galaxy - stellar simulation
Galaxy is a free Linux computer program which simulates the motion of stars under the influence of gravity. Create a field of random stars to begin with, then watch the stars move as they are accelerated by their mutual gravitational attractions. You can vary the number of stars and the strength of gravity. Watch how the attractive forces accelerate individual stars and send them careening in new directions. Watch how large groups of stars develop into interesting patterns over time, such as clusters and spiral arms.
To download and install galaxy, visit the download page
compiz note: if you are using compiz, galaxy may freeze the entire desktop and force you to reboot. Use galaxy in combination with compiz carefully, since other ongoing work could be lost. When compiz is fixed I will remove this note or document which release of compiz must be used.
The following simulations need typically 2-20 minutes, depending on processor speed and star count. They were made with galaxy v.12 (Jan 1, 2008).
1000 stars
2000 stars
4000 stars
8000 stars
