Pitch Angle

The Pitch Angle property of a spiral galaxy is a measure of how tightly the galaxy's spiral arms are wound. In Universe Sandbox, the structure of a spiral galaxy is a logarithmic spiral, such that a in a galaxy with Radius R and pitch angle P, at a point where the spiral arm is some distance D from the central Black Hole of the galaxy, the arm will have turned around the Black Hole by an angle of θ, where θ is given by

$\theta = \frac{\log{(D/R)}}{\tan^{-1}{P}}.$

Spiral arms in galaxies with larger pitch angles will be more loosely wound than spiral arms in galaxies with smaller pitch angles.

Property Details

Location

The Pitch Angle property is located in the Spiral Section of the Galaxy tab of the galaxy's properties panel. This section is only visible for spiral galaxies.

Units

Pitch Angle can be viewed or edited using the following units:

• Radians (rad)
• Degrees (°) = (180/π) rad