Posts tagged astrophysics
Background: So this Kurzgesagt video talks about quark stars, and how two of them colliding could send strangelets flying towards Earth or the Sun. Now it's been said that since, theoretically (as...
I have done some research and so much contradict one another or I simply fail to understand. Do seasons occur on a tidally locked planet that isn't tilted on its axis?
Often, when I'm building a world, I want to start out by determining some of its key properties. Maybe I'm trying to calculate a habitable zone, or figure out how long a year would be on a particul...
Could a life form that uses superfluids as part of its biology exist? I've read in places that the issue for life outside of Earth and especially the theorised silicon lifeforms is that the existe...
Many alien worlds will most likely be water worlds. I was wondering what the deepest possible global ocean dept is where land is still possible. I think that volcanic islands will still have a chan...
Double or binary planets are a really cool science fiction idea. A second Earth hanging ominously in the sky. Co-orbital or trojan planets are also interesting in that you have them on more or less...
I'm curious what factors a terrestrial planet impacting the Earth would require for the impact to cause negligible damage to the larger planet, while destroying the Earth.
I want to know if a planet with an atmosphere identical to that of Earth could be big enough so that from no point in the lower atmosphere it would be possible to appreciate the curvature in relati...
This is a science fiction intelligent alien biology question. I'm imagining a race of large (around 2m in height) insect-like species on a distant planet who discovered astronomy VERY late in thei...
The technical challenges for Breakthrough Starshot list the huge amount of power required for accelerating a solar sail to interstellar travel speeds and the precise targeting of laser beams of tha...
I am creating a world for Sci Fi story in which I am trying to have two non-tidally locked earth sized planets in a binary orbit around Alpha Centauri A. The only way I can think of this happening ...
Inspired partially by this comment on one of my answers, I got to thinking on what the quickest way to communicate would be on an intergalactic scale. Say humans have colonised the galaxy, and use...
An entrepreneur has a dream. He wants to create the most amazing and magical amusement park in the solar system. He goes to investors with the blue prints of the park, and they think it's a good id...
I am developing a fictional planetary system in which a large gas giant planet (slightly less than the mass of Saturn), has migrated into the habitable zone during the formational years of the syst...
Inspired by this interesting question-- let's say that the universe was just really, really out to get a particular star, such as our sun. Is there a perfect cocktail where a mass significantly sma...
For a certain reason, I needed two habitable similar earth-like planets very close to each other. After various information gathering, I gave up on double planet and gas giant moons, because tidal ...
Suppose we used SCP-261, the vending machine that produces anything, and ask for a cup of neutron star. The machine instantaneously produces this. Suppose also that the vending machine is located ...
The exoplanet in question is Proxima Centauri b. How might the mid-to-upper-level atmosphere of that planet be dangerously radioactive and full of airborne nuclear reagents, without it being the do...
I've been wondering about this for a while. Here is the research I've done so far that lead me to ask this question: A planetary ring system is most often formed by the breakup of objects within ...
I've been recently looking into alternative biochemistries for life and the environments were these could be found. I already asked a question about how ammonia oceans might form a while back. Toda...
If this hypothetical moon were to come to exist between the Earth and Moon, how long would it survive? And could it transition to the moon's orbit, as a subsatellite? To clairify, this scenario is...
Advance our technology 200 years, develop very precise celestial navigation controls and very efficient nuclear reactors. Distill to ensure only the most stable elements are used in production, cos...
So I have the following scenario for a story, and I want to know if it runs into any ridiculous no-nos from a scientific point of view: There is an earth-like world orbiting a red dwarf (similar t...
The idea of a planet where ammonia replaces water as the dominant liquid in the environment is quite popular in science fiction. I tried to develop a scenario where these kind of oceans are plausib...
Making a semi-realistic Kirby Alternate Universe (AU) here. Popstar's shape is a result of a member of this powerful race using secret magics to alter reality in this AU. What would its day/night ...
