Questions tagged [stars]
For questions about luminous spheres of plasma held together by their own gravity, generally comprised primarily of hydrogen and helium.
347
questions
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Is it possible for the Sun to cause more coronal mass ejections and still be essentially the same star otherwise?
Let's say that the Sun, instead of being the relatively tame star it is IRL, constantly sends out low-level but unpredictable coronal mass ejections that aren't enough to negatively effect life but do ...
4
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0answers
91 views
Effects of magic on stellar evolution
I believe it'd be foolish to assume that magic wouldn't affect astronomical phenomena like stellar evolution, But since I'm not smart enough to create the equations for a new fundamental force, I have ...
6
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2answers
193 views
If John Atkinson Grimshaw's Paintings were actually daylight, what kind of star would this “sun” be?
An Englishman by the name of John Atkinson Grimshaw was known only for his nocturnal paintings of the British landscape.
I don't know about you, but his nocturnes have struck me as a bit...bright. ...
0
votes
1answer
87 views
What Would the Sky Look Like If the Sun Were a Different Color (And Still Half a Degree Wide)? [duplicate]
This question has been asked many, many, many times--what would the sky look like if the sun were a different color? But the mistake I keep seeing is that they used actual stars and imagined Earth as ...
3
votes
1answer
108 views
How Much Solar Wind Does A Star Produce?
I need someone to give me a way to figure out how fast the solar wind from a star with a known mass travels, as well as how much solar wind the star releases in a given amount of time. I hope that it ...
3
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2answers
104 views
How Would An Advanced Alien Civilization Expand the Lifespans of Giant Stars (Nearly) Exponentially? [closed]
Long ago, in some distant galaxy, an advanced civilization had turned a small, young elliptical galaxy into their own astronomical playground. They seemed to have come up with a way to prolong ...
4
votes
2answers
200 views
If Thorne–Żytkow Objects Exist, How Far/Wide Would Their Habitable Zones Be?
First proposed in 1977 by physicist Kim Thorne and astronomer Anna Żytkow, a...you know what? Let's just call it a TZO, sounds easier that way. Anyway, a TZO is supposedly a giant or even a ...
2
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1answer
100 views
Climate of a Planet in a Binary Star System
Would the climate of a planet in a binary star system consisting of a K star and a G star be affected by the binary system? By this I mean, does having two stars at the center of a solar system affect ...
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In this infant (<500 million years) solar system, how far would each orbit be to be stable?
Here's the story: There is a solar system that is still a baby, less than 500 million years old.
There are a total of eight stars clumped into four binaries, each one with its own habitable zone. ...
5
votes
2answers
99 views
Maps of star clusters
Inside star clusters, there are regions where stars are within 1 light year of each other. I wish to create a sci-fi setting in one of these regions. To start, I have tried to find maps/charts of ...
2
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3answers
56 views
Is the following plausible: a moon at an L1 point orbits a gas giant, which orbits a sun. the moon is submerged in half daylight half moonlight
I'm writing a sci-fi & fantasy novel, I won't get into details, but in essence it's set on a fantasy moon that orbits a gas giant, which orbits a sun. The moon is at an L1 (Lagrange 1) point, and ...
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2answers
173 views
Is it plausible for a planet to have a face constantly sunlit while the other is constantly moonlit, with the sun/moonlit territories never changing?
I'm writing a sci-fi & fantasy novel, I won't get into details, but in essence it's set on a fantasy planet that orbits around a sun, and has a moon. The basic premise (that I'm hoping for anyway) ...
4
votes
3answers
321 views
Could there be a star where humans could survive for a short time?
This honestly sounds like it's basically impossible, but here we go anyway.
We've picked up a strange reading from a spot orbiting a star in a system elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy. We've come into ...
4
votes
1answer
126 views
What environment do I need for gluonium entities to thrive in?
Gluons are the particles that hold quarks together. The way they do this allows them to hold each other together in the form of gluonium.
Gluonium only appears at high temperatures such as those ...
13
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6answers
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Can a planet move itself?
Most questions in this vein seem to center around the inhabitants of a planet moving it. I have a significantly different spin on this idea, though.
So, you're a big ball of rock spinning around a ...
12
votes
3answers
745 views
What is the largest possible appearance of a celestial body in the sky?
In SciFi Art we often see planets/moons/stars fill enormous amounts of the visible sky. I'm wondering what the theoretical limit for this is realistically, since there are maxima for the possible size ...
2
votes
1answer
87 views
Rocheworlds mass
Suppose you've got two tidally-locked planets, each one orbiting its own red dwarf. With two red dwarfs to hold the planets, could the planets get close enough to share atmospheres? And how would you ...
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vote
1answer
85 views
Climate in a S-type orbit planet in a binary star system
I made a planet orbiting (S-type orbit) a K-type star in a binary system; the other star is F-type.
Star
F-type
K-type
Mass
1.3 M☉ or 2.6x1030 kg
0.7 M☉ or 1x1030 kg
Radius
1.14 R☉ or 0.8x109 m
0....
7
votes
2answers
715 views
How would I make a natural, long-lived red giant star?
I have a system in which the main habitable planets are on the many moons of a super-neptune. The ice giant has not migrated inwards, but rather the habitable zone has expanded outwards due to the red ...
0
votes
1answer
92 views
Would Sean Raymond's “Ultimate Solar System” Work in This Particular System?
Presented here is a system in which a binary of orange dwarves orbits a binary of yellow dwarves. Each yellow dwarf is 105% as wide, 110% as massive and 126% as bright as our sun. Each orange dwarf ...
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1answer
134 views
Is a Gamma Ray Burst Cannon possible? (G.R.B.C. Part 1/2)
Now, for a little context, L.G.R.B.C.s, or Lesser Gamma Ray Burst Cannons, are extremely powerful weapons that are used almost exclusively by the Karan, a race of religious automatons that wish to ...
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6answers
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A Habitable Zone Within a Habitable Zone--Would that Make any Difference?
Presented here is a quaternary solar system consisting of two binary orbits. One consists of two red giants, each one 100 times as wide, one-third as massive and 100 times as bright as our sun. Both ...
0
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1answer
120 views
Alternative earth-like planet environment that supports human life
So i want to create a planet that supports human life. Primarily, i would need to consider a star type, an atmosphere, foliage pigment, and potentially different types of plants. Think of it as a sort ...
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1answer
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Kinds of stars and local plant life [closed]
I know how the color of a planet's flora is affected by the light from its sun. But my problem is I keep getting things confused. Does anyone know of a resource that lays it all out in a chart? I'm ...
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3answers
235 views
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
125 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
votes
2answers
168 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
94 views
how can you accelerate the fusion cycle in high mass stars?
I'm trying to design a device that would cause a supernova in a high mass star. I want some kind of explanation so the device doesn't seem so handwavy. Is there any way to somehow increase the amount ...
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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
46.3k12 gold badges138 silver badges288 bronze badges
3
votes
1answer
127 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 ...
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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
votes
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-...
6
votes
2answers
204 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
73 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
44 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
226 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.
10
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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
128 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
182 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
135 views
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
113 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
109 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
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0answers
50 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 ...
7
votes
8answers
747 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 they’d want—i.e. using the sun’s energy to power a spell. However, they can ONLY call upon ...
10
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2answers
293 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
101 views
Distance required for a Red Giant Star to have an apparent magnitude of -13
Assume this Red Giant has the properties of Aldebaran (α Tauri in constellation Taurus) with an absolute visual magnitude of −0.641M. How far would it have to be from Earth in order to possess an ...
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1answer
139 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
330 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
197 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
46.3k12 gold badges138 silver badges288 bronze badges
