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Galaxy Map questions
Short answer - Yes! I do want to expand Galaxy Map to include more galaxies. But only Andromeda and the Milky Way have satellite galaxies so far. Other galaxies may be too far away to determine their satellites.
I would also like to make a sort of overview map, once more galaxies are added so that you could better observe the major galaxies positions in regards to the Milky Way.
First thing would be to expand with some galaxies that are just outside the Local Group and then I'll see how they can be included in superclusters. The problem with modelling some of the galaxies is that not all of them are facing towards us so we can't see the exact structure (how many spiral arms, etc).
We can see the Whirlpool galaxy's entire features but the Sombrero galaxy could either be an Elliptical galaxy or a Spiral galaxy.
Quite a few people asked or hinted about this. I am inclining towards a No simply because the galactic objects are not that many (356 at this moment) and you can easily filter them out.
There are still about 50 more objects that can be added (I have a list) and I will try to add them from time to time. These are the ones that are harder to model, to make them look like their real life counterparts.
All the nebulae and supernova remnants are modelled using a set of dome, elliptical, spiral and box shapes, making them compatible with most middle tier phones and tablets.
Stars and Planets questions
I have not excluded this entirely but generally that's a No. There are other great apps like Space Engine that can fully take advantage of a PC's full power. The interesting part about a PC version is that the planet scale can be increased to match real life dimensions. Right now on mobile, it is scaled down because the atmosphere breaks if I try to make the planets too large (But I am continously watching out for possibilities to fix this).
The downside to a PC version is that I would have to upgrade animations for all objects. Black holes need to look better, ringed planets should have small chunks of rocks and ice when you fly with the ship inside them, etc. I would have to completely rewrite the code and maybe even switch from Unity to Unreal Engine (which I don't know how to use).
But you can play Stars and Planets in your browser on your PC/Mac here.
These planets were confirmed at a certain point in time, but now they are disputed. This means that other teams that conducted research and observed these exoplanets, found evidence that they do not exist and the previous' team was wrong. Stars and Planets updates these statuses daily, so you will always have the latest information about confirmed exoplanets.
If the exoplanet is confirmed on exoplanet.eu but it is not in the Stars and Planets database then it is missing. I am planning a large database update this year (2023) that would fix remaining missing exoplanets and multiple updates to the app so that you would see candidate, disputed and retracted exoplanets as well (and exomoons!). You can vote on this feature on discord.
If the exoplanet is confirmed on exoplanet.eu but it is not in the Stars and Planets database then it is missing. I am planning a large database update this year (2023) that would fix remaining missing exoplanets and multiple updates to the app so that you would see candidate, disputed and retracted exoplanets as well (and exomoons!). You can vote on this feature on discord.
The current planet textures have their resolution lowered to a point that it looks ok and it works ok on medium tier mobile phones and tablets. And this keeps the app's size low, so most people can install it.
I could release a HD version of Stars and Planets in the future, with better textures for stars, planets, gas giants, but its size would be over 400 MB and you would need a good phone/tablet.
Another idea is to have a button inside the app to download HD textures but I am unsure how I can setup a good download source that would work across the world. The upside to this is that you would keep your purchases and favorite items and settings. The downside is that I can't control who clicks the button. If someone with a bad phone clicks it and the app starts lagging badly, most likely they will leave a bad rating/review.
I could release a HD version of Stars and Planets in the future, with better textures for stars, planets, gas giants, but its size would be over 400 MB and you would need a good phone/tablet.
Another idea is to have a button inside the app to download HD textures but I am unsure how I can setup a good download source that would work across the world. The upside to this is that you would keep your purchases and favorite items and settings. The downside is that I can't control who clicks the button. If someone with a bad phone clicks it and the app starts lagging badly, most likely they will leave a bad rating/review.
The only thing close to this is that there is a certain gravitational disturbance beyond the Kuiper belt (could be a planet, could be something else). No other evidence of an unknown planet exists. No orbital data, nothing. If a new planet is discovered in our Solar System, I will definitely add it.
No, I would rather make a new app where you could play around with the parameters than add this as a feature. Stars and Planets is a virtual observatory of real objects.
No, this is not Google Maps. At best, I would fiddle around with vegetation/rocks/weather in a future version. You can vote on this feature in discord.
New apps
You can vote on discord for the new app. It looks like people are quite interested in this, so when I'm done with the major changes for Stars and Planets and Galaxy Map, I could focus on a new app.
I would love to work on a space game (I have written down some ideas for a script), but I haven't decided on the genre yet. The controls would be similar to No Man's Sky - jump in a system, land on planets, fight aliens (3rd person or 1st person).