Questions tagged [stars]
For questions about luminous spheres of plasma held together by their own gravity, generally comprised primarily of hydrogen and helium.
323
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What are good lower and upper bounds on year length for habitable planets?
In science fiction dealing with multiple intelligent species, "year" is still often used as a unit of time - like when describing a character's age - even when dealing with species that ...
2
votes
2answers
100 views
In This Picture, How Far Can One Binary Orbit the Other?
In an alternate Milky Way in an alternate universe, there is a cluster of stars so dense that nights are over 60 times brighter than our full moon. In that cluster is a solar system presented (albeit ...
3
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2answers
128 views
Difference between F type stars and our sun
I'm writing a science fiction series. I have an intelligent nation of reptilian people who live on an Earth-like planet orbiting an F-type star. This nation needs to bask in the sun. How will the ...
3
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0answers
48 views
how can you accelerate the fusion cycle in high mass stars?
Im trying to design a device that would cause a supernova in a high mass star. I want somekind of explanation so the device doesn't seem so handwavy. is their any way to somehow increase the amount of ...
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3answers
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How far would we have to travel to make all of our familiar constellations unrecognisable?
How far would we have to travel to make all of our familiar constellations unrecognisable? (in terms of human recognition)**
We know that groupings of stars in constellations is illusory. Two ...
asked Jan 10 at 14:51
chasly - supports Monica
40.3k12 gold badges122 silver badges252 bronze badges
4
votes
1answer
68 views
How Many Red Dwarves Can Make One Stable P-Orbit?
Red dwarves are the most common stars in our galaxy, if not the whole universe. They are small--the largest don't exceed one-half of a solar mass--but scientists still believe in their potential for ...
12
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3answers
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Could a dyson sphere survive a supernova?
So, a civilization built a massive Dyson Sphere around a supergiant star. As the star ages, it begins to fuse iron. At this point, the force of radiation pressure cannot prevent core collapse, and ...
8
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4answers
2k views
Can Multiple Stars Naturally Merge Into One New Star?
Assume just for this question that in one same plane of space, there are the following stars within close proximity of each other:
An O-type main-sequence star (18x wider, 15-90x more massive and 40k-...
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2answers
186 views
Could a red giant be re-stabilized?
First, some context: I am creating a habitable world with intelligent life present in the second main sequence of a star (hence why it needs to be re-stabilized). This life discovers the ruins of an ...
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0answers
59 views
World building - Sky color, star class based on the color of the plants [duplicate]
Starting a new project here
If my plant foliage is blue-green/turquoise and my under water plant are in the reddish-brown/ochre color - What color should the sky be (mid day and dawn/dusk) and what ...
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0answers
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How much do stars brighten as they age? [closed]
Typical worldbuilding resources give some approximate equations for the luminosity of a main sequence star as a function of its mass, e.g. L = M4 (relative to the Sun's mass and luminosity, for stars ...
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vote
1answer
225 views
Star that gives heat but no light? [closed]
Is a star that emits heat, enough for life to exist on its planets, however does not emit much light possible?
NOTE: I'm not asking if life on a lightless planet is possible.
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2answers
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What would seasons and daylight be like if the Earth was on an eight-shaped orbit between two stars?
I'm building a medieval-high-fantasy world and I want it to have two suns. I'd like it to make it somewhat realistic at least as far as seasons and light/biomes go, while the actual feasibility of ...
2
votes
2answers
113 views
How close to a magnetar could a generation ship get?
In the news recently, it has been discovered that the fast burst radio waves are coming from magnetars.
It is doubtful that a habitable planet could form anywhere near one, but such a star would be an ...
5
votes
1answer
159 views
How realistic is this orange dwarf star?
For my world building project, I have an (on the large side) orange dwarf star with these parameters:
Mass: 0.75 solar masses
Radius: 0.8 solar radii
Luminosity: 0.36 solar luminosities
Surface ...
11
votes
3answers
2k views
What would a Rainbow look like on an earth-like Planet orbiting a Red Sun?
Okay, so in my setting I'm writing, the planet is very earth-like, similar atmosphere, liquid water exists, etc.. But the planet orbits a red giant. I've done a lot of fiddling around with various ...
