14th July 2010:

New official video about the moons of Jupiter:

MPL3D Solar System - Galilean moons

The Galilean moons are the four moons of Jupiter discovered by Galileo Galilei 400 years ago, in January 1610.
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are the largest of the many moons of Jupiter.
In fact, they are among the most massive objects in the Solar System.
Ganymede, is larger than Mercury while the other three are larger than any of the dwarf planets.

Galileo's discovery revoked the geocentric theory in which everything orbits around the Earth.
Ganymede, Europa and Io participate in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance around Jupiter.

It is possible to see view of Jupiter and its four main moons from any telescope on Earth.

 

11th June 2010:

A japanese music composer, Space Theater, has produced this new video to help selling his music:

SPACE THEATER M3-2010

Visit the store in iTunes if you like his music. We will keep an eye on the work of this talented artist.

3rd May 2010:

This is a new video that shows a computer emulation of stellar seismology in different stars:

MPL3D Solar System - Star sounds

The surface of a star usually oscillates, and this oscillation can be tranformed into an audible sound wave.

Stellar seismology is the study of the propagation of these wave oscillations in the stars, particularly acoustic pressure waves.

Star pressure waves are generated in the convection zone near the surface, then the acoustic waves are transmitted to the outer photosphere of the star. The oscillations are detectable on images of the Sun, or by measuring the doppler shift of photospheric absorption lines of a star.

20th April 2010:

New release available!

MPL3D Solar System (Quantum) v1.2 is ready to be downloaded from the Intel AppUp Store, under the Education/Reference category:

(It is needed to download and install the "Intel AppUp Center Beta" software to access the Intel Store).

MPL3D Solar System (Quantum) v1.2 is a reduced version of the formal desktop computer version, specially tailored for the netbooks based on the Intel Atom (tm) processors.

These are the particular changes in this version:

• Limited quality of objects.
• Reduced textures size (up to 2Mb).
• Reduced audio quality (22000Mhz).
• Limited maximum level of DirectX effects.
• No stencil shadows available.
• Limited maximum number of solar particles.
• Reduced file size and hard disk space consumption.
• No free updates.
• Reduced price, only 1.99$.

These changes have been made to match the hardware specifications of netbooks based on the tiny Intel Atom processor, much less powerful than the common desktop PC of nowadays.

Also please note that, due to the Intel Store specifications, this version has been verified to run on Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 and Microsoft Windows 7 Starter versions only. Other versions of Microsoft Windows are currently not supported.

So, if you own an Atom, or your PC has low performace and you are not going to use the full quality options of the formal desktop version, now you can consider MPL3D Solar System (Quantum) v1.2 as a good alternative.

Only available at Intel AppUp Store.

27th February 2010:

A new video that shows the up to date location of the Sun in the Milky Way, according to the latest scientifically accepted galactic structure, MPL3D Solar System - Location of the Sun in the Milky Way:

1st February 2010:

A new official video that shows some of the features of the MPL3D Solar System v1.2 simulation, as the atmospheric effect, the star colours based on their spectral class, the brightness compensation that, based on the visual magnitude, attenuates the brightness of background stars when a brigther object appears on screen. The new calculus for planetary rings illumination, and the new, and more friendly, camera control, are also observable.

The video title is 'Alien skies', and shows an artist concept about how skies might look like in other planets:

1st December 2009:

MPL3D Solar System v1.2 is ready for download!

Visual improvements, a more user-friendly environment, new options and many more additional improvements.

Here you have the spectacular images of a first voyage with the new version:

These are the main new features:

• Real star colours
• New star surface shader
• 3 new planetary shaders
• Surface star oscillation
• 3d star sound
• Revised star flare system
• Logarithmic brightness system
• Brightness compensation system
• Gravitatory particles System
• Dynamic level of detail system (LOD)
• Exponential camera zoom
• Camera collision system
• Revised camera speed algorithm
• Scientifically up to date texture for the Milky Way
• Up to 4k textures for the main planets
• 33 additional dialogs and options
• Additional space music track
• Full list of new features

Download MPL3D Solar System v1.2 and give us your opinion in the user forum.

Many thanks to all for the offered support, we hope that you enjoy this new version, specially created for this International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA-2009).

29th November 2009:

The release of MPL3D Solar System v1.2 will happen the 1st of December!

While we wait, here are two new video productions of the current v1.1, that update the old videos from v1.0:

'Andromeda Tour in MPL3D v1.1', shows main stars in the Andromeda constellation, and a system with three planets, Upsilon Andromedae, in MPL3D Solar System v1.1:

 

'Iota Draconis system in MPL3D Solar System v1.1', shows Iota Draconis and its planet in the version 1.1 of MPL3D Solar System. The planet Iota Draconis b has a very eccentric orbit, that produces appearance changes as it gets warmer or colder, depending on the distance to its star:

Do you want to comment about it? Talk about the new videos of MPL3D Solar System v1.1.

15th November 2009:

The new v1.2 release of MPL3D Solar System is about to take off. As the latest advance, the v1.2 Milky way has now a new look:

This represents the latest accepted galaxy structure. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was thought to possess four major arms.

