Two Computer Simulations for Astronomy Education

Computer Science – Graphics

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

Two-dimensional media, such as transparencies and textbook illustrations are often inadequate for representing three-dimensional phenomena. Computer simulation using animation and interactive graphics can solve the pedagogic problem of allowing students to visualize inherently 3-D phenomena in physics and astronomy. This paper demonstrates two such computer simulations intended for use in introductory astronomy courses. The first permits visualization of astronomical structures on several different size scales by converting catalogs of astronomical objects at known distances (stars, star clusters, galaxies, etc.) to 3-D arrays of color-coded points that can be rotated in simulation to reveal 3-D structure. The second simulates the apparent motion of the sun in the sky of an arbitrary planet, simultaneously with the combined rotational and orbital motion of the planet that is responsible for it. These simulations were written in Borland Pascal for MS-DOS computers using the utilities package distributed with CUPS software (Educational software packages produced by the Consortium on Upper-level Physics Software (CUPS) are available from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

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