Paper detail

grayStar3 - gray no more: More physical realism and a more intuitive interface - all still in a WWW browser

The goal of the openStar project is to turn any WWW browser, running on any platform, into a virtual star equipped with parameter knobs and instrumented with output displays that any user can experiment with using any device for which a browser is available. grayStar3 (gS3) is a major improvement upon GrayStar 2.0 (GS2), both in the physical realism of the modeling and the intuitiveness of the user interface. The code integrates scientific modeling in JavaScript with output visualization HTML. The user interface is adaptable so as to be appropriate for a large range of audiences from the high-school to the introductory graduate level. The modeling is physically based and all outputs are determined entirely and directly by the results of in situ modeling, giving the code significant generality and credibility for pedagogical applications. gS3 also models and displays the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ) and allows the user to adjust the greenhouse effect and albedo of the planet. In its default mode the code is guaranteed to return a result within a few second of wall-clock time on any device. The more advanced user has the option of turning on more realistic physics modules that address more advanced topics in stellar astrophysics. gS3 is a public domain, open source project and the code is available from www.ap.smu.ca/~ishort/grayStar3/ and is on GitHub. gS3 effectively serves as a public library of generic JavaScript+HTML plotting routines that may be recycled by the community.