Star System Test

[plamadude30k]

That would actually look totally brilliant. The scale thing isn't a problem - just my second thought, right after "wow" ^.^ Just out of curiosity, the first map shows more elliptical orbits (most probably due to the angle) while the second shows very circular orbits. Are the orbits really circular? I know Earth has a somewhat elliptical orbit which, I think, gives us seasons? I might be off - my brain's not totally awake right now. Anyways, good luck with this!

- Alizarine

The ellipticity of earth's orbit is almost zero (but not quite). Seasons come from the fact that earth's axis of rotation is tilted relative to to the sun's by about 23 degrees, not (as most people think) from the ellipticity. The orbital eccentricity has a very small effect on seasons, making northern seasons milder and southern seasons harsher, but this is a tiny effect.

Oh, and before I get carried away with my astrophysics, nicely done Diamond. Have you given thought to how the asteroid belt would arise in the system? In our solar system, the asteroid belt exists because it is in an orbital resonance with Jupiter, which prevents planet formation in that range.

[Diamond]

That would actually look totally brilliant. The scale thing isn't a problem - just my second thought, right after "wow" ^.^ Just out of curiosity, the first map shows more elliptical orbits (most probably due to the angle) while the second shows very circular orbits. Are the orbits really circular? I know Earth has a somewhat elliptical orbit which, I think, gives us seasons? I might be off - my brain's not totally awake right now. Anyways, good luck with this!

- Alizarine

That's why I originally started with kind of a three-quarters view, so you could see the orbital tilt/etc. When I actually sit down and start working on this in earnest, I'll come up with some way to accurately show the orbits.

The ellipticity of earth's orbit is almost zero (but not quite). Seasons come from the fact that earth's axis of rotation is tilted relative to to the sun's by about 23 degrees, not (as most people think) from the ellipticity. The orbital eccentricity has a very small effect on seasons, making northern seasons milder and southern seasons harsher, but this is a tiny effect.

Oh, and before I get carried away with my astrophysics, nicely done Diamond. Have you given thought to how the asteroid belt would arise in the system? In our solar system, the asteroid belt exists because it is in an orbital resonance with Jupiter, which prevents planet formation in that range.

Didn't really give much thought as to why anything was where it was. This is just to test styles and ideas. I'm no astrophysicist or astronomer though, so expect all kinds of errors in the eventual actual map/diagram.

[plamadude30k]

Fair enough! As a purely artistic endeavor, I think it looks awesome. If you want any sciencey pointers, I'd be more than happy to advise (it is more or less what I do), but be forewarned-my inner geek is rarely more nit-picky than when it comes to this subject. Actually, you're probably better off without that kind of input. Let your creativity go wild, it's more fun that way.