Object tables

Statistics for every known oscillator, spaceship, puffer, tagalong and pre-spark, as of June 2009.

For objects with multiple or infinite iterations, tables refer to the smallest. Names link to the glossary. The legend explains the abbreviations, including engine address (EA) notation, Luke’s shorthand for describing the engine of any lightspeed ship or puffer.

Discovery method (Disc)

N – Natural · C – Constructed · ET – Explosion tracking · WLS – WinLifeSearch program · J.S. – Jason Summers’ Seeds collection · D.E. – David Eppstein · J.B. – Josh Ball · PSF – Pre-spark-find program

Symmetry (Sym)

O – Eight-way · D – Two-way diagonal · / – Four-way diagonal · S – Two-way rotational · M – Two-way mirror · I – Four-way mirror · G – Glide symmetric

Engine resultant (ER)

EaP – Engine as phase · EaI – Engine as initial state · SER – Strictly engine resultant · LER – Loosely engine resultant

Engine address (EA)

Numerals correspond to a wing of length n.
_ nose with both adjacent wings attached · – nose with both adjacent wings floating · / nose with left wing attached and right wing floating · \ nose with left wing floating and right wing attached · & a wing not adjacent to a nose, but appended to another wing as in a dot puffer · . space of one pixel, with nose on other side at the same vertical location · , space of one pixel, with nose on other side displaced down one pixel · ‘ space of one pixel, with nose on other side displaced up one pixel · * additional engine element that cannot be described in EA notation

Pre-spark mechanism

mechanism 1 – next generation of a particular mechanism · (n) – unnamed mechanism which is the smallest pre-spark of duration n · [n] – unnamed mechanism which is not the smallest pre-spark of duration n, but used in other mechanisms · mechanism + mechanism – first mechanism sets off a chain reaction in the second · HSn – hot sand mechanism of n cells