3
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0answers
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Is this a decent description of the process for an interstellar drive based on this handwavium/element zero?
My story needs four variations of an interstellar drive that uses exotic matter (detailed below). I know what the processes need to do, side effects of using them, etc. but explaining them/showing ...
0
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2answers
104 views
Would an elecroweak star radiate similarly to a normal star? If so, would a habitable zone around it even be possible?
An electroweak star is a theoretical exotic star in which the radiation pressure from its core keeps it from collapsing into a black hole. Because of its theoretical nature, it's hard to find a lot of ...
3
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1answer
90 views
How Big Can the Habitable Zone Be in a G-Type Binary System?
Here's the basic setup:
There is a binary solar system somewhere in an elliptical galaxy (said to be more suitable for habitability than spiral galaxies like our Milky Way.) The first star is a G-...
4
votes
0answers
47 views
Equations for developing a hypothetical Solar System [duplicate]
I am currently going down the rabbit hole of writing a story but I would like it to be set in a universe which is believable. Therefore I am trying to create a hypothetical solar system in which the ...
5
votes
7answers
679 views
How to make other stars visible to the naked eye in the day sky
In my world each person has the ability to call upon the power of a star; using it to further whatever end theyād wantāi.e. using the sunās energy to power a spell. However, they can ONLY call upon ...
10
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2answers
265 views
Could a world be dominated by white seas?
I have this idea for a world orbiting a type O star, a particularly active kind of star producing intense radiation. As a form of adaptation, the microbial life has become bright white so to reflect ...
3
votes
1answer
94 views
Distance required for a Red Giant Star to have an apparent magnitude of -13
Assume this Red Giant has the properties of Aldebaran (Ī± Tauri in constellation Taurus) with an absolute visual magnitude of ā0.641M. How far would it have to be from Earth in order to possess an ...
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votes
1answer
133 views
What is it like inside the sun? [closed]
In a freak chance of events, a spaceship is stranded in the sun, and the crew and ship is miraculously unharmed. After an attempted suicide, the crew realizes that through the same chance that put ...
7
votes
3answers
308 views
Why don't Sci-fi stories draw energy directly from their stars using wormholes/FTL devices? [closed]
Science fiction is full of devices allowing people to open portals to other worlds, teleport, open wormholes, etc. but there are only subtle discussions about tapping into the sun or other stars with ...
3
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2answers
193 views
Replacing Jupiter with a small star
Earth orbits between the Sun and the massive planet Jupiter.
My question involves a similar set-up except that Jupiter is replaced by a small star.
Here's a size comparison between Sol, Jupiter, and ...
asked Jul 23 '20 at 18:56
chasly - supports Monica
40.3k12 gold badges122 silver badges252 bronze badges
2
votes
2answers
109 views
How would day and night look like on a planet that orbits two suns? [duplicate]
I'm writing a fantasy story set in a p-type circumbinary system and I'd like to know how this would affect day and night, when the suns and moon would be visible, and the climate and seasons on the ...
71
votes
13answers
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Is using the Sun as a sort of 'garbage dump' safe?
Is it safe for my civilization to launch rockets full of hazardous material into the Sun? This question applies to all stars, really, not just the sun.
By hazardous materials, I mainly mean ...
6
votes
2answers
166 views
How can I depict the stars as if looking up from a specific planet not in our solar system?
I'd like to create a realistic starscape for an extant planet, ideally with seasonal tilt change like on Earth. While I realize I can just make it up (and will probably do so if I can't figure out how ...
28
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6answers
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Exactly how far apart are nearby stars from one another? [duplicate]
I am working on a hard(ish) science fiction space opera story, and I would like to get a good handle on distances between stars so that I can calculate appropriate travel times. There are a lot of ...
4
votes
1answer
110 views
What impact would a white dwarf-neutron star collision have on a civilization on a planet orbiting the white dwarf?
An advanced civilization lives on an Earth-like planet orbiting a white dwarf. Their star is on a collision course with a neutron star. I imagine this collision will cause a supernova, which will ...
6
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2answers
208 views
Different human-survivable universes
If humans had the ability to physically travel to a universe similar to our own, how different could its fundamental constants be and still allow humans and other terran life to survive there long-...
