Stream maker

A very simple simulation to demonstrate how tidal streams are formed. By clicking (or clicking and dragging) on the browser window, you will add a small dwarf galaxy with parameters determined from the below menu. The positions and velocities are sampled from Gaussian distributions, with dispersions specified below.

trails: Show star trails instead of points
speed: The speed of the simulation. Note that when there are too many stars, the fastest speed will be set by your browser as it does the orbit integration.
Potential
q_z: The z axis ratio or the flattening of the gravitational potential (field) in the vertical direction.
v_c: The circular velocity of the simulation dark matter halo, related to the total mass of the halo (larger numbers = more massive).	km/s

Next galaxy
# of stars:
velocity disp: The velocity dispersion of the next dwarf galaxy added.	km/s
length scale: The physical size of the next dwarf galaxy added.	kpc
SFR: Star Formation Rate. This will generate new stars as time progresses. Fractional values are allowed (and recommended!). Warning! with a number >1, this will quickly slow down the simulation as it adds many stars.	stars/Myr
color:

Click and drag to add a galaxy!