Posts tagged orbital-mechanics
So I'm working on a story based on a binary system involving two Earth sized, Earth like worlds with very eccentric orbits. In the story, one of the major coastal cities is protected by a massive r...
I'm imagining six moons orbiting a single large planet along the same, circular path. Each moon is at the L5 Lagrange point of the one "ahead" of it, and at the L4 point of the one "behind". I re...
Pluto is inclined in a way that makes it slightly off the orbital plane of all the other planets and sun. Could you have a planet that was inclined at 90 degrees, or at least close to that? What wo...
I was imaging a system which has a black hole, a star and Earth like planet. The star and planet orbits around the black hole, but the planet has same orbital period as the star, which is a "quasi ...
I need to know what would be the orbital period (so, how long would last a year/day) of an Earth-like planet tidally-locked to a red dwarf. The star is at the upper limit of the red dwarfs (so, ar...
Okay so we all know that one planet from the movie "Interstellar" that orbited the black hole Gargantua. How do I NOT get that? What's the minimum safe distance for a planet to be from a black hole...
Would it be possible for a terrestrial planet say atleast >0.3 Earth masses orbiting in the L3/L4/L5 and L1/L2 Lagrangian points of a Jupiter sized planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like sta...
The gas giant has a mass of about 2.13 Jupiter masses in the habitable zone of a Sun like star 0.981 Sol masses, all the moons will need at least >0.12 percent of Earth's mass and a Mars like de...
I have two planets that are the exact same size and mass of Earth. They orbit each other, and have an orbital period of one day. How far apart are they? The planets both orbit a star the same as t...
I ask because I have a problem trying to find an appropriate launch window around that time or any point in the mid-1980s, and I need to reach Jupiter via Hohmann transfer so I can then use a serie...
These moons orbit a Jovian planet with 0.52 Jovian mass and at 1.02 AU from a star with 0.98 Sol mass. 3.85 Days, 0.351 Earth, 0.68 G 15.4 Days, 0.242 Earth, 0.59 G 30.8 Days, 0.118 Earth, 0.44 ...
So, I'm working on a story which involves a triple star system that is full of planets. The first two stars, a G type (which is orbited by an asteroid belt and two small rocky worlds) and a B type ...
In the story I'm writing, humanity has cracked FTL travel by compressing a chunk of matter outside the craft into a short lived, gravitationally weak black hole that leads to a higher dimension (kn...
When we talk about orbits we often imagine a ship or station orbiting a planet outside its atmosphere. Is it possible a ship could go into orbit inside its atmosphere (perhaps to hide from other c...
In the latest Artifexian video, he talked about terrestrial moons, bringing up great ways they could and would exist. But the video ended with an interesting concept, Horseshoe Habitable Moons. F...
Is it possible for a earth-like planet to orbit a neutron star & have intelligent life-forms, even if said neutron star 'moves' through different galaxies? as seen in this video - https://www....
The Wikipedia article on Klemperer Rosettes states that hexagonal rosettes are slightly more stable than other, non-hexagonal rosettes, due to the position of the orbital objects in the Lagrange po...
According to this Reddit conversation, the detritus around a planet tends to form into a single plane located around the equator given enough time. How long does this process take? Suppose a planet...
I'm inventing a constructed world for a personal exercise in writing, and I was wondering if a theoretical cube shaped planet could have a moon. Is that physically possible? I am going on the assum...
If I understand correctly, it's highly likely that the planets in a twin-Earth binary planet system would be tidally locked. But is it totally impossible for them to be much farther apart"”say, at ...
How stable (or possible) would binary moons be, (Luna-sized or possibly slightly smaller) rotating around an earth-sized planet? Edit: Thanks for the questions! And thanks for the welcome! My...
Could these moons be tidally locked between them or would they get locked to Earth? What consequences would the orbital cycle of these two moons have on Earth's surface?
Approximately how likely is it that a tidally locked planet would have a long term natural satellite, and where would that satellite most likely be located? What I've so far researched (and puzzled...
Given a "parallel" Earth-like world with 9 days to our own 7 days (ie, each day is around 18 hours, 40 minutes), what other differences would one expect/require to be otherwise "normal" and habitab...
The host star for this hypothetical system is 1.05 (M☉) The gas giant is 20 percent more massive than Jupiter and orbits at 1.40 AU, now I need to know if these three orbits are stable around th...
