Constellation
A constellation is any pattern that comprises only simple objects, such as still lifes, oscillators and escaping spaceships. Spaceships are frequently considered not a part of the constellation proper.
A constellation that has evolved from a soup, a methuselah, a single reaction or other such burst of activity is known as ash.
A soup is a random input pattern that can change, move, grow, wither or disappear following the game rules. Beginning with a chosen pattern or with a soup, the final state is either :
- An empty space when every cell died.
- A constellation of still lifes, oscillators and diverging spaceships. A methuselah's lifetime is computed when the number of cells stabilizes as a fixed number, or a periodic one, and no collision may occur.
- Or an infinitely growing pattern (Gosper glider gun which is the simplest case, block-laying switch engine.)
Constellations are named after a night sky's observation, where some stars seem to be grouped hapazard and never move : even a shooting star won't rearrange the overall look.
The counting of resulting patterns in a given constellation offers little more than statistical information.
The familiar fours are commonly seen (components of) constellations in Life that are made of four identical objects each:
- The traffic light, a constellation of four blinkers
- The honey farm, a constellation of four beehives
- The blockade, a constellation of four blocks
- The fleet, a constellation of four ships (or: two ship-ties)
- The bakery, a constellation of four loaves (or: two bi-loaf 1s)