Description

This simulation depicts the relative sizes and eccentricities of the orbits of planets that have been discovered outside of our own solar system.

Purpose

This visualization overlays the orbits of the extrasolar planets so we can more easily see them in comparison with each other and also with the orbits of Earth and Jupiter. By doing so, several things become clear. The first is that these planets are true giants in comparison with the planets in our own solar system. The second is that the orbits of these planets are extremely close to their stars. The reason for the strangeness of these orbits is that due to the technique that is used to detect these planets, the only planets that we can currently detect are very large planets that orbit very closely. One conclusion from this is that if there are this many very strange planets, there must be a far greater number of "normal" planets out there.

Features

• User changeable planet speed and size size exaggeration
  If we were to show the planets and their orbits to scale, they would be very hard to see. By allowing the user to change the scale of the exaggeration, it's easy to perceive the true scale and the emptiness of space.
  
  
• Planet data is read in from a text file
  The data for the planets is parsed from a text file when the simulation starts. This allows the data to be changed later as new planets are discovered and the simulation will still run without needing to be re-compiled from its original script code.