Conjoined Planets?
I was wondering if two bodies could be physically connected to each other such as the ones in the art I have attached. Is there any realism to it?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/104066. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
Not for a planet, but for a smaller body.
Massive bodies are in hydrostatic equilibrium. Gravity pulls them into spheres, eliminating most non-negligible variations from perfect roundness. Obviously, protrusions like mountains exist, but they're minute compared to the size of a planet.
That said, smaller bodies may not be in hydrostatic equilibrium, and this sort of object can form. 67P/Churyumov"“Gerasimenko, for example, is a comet that has a barbell-shaped nucleus. You could absolutely get a minor body shaped like this.
Image from the ESA, under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO License.
0 comment threads