What to watch
- Step four times and compare the translated shape.
- The object travels down and right from the default orientation.
- Glider streams can carry information in larger circuits.
Spaceships
Glider
The smallest spaceship and the standard signal in Life.
The glider returns to its shape every four generations, shifted one cell diagonally. That makes it a reusable moving signal.
- Category
- Spaceships
- Period
- 4
- Movement
- c/4 diagonal
- Population
- 5 cells
- Bounding box
- 3 x 3
- Known since
- 1970
Exact generation snapshots
Compare the pattern over time
After four generations the shape returns one cell diagonally away.
These images are computed on an unbounded B3/S23 plane. Each frame is fitted to its own live-cell bounding box; compare the labels rather than the apparent scale.
How to use it
Use it to explain velocity notation and signal transport.
Compare this pattern with its family
Open the pattern in the lab, reduce the speed, and use single-step mode when a phase change is hard to see. The green preview marks births in the next generation; red outlines mark live cells that will die.