Solar System Simulation

This project is a Java-based 2D solar system simulation designed to showcase object-oriented programming, graphical rendering, and animation fundamentals. The simulation includes: - The Sun - 9 planets - 4 moons - A procedurally generated asteroid belt All moving in real-time with accurate orbital mechanics. The system is built with a clean OOP architecture, featuring a base Sun class and derived classes for Planet, Moon, and Asteroid. Different planet types (standard vs. faster rotation) are handled by separate classes rather than conditional logic, demonstrating polymorphism and extensibility. The simulation runs at 50 FPS, using a custom animation loop with thread-safe rendering. Orbital positions are calculated with polar-to-Cartesian transformations, enabling nested orbits for moons and visually smooth animations for planets, moons, and asteroid belts. Visual polish includes: - Double-buffering - Anti-aliasing - Layered rendering (e.g., Saturn's rings and sun flare effects) This project emphasizes mathematical modeling, real-time graphics, and performance-aware object management, providing experience transferable to game development, UI animations, and front-end visualization.