Solar System: Invisible Attractors and Moving Objects – Week 3

Concept
For this weeks assignment, I wanted to explore how invisible forces like gravity can affect objects in motion. I was inspired by the movement of planets around the sun and how they interact with each other through invisible forces (image below). The sketch creates a solar system-like scene where planets and moons orbit around a sun. I also added some extra forces, like a little bit of randomness (turbulence) to make things feel more alive and natural.

Image Inspiration

Code Highlight
One part of the code I’m really happy with is how I made the sun glow. I used different shades of color and layered circles to make the sun look like it’s shining and radiating light, just like in real life. Here’s the code for that:

// Draw gradient layers for the sun
for (let i = gradientColors.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
  fill(gradientColors[i]);
  ellipse(this.pos.x, this.pos.y, this.radius * 2 * (1 - i * 0.2)); // Each layer is slightly smaller
}

// Add outer glow to the sun
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
  let alpha = map(i, 0, 10, 50, 0); // Make the glow fade out
  fill(255, 153, 51, alpha);
  ellipse(this.pos.x, this.pos.y, this.radius * 2 + i * 15); // Expand glow with each layer
}

Embedded Sketch

Reflection and Future Work
Working on this sketch was really fun, but I did face some challenges. It was tricky to make sure the planets and their moons didn’t overlap or move too fast. For the future, I’d like to add a “repulsion” force so that planets and moons don’t get too close to each other. I also think it would be cool to let people interact with the sketch by clicking on planets or moving them around.