Canada goose
- This article is about the glider tagalong. For the extensible greyship, see Canada Grey.
| Canada goose | |||||||||
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| Pattern type | Tagalong Spaceship | ||||||||
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| Number of cells | 36 | ||||||||
| Bounding box | 13 × 12 | ||||||||
| Direction | Diagonal | ||||||||
| Period | 4 (mod: 2) | ||||||||
| Speed | c/4 | c/4 | ||||||||
| Heat | 28.0 | ||||||||
| Kinetic symmetry | n/e | ||||||||
| Discovered by | Jason Summers | ||||||||
| Year of discovery | 1999 | ||||||||
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The Canada goose was found by Jason Summers in January 1999. It consists of a glider pulling a tagalong.
At the time of its discovery, the Canada goose was the smallest known diagonal spaceship other than the glider, but this record has since been beaten, first by Orion 2, and more recently by the crab (which was confirmed to be the second smallest period-4 c/4 diagonal spaceship in October 2025).[1] As of May 2026, it is the eleventh smallest known c/4 diagonal spaceship, however it is not known if there are any others smaller than 36 cells which have not been counted.
Modifications
It was discovered in January 1999 by Stephen Silver that Canada geese can be welded together by their wings, creating an extensible spaceship. Gabriel Nivasch, later that same month, reported that because the swan uses the same wing, swans and Canada geese can be welded together. He also found that a glider emulator can replace the glider at the front end of the Canada goose.
The crane has the same wing as well, so may also be welded.
| Two Canada geese welded together, as discovered by Stephen Silver (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here Catagolue: here |
| A swan and a Canada goose welded together, as discovered by Gabriel Nivasch (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here Catagolue: here |
| A crane and a Canada goose welded together (click above to open LifeViewer) Catagolue: here |
| A Canada goose with the front glider replaced by a glider emulator. (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here Catagolue: here |
| A Canada goose pulling an unnamed tagalong (which may itself support a larger tagalong still: Catagolue: here with the same backend as a different such spaceship: Catagolue: here) (click above to open LifeViewer) Catagolue: here |
Glider synthesis
As of May 2026, the Canada goose is one of the three smallest spaceships to have no glider synthesis discovered, with the others being 36P3H1V0.3 and MWSS behind Coe ship.
References
- ↑ Matthias Merzenich (October 5, 2025). Re: Spaceship Discussion Thread (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
External links
- Canada goose at the Life Lexicon
- Canada goose at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue
- 36P4H1V1.1 at Heinrich Koenig's Game of Life Object Catalogs
- Patterns
- Spaceships with 36 cells
- Periodic objects with minimum population 36
- Patterns with 36 cells
- Patterns found by Jason Summers
- Patterns found in 1999
- Spaceships
- Tagalongs
- Spaceships with period 4
- Diagonal spaceships
- Spaceships with speed c/4
- Spaceships with unsimplified speed c/4
- Spaceships with heat 28
- Spaceships with mod 2
- Spaceships with n/e symmetry