how far away is the SL sun

[Ceka Cianci]

Do not try and calculate the rotation of the sun in SL.. That is impossible.

Instead, only try and realize the truth..

There is no sun.

Then you will see that it is not the sun that rotates..It is only yourself..

*Ceka begins to fade back into the intranets,like a super awesome historically YuGE  and amazing oracle, in the wind*

 

[Derekmate]

Don't think too hard you make your pretty little head hurt. 

[Love Zhaoying]

Ok, it’s like this:

1) Hold your arm out towards the SL Sun.

2) Place your thumb and index finger so that you can see the sun between them. Don’t worry, the SL Sun won’t hurt your eyes!

3) Now, move your thumb and index finger together, as if you’re “crushing” the SL Sun between your thumb and index finger.

4) The SL Sun is arm’s length away.

*Method above normally used to crush heads.

[Phorumities]

7 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Ok, it’s like this:

1) Hold your arm out towards the SL Sun.

2) Place your thumb and index finger so that you can see the sun between them. Don’t worry, the SL Sun won’t hurt your eyes!

3) Now, move your thumb and index finger together, as if you’re “crushing” the SL Sun between your thumb and index finger.

4) The SL Sun is arm’s length away.

*Method above normally used to crush heads.

if my draw is set to 32 m I can still see the sun. Wouldn't that mean the sun isn't more than 32 m away?

[Love Zhaoying]

6 minutes ago, Phorumities said:

if my draw is set to 32 m I can still see the sun. Wouldn't that mean the sun isn't more than 32 m away?

Yes and, using my method it means your arm is 32m long while performing the steps I outlined. All observable phenomena are exactly as they appear.

[Ivanova Shostakovich]

   The SL sun cannot be reached by any means we here possess. Therefore, it is infinitely far away, and may well be a figment of our imaginations.

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Ivanova Shostakovich said:

   The SL sun cannot be reached by any means we here possess. Therefore, it is infinitely far away, and may well be a figment of our imaginations.

Does that mean I really can't crush it between my fingers? I'm very disappointed.

[Ceka Cianci]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Ok, it’s like this:

1) Hold your arm out towards the SL Sun.

2) Place your thumb and index finger so that you can see the sun between them. Don’t worry, the SL Sun won’t hurt your eyes!

3) Now, move your thumb and index finger together, as if you’re “crushing” the SL Sun between your thumb and index finger.

4) The SL Sun is arm’s length away.

*Method above normally used to crush heads.

hehehehe That show is hilarious..

 

[ellestones]

7 hours ago, Callum Meriman said:

It's an interesting concept!

yes thats it

when flat like a ribbon and observed from a distance, then X (East to West) would be 512km. And Y (North to South) be folded over and measure 256 km [on each side]

it could be tubular on the Y as well

the sun (as source of light) could still be a ring-like shape shining inwards only moving on the X. Or the ring sun is stationary and the torus world is moving

or the sun can be viewed as a point in the sky shining only toward the world surface. Its motion measurable on the X. On the Y its at all points when observed from all world surface points. And is at some constant on the Z relative to the observer

ps

why I started to think about it was because EEP is coming. If we can set our own sun cycle and we had an estate of connected regions running East to West, then if the time was 0001 hours on the east edge of the east-most region, whats the time on the west edge of west-most region. When time is measured by the passage of the sun

when we know this then we can set sunrise on each region accordingly   

Edited July 23, 2018 by ellestones
each side

[Zero Starchild]

Sir Alfred Archibald Linden actually conducted a study in 1872 and discovered that in fact that the SL world is mesh combined with mega prim and the sun being much older was standard prim. When pathfinding and windlight were introduced it changed the dynamics completely. Now due to climate change, the sun is now Catwa Bento.

In 1969 Sir Patch Linden Sr quoted "The Sun Is Closer Than You Think"!

Edited July 23, 2018 by Ziggy Starsmith

[Madelaine McMasters]

While you're figuring out how far away the Sun is (Moon too), wonder about why they step through their orbits six times a minute. You can't stand on the Sun, of course, but standing on the moon would be equally impossible if it moved out from under you (at the speed of light?) every 10 seconds.

[ellestones]

am a bit suspicious of the SL moon. Sometimes it makes faces at me

is true!

 

[ellestones]

37 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

While you're figuring out how far away the Sun is (Moon too), wonder about why they step through their orbits six times a minute. You can't stand on the Sun, of course, but standing on the moon would be equally impossible if it moved out from under you (at the speed of light?) every 10 seconds.

I have no idea at this minute how gravity might work when a torus-shape world is the center of the universe and every other spatial object moves in relation to it. Or even if gravity is the right way to describe it.  Is interesting tho for sure

[ChinRey]

12 hours ago, Nostoll said:

It used to be but the pointy bits have worn down over time. Except for the one pointing downward to the left. It just broke off one day. Made quite a mess in Siberia where it landed.

Edited July 23, 2018 by ChinRey

[Zero Starchild]

In actual untrue fact, the star was the original shape of a prim. It became modified years later when Sir Patch Linden the 2nd proclaimed "It all starts with a cube".

