Instrument 004 · ballistics

The Grouping

Fire a group of shots with the same heading and a small gap between their starting positions. Watch how that starting segment changes as the shots cross the box. With dispersion on, the segment stretches into a filament and folds across this finite run. Turn dispersion off and the group holds. A focusing geometry can produce a caustic on a dome. This dispersing model shows how the group stretches and folds during a finite run.

dispersing · stretch & fold
Watch the group spread
Fire the group to begin

Fire the group

150
0.020

Stretch & fold

filament length
1.0
× initial
group spread
1.0
× initial
tightest regroup since fired: —
The displayed filament length estimates how this sampled bundle stretches during the run. It does not return to 1× in the current run. This observation does not establish what happens for every orbit or geometry.