File Menu
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Edit Menu
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View Menu
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Action Menu
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Galaxy Menu
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Help Menu
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- Open Galaxy...
- Opens a previously saved galaxy.
- Close Galaxy
- Closes the current galaxy. All of the galaxy's data is deleted.
- Save Galaxy...
- Saves the masses, locations, velocities, and color(s) of the stars in the current galaxy in a text file.
- Quit
- Exits the GalaxSee program.
Coming Soon
- editing options!
- Perspective
- Adjusts the 3-D distortion on the framing box from perfectly square (none) to highly exaggerated (10) in steps of one. The default is three. A good way to understand this option is to try both extremes of the scale and observe the difference.
- Star Size
- Adjusts the size of the stars or represents them as balls.
- Star Color
- Changes the stars to any one of seven colors choices.
- Hide Color
- Makes all the stars of a particular color invisible (or makes them visible again)
- Redshift
- Turns on (or off) a (highly exaggerated!) redshift indicator. All the stars moving away from a particular viewpoint (that point being the bottom of the screen when the image is centered with command-M or when "New Galaxy" is chosen) are colored red and those moving toward the viewpoint are colored blue. (This particular viewpoint was chosen because it works well with a rotating galaxy.) It should be noted (and explained to the students!) that in actuality, redshift is a very small effect and is only detectable with instruments that separate the spectrum of a star.
- Depth Cueing
- When checked, adds a depth gradation to the edges of the framing box and the stars themselves to make them appear darker when they are at the back of the viewing frame.
- Show Box
- When checked, frames the current galaxy in a 3-D cube to help orient the user.
- Black Background
- When checked, displays a black background instead of a white background.
- ChromaDepth
- When checked, this option sets the colors of the stars based on proximity to the viewer. closer stars are colored towards the red end of the spectrum, further stars are colored blue. When viewed with ChromaDepth glasses, this produces a 3-D effect.
- Toolbar
- Toggles the toolbar at the top of the window.
- Status Bar
- Toggles the status bar at the bottom of the window.
- Zoom in
- Zooms in on the galaxy view. Hold down for continuous zooming.
- Zoom out
- Zoom out from the galaxy view. Hold down for continuous zooming.
- Rotate
- Allows the user to rotate the galaxy by small amounts in the horizontal and vertical directions using a dialog box.
- Center Image
- Sets the viewing angle to the default.
- New Galaxy
- Creates a new galaxy according to the variables selected in the Galaxy Setup dialog box. The current galaxy will be deleted unless saved before this function is executed.
- Run
- Starts the current galaxy moving continuously through the timestep intervals selected in the Model Settings Menu.
- Stop
- Stops the current galaxy from moving continuously through the selected timestep intervals.
- Forward One Step
- Moves the current galaxy forward in time for a single timestep.
- Show Info
- Displays the Information window. This window contains the settings of the Galaxy Setup dialog box and the Model Settings dialog box along with information about the progress of the current galaxy . If Do Bookkeeping is checked, then it also displays the conservation of momentum and energy values for the current galaxy. More information about the information window can be found in the tutorial.
- Halve Timestep
- Reduces the timestep by one half of the current timestep setting selected in the Model Settings dialog box.
- Double Timestep
- Doubles the current timestep setting selected in the Model Settings dialog box.
- List Options -> Show List
- Displays a list of the stars in the current galaxy with their masses, positions, velocities, and color. The list is updated at each timestep.
- List Options -> List Font
- Allows the user to increase or decrease the font used to one appropriate for their screen size.
- Galaxy Setup...
- Displays the Galaxy Setup dialog box. A more detailed description of each item in the Galaxy Setup box can be found in the GalaxSee tutorial.
- Model Settings...
- Displays the Model Settings dialog box. A more detailed description of each item in the Model Settings box can be found in the GalaxSee tutorial.
- Scale...
- Displays the Scale dialog box with the following options:
Choosing one of these options will result in a change of scale affecting the entire system being modeled. The lengths, times, masses and the size of the box (which is visible when Show Box, under the View menu, is checked) are all affected. This allows you to conveniently model systems much smaller than a galaxy. The scale feature is discussed in more detail elsewhere.
- Galactic
- Solar System
- Earth-Sun
- About GalaxSee...
- Provides version number and copyright information.
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The
Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.
© Copyright 1996