A labeled image has been included, that will be seen if scientific data is on, and orbiting the galaxy:

Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.

More about it in the MPL3D user forum.

6th November 2009:

Here is the second part of Galaxy Explorer's Galactic Journeys Episode 2:

In 'Galactic Journeys: Episode 2: MPL3D Solar System - Solar System Tour Part II', the second part of Episode 2, we travel from Saturn to Pluto. Planets are subtitled with white text and their moons are subtitled with orange text:

Do you want to comment about it? Talk about Galactic Journeys and the Solar System in the MPL3D user forum.

23th October 2009:

A new video delivery of Galaxy Explorer's Galactic Journeys:

In 'Galactic Journeys: Episode 2: MPL3D Solar System - Solar System Tour Part I', we go for run around the block in the neighbourhood of our solar system. We start at the Sun and then switch to a "Gallery View" that shows all the planets in the solar system laid out next to each other. All star systems within the simulation can be viewed in this way. We then switch to the normal view and work our way from Mercury to Jupiter - stopping by each moon a planet has in orbit, the asteroid belt and Halley's Comet. Planets are subtitled with white text and their moons are subtitled with orange text:

Entertaining and educative at the same time, the video expands one step further the category of Solar System videos, made with home computers.

Do you want to comment about it? Talk about Galactic Journeys and the Solar System in the MPL3D user forum.

12th September 2009:

A new video production of the simulation MPL3D Solar System, from an enthusiast user, Galaxy Explorer:

'Galactic Journeys: Episode 1: MPL3D Solar System - Galactic Core Sagittarius A*', takes us right to the heart of our galaxy ( The Milky Way ) and we spend some time in orbit around the large super massive black hole ( Sagittarius A* star ) that resides there:

Needles to say that these kind of initiatives help very much to the simulation project itself, and they will always count with our support.

Do you want to comment about it? Talk about Galactic Journeys and the Galactic Core Sagittarius A* in the MPL3D user forum.

25th June 2009:

New images of the development version, a close visit to the gaseous planets and extrasolar atmospheres:

(Click on the images to enlarge.)

3rd June 2009:

We have updated the solar system planets. These are the latest images, belonging to MPL3D Solar System v1.2 (under development) :

(Click on the images to enlarge.)

Furthermore, the spanish magazine AstronomiA has published a short review in the news section, in their latest issue of the month of June 2009:

Thank you very much to the AstronomiA team and specially to Angel Gomez Roldan for his support.

25th May 2009:

This week we have been surprised by another creation that one of our users, Robin, has composed:

'Different types of gaseous planets', makes a deeper view into the extrasolar planets with a two-part video, showing the different types of gaseous planets with great success:

Do you want to comment? Talk about different types of gaseous planets.

12th May 2009:

We proudly present you a very creative and artistic composition that one of our supporters has produced.
Please enjoy 'To The Stars', a song composed and performed by Ty Statz, featuring Penalty Da Great.
Ty Statz has also created an impressive video that completes this brilliant production. It inspires us for the best:

Although it will challenging after watching Ty Statz's video, we will be producing another video created with MPL3D Solar System 1.2, that will have Ty Statz's song 'To The Stars' as soundtrack.

Have some ideas? Talk about 'To The Stars' at the forum.

3rd May 2009:

Updated views of the Earth, as the latest WIP version of MPL3D Solar System v1.2:

(Click on the images to enlarge.)

Please give us your feedback and comments in the user forum.

14th April 2009:

Please enjoy these views of the Earth, as the latest WIP version of MPL3D Solar System v1.2:

(Click on the images to enlarge.)

Other advances since last news:

• Camera speed algorithm: + 5% (total advance 100%).
• Camera collision system: + 5% (total advance 95%).
• Exponential camera zoom: + 10% (total advance 95%).
• Planetary shaders: + 30% (total advance 60%).
• High resolution textures: + 10% (total advance 40%).
• Angular Size in Pixels: + 70% (total advance 95%).

A normal map shader for the rocky planets is going to be included, if available, so base feature number 7 has changed its name from 'Atmosphere shader' to 'Planetary shader'. It should not add many time to the task itself, as it has been easily integrated. See the complete report.

Please give us your feedback and comments in the user forum.

14th March 2009:

There are two new Work In Progress (WIP) videos available:

• Betelgeuse video:
  
  Shows the surface animation for such a big star like Betelgeuse, that it is not able to maintain a completely spherical shape. Video is in time speed +1. Also, the 3d star sound can be heard.
  
• Gravitatory particles video:
  
  Here can be seen two close stars in the Algieba star system (Eta Orionis).
  These stars are very massive, and so they are their gravity forces.
  The stars are not close enough to produce a direct mass transfer. However, solar winds and big Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) can be captured by close stars, specially if the eruption heads towards the companion star. 3d star sound has been recorded too.

These videos have been recorded in 16:10 (panoramic). If you see the videos stretched in the web page, download and play them with the Windows Media Player or any other player of your choice.

You can comment these videos in the user forum.

5th March 2009:

New video published in YouTube, Winter Constellations, an educational video in line with the spirit of the International Year of Astronomy 2009:

The video has been loaded in High Definition, so make sure that you choose that version, if your local YouTube allows you to do so.

