I recently (today) found this WONDERFUL piece of software and I have to say I LOVE it already! I've always been obsessed with astronomy and things related to it.
Awesome. Thanks! I'm glad you like it.
My first question is, IF I buy Universe Sanbox, will my Product Key last forever?
Yes. Even if the website goes away, as long as you have a copy of the universe-sandbox-setup.exe file and a product key you can use and install Universe Sandbox 2 forever.
If you are going to buy Universe Sandbox 2, then you will have the product key until you choose to upgrade to Universe Sandbox 3...
Even after you upgrade, you'd still have a product key that will work with version 2.
At this point I'm still working on and improving Universe Sandbox 2. I'll be releasing another update in the next few weeks.
If I buy Universe Sandbox 2, will I have to upgrade to Universe Sandbox 3 when it comes?
A Universe Sandbox 2 product key is good for all 2.x versions of Universe Sandbox. If and when Universe Sandbox 3 comes out it will probably require another purchase. (I haven't even started working on version 3 yet, so it's going to be a long time from now.)
I was also wondering, how do I create a black hole?
1 - Select a body.
2 - Click on the Diameter text box.
3 - Choose 'black hole' from the popup.
This will set the radius of the body so that its escape velocity is equal to the speed of light (the very definition of a black hole). For Earth this makes it just a couple centimeters across.
Making black holes should be a more obvious task. Thanks for the question.