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AstroGrav for Mac

Precision solar-system simulator/calculator with interactive 3D views.

Free
In English
Version 5.2.1
5.0
Based on 1 user rate

AstroGrav overview

AstroGrav is a full-featured, high-precision solar-system simulator that calculates the gravitational interactions between all astronomical bodies, so that the motions of asteroids and comets are simulated much more accurately than with planetarium applications. The effects of general relativity and radiation pressure can be taken into account, and superb interactive 3D viewing allows you to easily rotate and zoom your view while the solar system evolves.

The AstroGrav software has a huge range of features and viewing options, including views from space or any object, planetarium-style views from any location on Earth, multiple views animated simultaneously, dynamically calculated orbits and trajectories, comprehensive tabular data, and simulation time steps from a fraction of a second to thousands of years. Constellations and over 100,000 background stars are included, with comprehensive data for every star. Several different celestial coordinate grids and a wide range of physical units are available, and editing facilities allow you to create new objects manually, or import from hundreds of thousands of asteroids and comets.

Because it calculates the motions of bodies from their gravitational interactions, AstroGrav is not restricted to just the solar system. Any situation in which gravity is the only significant force can be simulated, and the illustrative sample files that are included with AstroGrav include many examples such as exoplanet systems, protoplanets that evolve into planetary systems, rubble piles and their interactions with massive bodies, complex star systems, and even projectiles and bouncing balls.

Note: While the software is classified as free, it is actually donationware. Please consider making a donation to help support development.

What’s new in version 5.2.1

  • In solar system simulations, the status bar's date popup has been improved to show the date and time in several different formats.
  • A 'Font' slider has been added to the 'View' tab in the 'Edit / Preferences...' command, which allows you to adjust the size of the text in view windows.
  • The default size of the text in view windows has been increased.
  • The brightness of many of the lines in view windows has been increased.
  • A bug has been fixed that could cause errors of up to half a degree in azimuth and altitude figures, when viewing from a location on the Earth's surface.
  • A bug has been fixed that could cause a random re-orientation of a view when the fixed particle was removed.
  • Various minor bug fixes and improvements.

AstroGrav for Mac

Free
In English
Version 5.2.1
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5.0

(3 Reviews of AstroGrav)

  • Comments

  • User Ratings

Flavum
Flavum
May 12 2014
2.2.2
0.0
May 12 2014
0.0
Version: 2.2.2
I'm hoping a Mac old timer can help me here. In the early '90s I recall a free/shareware program that was a *very* simple take on this program. It was 2D and allowed you place celestial objects in proximity to each other, and assign them mass, direction, and velocity. You could create moons with various planetary orbits (circular or elliptical) and other gravity-affected motion. There were a few presets including a moon performing a figure-8 orbit around two nearby planets, amongst other things. Anyone remember this and its name? I've searched the old Info-Mac archives and come up empty. And thanks for taking the time to read this. =)
Planetary-Paul
Planetary-Paul
Aug 7 2012
2.0
0.0
Aug 7 2012
0.0
Version: 2.0
Works cool on my UB MBP with Mountain Lion, except for one thing: Gate Keeper has to be turned off to use it. The AG website says it's a bug in 10.8. Come on guys!
planeten-paultje
planeten-paultje
Sep 13 2005
1.2
0.0
Sep 13 2005
0.0
Version: 1.2
Tried it on a Tiger 17" PB, but it runs that machine completely into the ground. My 20" G5 iMac (latest model, requires Tiger) did not fare too much better. This may be the graphics problem under Tiger the author mentions. But everyone will end up with Tiger eventually, so if AstroGrav is going to be used on the Mac, its current problems will have to be tackled. I think its beta at the moment. I hope the problems will be resolved because the program looks very promising for educational work. So I won't rate it now but wait until I can use it.
AstroGrav-Astronomy-Software
Sep 7 2021
5.0
Version: 4.4.1