python-galaxies

I though generating stars was an interesting idea, so I made it with python

How it works

The actual code is a bit confusing (I have more experience with C/C++ and Java-style coding than Python), so I'll take some time to explain how it all works. There is a module called celestialbody.py that contains classes describing celestial bodies. The Galaxy class is used to define the number of stars and contain them in a galaxy. The Star class, however, is used to define the colour, position, scale, id, name, etc. of a star.

Modules like graphicsdefs and spacemaths just contain classes that represent things like colour (in RGB and IA format) or a 2d vector, while modules like wordlists contain dictionaries that the program can pull from and execute functions on.

The drawing module uses Pyglet to quickly draw stars as sprites in a window. I was originally considering using turtle, but that method was too slow and clunky for this project.

The result is a nice looking window that contains stars at randomized positions and labels with their names

Depenencies

This programme depends on:

• Pyglet

pip3 install pyglet

• NumPy

pip3 install numpy

• SimpleAudio

pip3 install simpleaudio

• PyOgg

pip3 install pyogg

Without these dependencies, you will not be able to use this programme.

Current features

• Running the programme creates a new galaxy and populates it with stars
• Stars can contain data and be represented both graphically and textually
• Clouds of nebulae generate in the galaxy
• Pyglet is used to draw stars and nebulae as sprites on the background of a window

Known issues & incomplete features

• Gravity has no effect on generation, so stars are distributed randomly and the galaxy has no centre
• Stars are completely static. they do not move, rotate, change brightness/colour, etc. after they are generated
• Star colour is not based on size or lifetime like in real life
• Stars have no lifetime and new ones are not created after generating a galaxy
• There has not yet been any succesful implementation of dynamic audio (sounds for hovering over stars, moving the mouse pointer, ambient background noise, etc.)
• Star sprites are not labeled with their names because there is no way to store data in a sprite such as which star and label it corresponds to (this is more a limitation of Pyglet than something this project can easily fix)
• Nebulae do not accurately represent the varieties seen in real life and do not have colour variation