![]() From there, it was simply a matter of defining the angle as a variable, “a,” that would increase by the planet’s velocity every update. Since the planets and the Sun would all stay on the same y-plane, a planet’s position at any given moment would be defined by the Vector3 (rcosθ, 0, rsinθ). She explained that the planets’ orbital eccentricity is so small as to be inconsequential (translation: from a distance, they look like circles anyway).Īrmed with this knowledge, a printout of the planets’ orbital radii (distances from the Sun), and basic trig, I got to calculating: The visual designs and the logical aspects of Computer Science have always appealed to me more than the gritty functions of C#.įortunately, I have the best Physics teacher in the solar system, maybe even the galaxy (shoutout to Mrs. ![]() I would never describe myself as a math whiz or even as a coding nerd. Devising the code for their orbits, however, made my humanities-loving brain want to run for the nearest poetry club. Yet.Ĭreating the Sun and the planets in Maya, a 3D modeling program, was pretty easy. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to make that vision a reality. I wasn’t planning on a couple spheres sitting in a row but on accurately scaled, properly skinned planets, orbiting at the distances and at the rates they did in real life. The terms “Apollo missions,” “Buzz Aldrin,” and “lunar landing module” became as familiar and as comforting to me as “Little Einsteins” or “David and Goliath.” In high school, my dad made me watch The Martian and Apollo 13, both of which convinced me of the stress and the thrill associated with space travel.Ĭonsequently, when my computer class began our senior year foray into Unity VR and Windows Mixed Reality, I already knew: I wanted to model the solar system. ![]() I was probably the only elementary school student who had seen both Cape Canaveral and HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon. The latter figured heavily into my formative years, while the former was curbed by – let’s call it parental prudence. Thanks to a mysterious combination of nature and nurture, I inherited two of my father’s most notorious traits: an obsession with Dairy Queen, and a fascination with outer space. ![]()
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