The Roost

PlanetWerks 2.2 has been released and approved on the Opera Widgets site! The main feature addition in this version is orbit path trails which can be toggled on and off with the [T] key. Among the other changes are a whole whack of performance tweaks, so hopefully it uses fewer resources for you, despite the addition of the trails!



Go there and check it out! Don't pay attention to the v2.4 on the widget page; that's a bug in the widgets.opera.com site. The available version is really 2.2

Four months in the re-making, PlanetWerks 2 is now available for download from widgets.opera.com.

PlanetWerks 2 is a major overhaul of the previous version which only supported very basic controls and orbit motions. This new version now supports orientation-accurate eccentricity and inclines, which means that objects in PlanetWerks 2 orbit the sun the same way they do in the full-size solar system!

New objects have been added, such as Eris, Sedna, Orcus, Quaoar, Ixion and Varuna. Also, the major planetary satellites have been added: Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, Luna, Io, Europa, Triton, Rhea, Titania, Oberon, Iapetus, Dione, Tethys, Umbriel, Ariel and Charon.

In PlanetWerks 2, you can now switch the view to a linear scale model, so you can see just how vast the solar system really is. And if things are just too hard to see in this mode, just activate the planetoid finder [F] to help you find things quickly! Then, once you've found your favourite celetial object, four levels of zoom and rotation precision help you zero in on those great views.

Many other small aesthetic improvments combine to create a truly unique astronomical experience! Works best in the new Opera 9.5 betas. Give PlanetWerks 2 a spin today!