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Stars with real size: v0.4.0-dev.19

Sunholo
Sunholo
Stapledon's Voyage team

Until now only the Sun and α Centauri had a size; every other star you visited was a point seen from 1,000 AU away. Now each star in the voyage is a real disc with its measured radius and temperature, and you arrive where its size means something.

Aldebaran filling 40 degrees of sky

What's new​

  • Aldebaran (45 solar radii, 3,927 K) and TRAPPIST-1 (0.119 solar radii, 2,566 K) are finite stars with cited measurements, in place of catalogue points.
  • One stop rule. Main-sequence stars stop in their habitable zone, where they look like the Sun from Earth: α Cen A at 1.233 AU, about half a degree; TRAPPIST-1 at 0.0235 AU, a deep-orange disc 2.7° across beside where its planets orbit. Giants stop where they fill 40° of sky: Aldebaran from 0.615 AU.
  • The same rhythm everywhere. Each star's final hop is 30 s accelerating, about a minute cruising, then the 25 s final approach, like the planets.

Not yet​

Aldebaran is so bright at 40° that it reads white; dimmed, it is pale orange. Its approach is still relativistic, since it is already 4° across six AU out. Both are open questions. TRAPPIST-1's seven planets are next.

Release: v0.4.0-dev.19-finite-stars · Gallery · Integration PR #139.