I'm conceiving of a world where humans can readily terraform worlds that were once considered "dead" due to the planet's magnetic field being long gone. In such a situation, what could humans do t...
I recently saw this answers where it was suggested that the galactic core could illuminate a planet suffiently to make sure it is always summer on one side of the planet. This got me curious and af...
Could 2 moons that orbit same terrestrial planet never see each other if they orbit the planet at same time? Moons have different mass and gravity.
I understand an interstellar dust cloud as "an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interst...
Imagine a habitable, water covered, small earth-like orb in space. Let's call it P. From its surface, you see 2 large glowing masses, different sizes, in the sky, let's call them Bs. They are not s...
As I was thinking about space flight for my world, I thought about how they would need to know a planet's gravitational force before they could land, and found that humans figured out the moon's gr...
I'm building a S-Type binary system where the primary star is a black hole. Yet the system formed as a O + K-Spectral class binary and the 20 solar-mass O giant went nova 2,7 myr after both the sta...
The black hole question reminded me of an idea I wanted to implement at some point in a space campaign, but didn't go forward with because I was unsure whether it's merely statistically very implau...
I have a civilization that lives on a planet located inside a nebula (and orbiting a normal, sun-like star). Would this nebula somehow interfere with/ obscure the sight of a rogue neutron star/ b...
Is it possible for a planet to be heated and illuminated by a black hole due to Hawking radiation at the same intensity as by a star? What mass and size should a black hole have to produce the sam...
A messenger from the stars just arrived in peace but has brought horrible news. A vast swarm of planet devouring phototropic insects are approaching from deep space and our only hope is to obscure ...
Premise Suppose an earth-like world in the near-future. Then aliens come and decide to play a mischievous trick on this world on an epic scale. The goal is to disrupt Earth's time by 18 minutes. S...
Imagine a planet with two moons that have an orbital pattern similar to that of Janus and Epimetheus of Saturn... Is there a way for one of these moons to keep a stable pair of Trojan sub moons? ...
For the purposes of my story, I have created the following setting. An Earth-like planet orbits a binary star system made up of a Sun-like star and a neutron star. For the majority of time (hundre...
So I asked a question before about having two moons. A wise patron suggested my moon be made out of something like blown glass, in order to have a big bright moon that isn't too dense. That has me ...
In a sci-fi RPG I eventually intend to run for a couple of friends, I had the idea of them visiting ancient ruins on a planet orbiting a shedding red giant. Now, ignoring the problem of intelligen...
Due to the moon's gravitational pull, objects at Earth's surface directly under the moon are slightly lighter. This tiny lessening of gravity would also take effect if the moon were on the exact op...
How small could our Sun be and still "burn" with nuclear fusion and emit the same spectrum of light and other radiation as the real Sun does? Edit: The goal is to have a small sun inside a huge v...
Suppose Ship A is being targeted by Ship B, which intends to use a laser weapon in an attempt to destroy Ship A. Ship A has special technology that allows it to alter gravity (mainly used for gen...
I have been trying to figure out a way of explaining how an advanced society some time in the past built an artificial planet with a black hole at its core and the effects that would have on the pe...
I'm trying to figure out how quickly a planet could rotate while also having a single air flow cell, such as Hadley cells, that would circle from hot pole to cold pole, etc. as in the case of Tidal...
A defining factor of my world is the hardships inhabitants have to face when surviving long seasons. Due to the extreme length of a year, time is largely measured by moon cycles. I need to make sur...
An asteroid collision big enough and fast enough to see a massive ejection of rock and moon-chunks, from the surface of the earth AND not wipe out the population of the planet. What size and speed...
I am writing a novel about what it will be like on earth 500 or so years before the death of our Sun. The Sun is heating up gradually and one day that will negatively affect life on Earth. I know t...
I've been poking around similar posts, but none seem to contain the information I'm looking for. I'll try to keep it brief. In the year 20XX, some powerful organizations are trying to "land" an as...
