Explanation:
Can you create a planetary system that lasts for 500 years?
Super Planet Crash, the featured game,
allows you to try.
To create up to ten planets, just click anywhere near the central star.
Planet types can be selected on the left in order of increasing mass:
Earth,
Super-Earth,
Ice giant,
Giant planet,
Brown dwarf, or
Dwarf star.
Each planet is gravitationally attracted not only to the central Sun-like star, but
to other planets.
Points are awarded, with bonus factors applied for increasingly crowded and
habitable systems.
The game ends after 500 years or when a planet is gravitationally expelled.
Many exoplanetary systems
are being discovered in recent years, and
Super Planet Crash
demonstrates why some remain stable.
As you might suspect after playing
Super Planet
Crash
a few times, there is reason to believe that our own
Solar System has
lost
planets during its formation.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
