Eon is loose in Universe Sandbox, clicking stars, planets, and even a black hole into existence just to see what happens. Two ideas shine through the chaos: what makes a star bright, and how planets orbit.
So bright!
When Eon drops in a star a little bigger than the Sun, his reaction says it all: "So bright!" There's real science there:
A star is a giant ball of glowing gas that makes its own light. Bigger, hotter stars pour out far more light than smaller ones. Our Sun is actually a medium star — it only looks huge because it's so close.
Building a little solar system
Eon adds a random planet and sets it to orbit the star:
A planet doesn't make its own light — it circles a star and is lit up by it. That circling path is an orbit. String a few orbiting planets around one star and you've built a solar system.
The value of "random"
Eon keeps choosing random planets and watching how they fall into orbit (or don't). That's a sneaky-smart way to learn:
Trying lots of random setups shows you the patterns — which orbits are stable, which ones go wild. You learn the rules by watching many examples.
Try it
In Universe Sandbox (or any space app), place one star and one planet, then give the planet a gentle push sideways. Find the speed where it circles instead of falling in or flying away. That sweet spot is a real orbit.