What to watch
- The central queen-bee reaction shuttles between two ends.
- The period is 30, matching the classic Gosper gun timescale.
- It helps explain how shuttle reactions can become emitters.
Oscillators
Queen bee shuttle
A period-30 oscillator closely tied to early glider-gun history.
The queen bee shuttle is a useful middle step between bounded oscillators and guns. It has a repeating active core that can be stabilized by still lifes at the ends.
- Category
- Oscillators
- Period
- 30
- Movement
- bounded
- Population
- 20 cells
- Bounding box
- 22 x 7
- Known since
- 1970
How to use it
Use it after pulsar and pentadecathlon when introducing shuttles, hasslers, and glider-gun construction.
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.
Next experiments
Compare nearby patterns
Move between similar structures to see which facts change: box size, lifespan, extinction, motion, and final ash.
Gosper glider gun
The first known finite pattern with unbounded growth.
- Size
- 36 x 9
- Lifespan
- 30
Simkin glider gun
A compact true glider gun discovered by Michael Simkin in 2015.
- Size
- 33 x 21
- Lifespan
- 120
Pulsar
A large period-3 oscillator with strong fourfold symmetry.
- Size
- 13 x 13
- Lifespan
- 3
Pentadecathlon
A slim oscillator with a much longer cycle than its size suggests.
- Size
- 3 x 10
- Lifespan
- 15