, I know, but I think you are on the right way.

[Greenleaf]

Thanks, Arian. I really enjoy reading posts like that :-)