1
vote
3answers
208 views
What kind of power could be stronger than light and shadow? [closed]
I am creating a world where exist 2 main types of magic users: the ones with the ability to control the light of the sun and the ones with the ability to control the darkness of the shadows/moon. ...
6
votes
4answers
331 views
What would make a star good for star lifting?
My civilization is planning to being starlifting, mining a star by heating up portions of its surface and using a powerful magnetic field to channel the matter away from the star and into storage ...
10
votes
1answer
388 views
What sets of stellar models are freely available for reference when worldbuilding?
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 particular ...
6
votes
1answer
258 views
I can't seem to find correct starbuilding equations that work together anywhere and am generally confused. Which ones do you use?
So far I've been using Artifexian's How To Build A Star YouTube video. The problem with this video is that it's quite old and thus outdated. The things I've noticed to be particularly weird are the ...
4
votes
1answer
163 views
Can the color of an alien sky be calculated solely from atmospheric composition and the star's (or stars') spectral type(s)?
What exactly are the relevant numbers for such a calculation, and can it account for the color of the sky?
By sky color, I mean the day to day hue that humans (or something else with very similar ...
3
votes
3answers
114 views
Would these processes be probable on this planet?
Background
This planet, located somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy, orbits a M5V star about 0.682764 AU away from its star. The planet is volcanically active due to the gravitational field of the ...
3
votes
3answers
254 views
How to explain a planet around a K-Type star with Orange/Red/Purple plants?
Basically, in a sci-fi roleplaying group I am apart of, I have began to work on a long-standing human colony world. The tech-level is pretty much bog-standard sci-fi, and such, colonisation is ...
6
votes
1answer
178 views
The Earth and Moon resolidify under a bluer star, their outer layers evaporated and burned away. What do they look like now?
(This is the third in a series of questions, starting with Moved into further orbits to protect them, how much damage do Earth and Moon take when the Sun expands? and How soon does the Earth's ...
7
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2answers
160 views
Randomly generating plausible star types for a synthetic galaxy?
I'd like to randomly generate between 1 and 20 million stars for a spiral galaxy resembling our Milky Way. This is of course far fewer than our galaxy (estimated between 150 to 300 billion), but I'd ...
7
votes
2answers
352 views
How soon does the Earth's surface re-solidify after the red-giant Sun is replaced with a different star?
(Note: This is a follow-up question to my previous one: Moved into further orbits to protect them, how much damage do Earth and Moon take when the Sun expands?)
Thanks to clever stellar engineering ...
4
votes
1answer
293 views
In a Red Giant Binary System, How Far and How Wide Can the Habitable Zone Be?
Our estimates of our own habitable zone--a piece of space in which liquid water is possible--have varied over the years, but the current estimate is by Ramirez and Kaltenegger in 2017. Based on an ...
9
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6answers
757 views
Could a mass made up of certain elements or compounds “disrupt” a star?
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 ...
9
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9answers
625 views
How could sentient stars work?
I'm considering making one "creature" that is encountered in a story a sentient star in an alternate universe. I hope to hand-wave a little of the more complicated stuff by saying "this universe's ...
3
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1answer
185 views
When will the last white dwarfs become black dwarfs?
I want my planet to be the last planet in a universe to host life forms. I expect a rough estimation as answer.
Thanks.
8
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2answers
1k views
Could bacteria survive on a star?
If the right requirements are met, could bacteria survive on the Sun?
The bacteria would spend most of their time in hibernation and reproducing, and when the time comes, they spread out on plasma ...
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votes
2answers
231 views
How long would it take to eat the Sun?
Premise: Space lab is working on making synthetic cells out of different materials. Experiments are classified as too dangerous to be disposed of with conventional means, and are set on an collision ...
2
votes
3answers
140 views
Synthesization of a star?
Would it be possible to put hydrogen into a vacuum chamber and use something to turn it into a smaller version of a star? I am making a scene with a simulated planet environment in space and wanted ...
4
votes
1answer
121 views
How bright is the night with 18-22 AU distant star?
In my previous question, I asked about how close can two stars in a binary system be for planets around them to stay earthlike, assuming that both stars have very sunlike and both planets very ...
