Celestia Forums

I've been thinking if it's possible to show the shadows of the moons on the planets...

It just an ideia

Yes . . . in fact, that's what I'm working on now. Barring any unforseen difficulties, you'll be able to watch the shadow of the Moon move across the surface of the Earth during an eclipse. The eclipse shadow code will work with other planets as well, so you'll be able to see things like the shadows of the Galilean Moons on Jupiter. Or create your own planet moon system and see what sort of eclipses occur. The only tricky part of rendering eclipses is making the penumbra look right.

--Chris

Cool! Will this include shadows of planets on moons and shadows of moons on other moons as well?

- Hank

That's my current plan . . . there may be efficiency issues with moon to moon shadows, but I'll probably get around this by just ignoring shadows cast by small, distant moons.

--Chris