This is an older project, from my first programming class at SCAD, which I made in summer 2018. The assignment was to create an interactive time-based pattern. It was a very open project. Anything that moves and changes was a possibility. As far as I remember, we just needed to use curves and have something be interactive.

I constructed this image of Saturn from above using a photo that had been reconstructed from the Cassini satellite data. The stars, seen as rapidly moving dots in the background, are placed randomly. Orbiting Saturn is the planet's largest moon, Titan, seen here as a small yellow dot steadily circling Saturn. It is shown actual size proportional to the image. There are more than sixty other known moons in the Saturn system, but none are shown here.

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You can interact with the image below in a few different ways:

1. Try moving the mouse to the left or right sides of the image. The hexagon at the top of the planet, representing the cloud formation at the north pole, changes color. On the left, it's turquoise, like in winter, and on the right, it's beige-yellow, like in summer.

2. Now press and hold either mouse button and move the mouse to the left and right. When it's on the left, a comet moves across the top. When on the right, the comet moves across the bottom.

3. With either mouse button pressed, move the mouse from top to bottom. When the mouse is on the top, a timer appears, showing how long the program has been running. This was originally going to be some number related to the moon Titan, such as its distance from Saturn, but the number was too big for Processing to handle!

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If you are unable to see the entire image without scrolling, use "Ctrl+minus" (PC) or "Cmd+minus" (Mac) to zoom out. If you are viewing on mobile, please switch to laptop or desktop to view and interact with the sketch.