The host star has a mass of 0.90 M$_\odot$ I'll refer to this star as Helios. I'll refer to the planets as Helios One, Helios Two, etc. Helios One is 0.55 M$_{\oplus}$ and orbits at 0.75 AU. It's ...
Is there a way for a moon to usually appear relatively similar to our own moon, but occasionally appear much larger from the planet's surface without causing natural disasters due to extreme gravit...
I have two earth clones, in essence, separated by 16550 miles (26350 kilometers). They are, of course, tidally locked, and orbit each other once every 24 hours. These planets orbit a sun identical ...
I have decided to change the numbers to make it easy on Hohmannfan. These two planets, for all intents and purposes, are identical to Earth, with he moon replaced by another Earth. So now the quest...
So, I have five habitable planets in my planetary system. These five planets are all in the Goldilocks zone, orbiting their star. However, only two are relevant to this question. The star is exactl...
So I have a fictional world where I have three moons orbiting this planet. I've used this web site to try and figure this out but I wanted to ask this question myself. My planet (a little bigger t...
For this scenario, we must look at the postercard of the term "superearth"--Kepler-10b. Its mass is almost 3.5 times greater than Earth, and its diameter 1.4 times wider. Now let's imagine that...
A neutron star is a type of compact star that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star after a supernova. Neutron stars are the densest and smallest stars known to exist in t...
I have an engine with unlimited $\Delta v$. Don't ask how I got it, it's probably one of my earth changing inventions. Either way: I no longer like Earth and want to get off (I'm headed for a reti...
In these two questions, https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/232141/how-much-force-would-be-required-to-destabilize-the-moons-orbit-enough-for-it-to and https://physics.stackexchange.com/que...
If Mars was vaporized by aliens, how would it affect us? Assume that the core of Mars exploded, sending the debris flying in all directions, and that some would pass close by, but not hit, Earth. H...
Is there any way to make a planet with a corkscrew orbit (like this) that could host a sci-fi civilisation? It'd be amazing if there was a way to make life arise naturally, but colonize-able works...
I'm not sure if this question belongs here or over on Physics Stack Exchange. The Earth and Moon are unique in the Solar System in that the Moon is a significant size compared to the Earth, at 1/4...
For my current purposes, assume we have two planets identical to earth. So, could two of these planets form a stable binary system, and still be close enough to see the green foliage on the surface...
The human race has colonized the solar system with permanent settlements on all of the inner planets and outposts beyond. Vast space stations pepper the voids between orbits and massive mining/ref...
Picture, if you will, four planets sharing the exact same orbit and orbital speed, and separated by exactly same distance from each other. Each planet is the same size and roughly the same gravitat...
In this scenario, the sun is a binary star, sharing orbit with an F-type main-sequence star. The first planet from that binary star is a Jupiter-like gas giant, orbiting one-third of an AU from th...
Given ideal circumstances and a type 4 or 5 Kardashev scale level of technology to set the system in motion (but not to maintain the motion over time): How many planets 1/4 of the Earth's mass co...
In the Warhammer 40k universe, there are planets where the population hasn't developed so far and are left in the feudal stage, (or the technology has degenerated so much it is back to the point). ...
I asked a similar question (in a SpaceEx manner) on Space Exploration, but here I've made it a bit more ... worldbuilding. We have a nice Space Elevator, and I'm in charge of the luxury guest acco...
My moon is the basis for a fantasy setting, but I just can't bring myself to abandon science and say "a wizard did it." I want to make the months and seasons realistic, and I want to find a way to ...
I'm currently heavily revising a story which is largely set on a habitable but not exactly hospitable moon of a gas giant orbiting on the outer edge (or just beyond) of the habitable zone around a ...
Hijacking DaaaahWhoosh's backstory, let's say our sniper takes the shot anyway, but he accidentally hit one of his weather balloons he set up, and now he's out of tungsten bullets. Frustrated, he d...
In a system where 2 planets of similar mass are orbiting around a common barycenter, would the following configuration considered stable on the long run? They orbit at 1,6 AU from their star The ...
This is an extension of my first question, and precisely as Jim2B suggests, I want enough time to pass on my network of space stations for their inhabitants to forget why they're there, how they go...