Edited July 23, 2018 by Ziggy Starsmith

[ChinRey]

2 minutes ago, Ziggy Starsmith said:

It became modified years later when Sir Patch Linden the 2nd proclaimed "It all starts with a cube".

Because he was a square?

[Zero Starchild]

1 minute ago, ChinRey said:

Because he was a square?

Oh no, because he was SEXY Rawr!

[ellestones]

43 minutes ago, ellestones said:

I have no idea at this minute how gravity might work when a torus-shape world is the center of the universe and every other spatial object moves in relation to it. Or even if gravity is the right way to describe it.  Is interesting tho for sure

i quote you (me I mean) again. As I thought about it now for more than a minute

thinking about the SL moon

if the torus was stationary and was tubular then it could have a matter magnet-like thing at its core. That would hold everything in place, including the sun and moon

if we go with the sun as a moving point in the sky (position dependent on the observer on the torus surface) then the moon could be stationary in the center of the hole, held in place by the matter magnet of the torus (equally attracted on all sides)

if so then the moon is at the center of the universe not the world. So not a secret planet, a moon. Or is the torus we live on, the moon. And what we think is the moon is the actual world

And if so then the object (which we think is the moon but isn't, so not-the-moon) has the matter magnet in it and there is no matter magnet in the torus

when so then we could stand on not-the-moon and not fall off

in this case then not-the-moon is in the center. The sun orbits not-the-moon on a torus-like path, between not-the-moon and the torus. and the torus we live on doesn't move  

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by ellestones
it, the

[Madelaine McMasters]

47 minutes ago, ellestones said:

am a bit suspicious of the SL moon. Sometimes it makes faces at me

is true!

I am a bit suspicious of certain faces. Sometimes I moon them.

Is true!

Edited July 24, 2018 by Madelaine McMasters

[ellestones]

hmm! my last is not quite right, based on the observation that the SL moon moves across the sky

so then

the moon (or not-the-moon as might be preferred) is in the center and contains the matter magnet. The sun orbits the moon  inside the torus on a torus-like path. The torus rotates at a different rate to the sun orbit

i think that would explain all the observations related by everyone so far

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by ellestones
torus like path

[Chaser Zaks]

time to get TECHNICAL! (WARNING: code and math ahead, beware!)

Sun is exactly 1014 meters away from where ever the camera is at in any given moment, but can be any size you want!

Reason:

Sky is a fixed drawable, meaning it is attached to the camera like a HUD is, but is affected by the 3D rotation matrix unlike HUDs are.

To figure out how far the sun is, we need to go to the source of where it is drawn: https://bitbucket.org/lindenlab/viewer-release/src/default/indra/newview/llvosky.cpp#llvosky.cpp-1417

From here, we  can see that LLVOSky::updateHeavenlyBodyGeometry has a line specifying the draw distance, which is LLVector3 draw_pos = to_dir * HEAVENLY_BODY_DIST.

But we don't know what HEAVENLY_BODY_DIST means, so we have to go into the headers for llvosky.cpp, simply called llvosky.h: https://bitbucket.org/lindenlab/viewer-release/src/default/indra/newview/llvosky.h#llvosky.h-45

From here we see this code:

const F32 HORIZON_DIST          = 1024.0f;
const F32 SKY_BOX_MULT          = 16.0f;
const F32 HEAVENLY_BODY_DIST    = HORIZON_DIST - 10.f;
const F32 HEAVENLY_BODY_FACTOR  = 0.1f;
const F32 HEAVENLY_BODY_SCALE   = HEAVENLY_BODY_DIST * HEAVENLY_BODY_FACTOR;

Which tells us that HEAVENLY_BODY_DIST is exactly 1024(HORIZON_DIST) minus 10 meters away! We can also see that the default size of a "heavenly body" is 101.4 meters, but this is probably a base scale and isn't the final value.

HOWEVER, It is important to note that the to_dir variable isn't required to be a equal sine/cosine value, so the sun can be told specifically to be in any position in the sky that is off a circular rotation, so you can technically make the sun move in a square which would put it off this 1014 meter rule, or you can set it to have the direction of <0,0,0> which would put the sun in the middle of the camera, which wouldn't be too appealing, not because you'd go blind, but because it would block your view.

Edited July 24, 2018 by Chaser Zaks
Converted \t to \s in the code so it looks more aligned properly.

[ellestones]

@Chaser Zaks

thanks

yes, this confirms that the sun is at some constant Z relative to the observer

[LittleMe Jewell]

14 hours ago, Callum Meriman said:

14 hours ago, Derekmate said:

if it concave why I can't see austraila? From my kitchen window?

Sarah Palin can.

That was Russia (though actually an SNL sketch and not really Sarah at all)

[LittleMe Jewell]

Despite how far away it is, we have previously resigned ourselves to the fact that no matter how much we try we cannot fly there - out bodies will break apart in the upper atmosphere before we ever make it.

No worries about burning up, at least.

[Marth Coberts]

I've got it!

 

The Sun in SL is not a sun, but instead just a giant lightbulb, controlled by the Lindens themselves.

And we're just all really tiny in comparison to them.