Also, here is a report with the current feature status for the new version v1.2 (click on the image for the details):

As a summary:

• There are 20 main areas of features and improvements.
• Menu options count up to 134, being 21 of them new for this release.

17th February 2009:

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. We celebrate the 400th year since Galileo turned his telescope on the planets.

This year will bring us the new MPL3D Solar System v1.2, along with new astronomy videos that we will be producing.

This is the official trailer for the IYA2009, here released by The Federation of Galaxy Explorers in YouTube:

20th December 2008:

We are currently working in the new MPL3D Solar System version v1.2, it includes so far:

• New logarithmic brightness system for the stars and the starfield. It is based on the real apparent magnitude of the stars, that fits the logarithmic perception of the human eye, giving a more natural sensation to the star rendering.

• Exponential camera zoom for planets and moons. Right now, it allows to get 10,000 times closer to these bodies, enhancing the experience of large magnitudes in sizes and distances.

• New camera speed algorithm. The camera speed is now directly proportional to the distance to the surface of the closest body. In this way, the closer the camera gets to the surface, the slower it goes, allowing a much better control.

• Camera collision system for the solid bodies. This prevents the camera from entering the planets interior (as well as stars, etc.) For example, the orbiting bodies will 'push' the camera if the camera lies in its orbital path.

• Many other little changes, including a new star flare system, affected by the 'solar filter' option, as well as new textures to be applied accordingly. Or the possibility to orbit the rogue star that is swallowed by the Sagittarius A* black hole.

We keep on publishing exclusive information and media about this update in the MPL3D Solar System forum.

7th August 2008:

MPL3D Solar System 1.1 is already available at the Downloads page.

These are the main new features:

• New user interface, Windows type menu and icons for visual control, customizable data output colour.
• Local selector, allows to select any body within a star system.
• Celestial coordinates grid, Right Ascension and Declination data output.
• Additional scientific data for stars and planets.
• Windowed mode, 16:10 and 16:9 resolutions.
• User tips, handling improvements, internal improvements.
• Check for updates option.

All updates are free of charge for registered users, just uninstall the old version, download and install the new one. (If you want to keep your current statistics, don't forget to backup your statistics.dat file at the program folder.)

If you have any questions, email us or publish the question at the user forum.

We also appreciate all the feedback, our aim is to keep on improving the simulation.

31th July 2008:

The new MPL3D Solar sistem 1.1 version will be ready next week.

All registered users will receive an email with the download link and their respective license numbers.

We want to remind that the only official donwload links are the ones that appear at our Downloads page.

At this moment, apart from our direct download link, only Download.com and its exclusive partners, are official download links. We cannot guarantee the integrity of the product if it has been downloaded from other servers beyond our control.

In the same way, we remind that the only authorized selling point is thru the own program interface. Connection is made totally secure way with Softwrap SSL servers and authorized by VeriSign. To check the authenticity of the connection, clicking at the VeriSign seal that appears in the purchase interface is enough. There is no other official download channel, and the selling price is unique worldwide, as stated at the program web page. Of course, we advice against any visiting to 'suspicious' web sites and we warn to not to provide data in any case, neither accept download dialogs from these pages, because of its implicit dangerousness.

27th June 2008:

Here are the first MPL3D Solar System version 1.1 images (not available yet):

Main new features diagram:

Choose the color you want for data output:

 

Other improvements made:

- Handling improvements, like the new visual controls for time and camera.

- Antilaliased lines for constellations, orbits and R.A./Dec. dome.

- Additional scientific data for stars and planets.

- Internal improvements.

 

And there are new space images from the simulation:

Stars, planets and space backgrounds

 

Please remember that all the updates are free for users already having purchased the current version 1.0.

15th June 2008:

There are new improvements for MPL3D Solar System. Version 1.1 of this simulation is already under development. Some of the new features are:

- Windows type menu to make the handling easier. The current mode, camera control with mouse, still will be available.

- Rigth Ascension (R.A.) and Declination (Dec.) dome, to improve orientation and star localization.

- Additional scientific data for stars and planets.

Also, some handling aspects will be improved, like simplify even more the access to selected objects, and other visual as well as internal improvements.

All the updates are free for users already having purchased the current version 1.0.

If you have any request, idea, suggestion or problem, you may contact directly or publish the question at the forum. All comments are appreciated.

There are free discount coupons published at the forum for those users who sign up there.

6th May 2008:

We are creating a little star catalogue here. Just a few stars by now, but we will be adding more until completing a nice collection.

30th April 2008:

There are many news as the new looking of the web, the recently opened MPL3D Solar System user forum, and two new videos:

3rd April 2008:

MPL3D Solar System has been choosen to be the cover of the electronic magazine from The Game Creators:

"As an user of MPL3D Solar System, you can expect an immersive experience." Steve Vink - The Game Creators

Go to the article

We specially thank the acknowledgement and continuous support to the TGC team.

31th March 2008:

The first version of MPL3D Solar System is available!

Try it for free!

Click to go to downloads page:

Thank you very much to all persons who have made possible this project.

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