Questions tagged [stars]
For questions about luminous spheres of plasma held together by their own gravity, generally comprised primarily of hydrogen and helium.
293
questions
4
votes
1answer
93 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
votes
2answers
181 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
130 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
287 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 ...
11
votes
1answer
326 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
213 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 The problem with this video is that it's quite old and thus outdated.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
142 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
107 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
146 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
167 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
votes
2answers
154 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
323 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
279 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
votes
6answers
751 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 ...
6
votes
8answers
381 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
votes
1answer
172 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
votes
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 ...
-2
votes
2answers
214 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
133 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
98 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 ...
-2
votes
1answer
67 views
Binary star system i need help finding habitable zone [duplicate]
I have revamped my queshton a 3th time so i can get my ansure. The last 2 times i forgot something or got my math wrong. so i hope i got it all and got my math right, third times a charm. I have a ...
1
vote
1answer
126 views
I need help with the math of this Binary star system [duplicate]
I have talked before about this system in one of my other questions. I have figured out some more info about the planets/stars. I want to know where is the habitable zone and any other info you can ...
7
votes
4answers
188 views
How far should second star be in my binary system?
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 ...
3
votes
2answers
143 views
How would the strong magnetic field of a white dwarf affect humans inhabiting a planet that orbits such a star?
Magnetic white dwarfs (MWD) comprise almost 2 % of all white dwarfs and they are characterized by having a strong magnetic field, whose strength varies between 1 T and 100 kT. Compared to the Earth's ...
-1
votes
2answers
108 views
How would a binary star system with a planet with 2 moons work? If possible
I am creating a solar system that has a binary star system. The system has 3 planets. The closest being like Mercury. The next being the planet that supports life and being slightly larger then earth....
6
votes
2answers
161 views
Life without a bright star?
The main source of free energy that allowed life on Earth to develop was our sun. It bombards the planet’s surface with photons of high energy, which provide activation energy for reactions necessary ...
8
votes
1answer
223 views
How much of a star can be covered in starspots?
Many stars, including the Sun, periodically display starspots, cooler areas of the surface associated with higher local concentrations of the stellar magnetic field. They can sometimes be a couple ...
27
votes
17answers
8k views
Is there any conceivable way to “turn off” a star?
In my world, a group of "lamplighters" seek to turn off unused stars to conserve the energy for later use. This serves a few purposes, but mainly:
It delays the heat-death of the Universe to some ...
1
vote
1answer
144 views
What Star would encourage what color of plants? or, a table of star types to the most efficient plant color [duplicate]
Using the following list of stars, what color is the most efficient for plants to absorb the ideal amount of energy?
(This is not a complete list of star types, just some big examples)
Yellow Dwarf ...
2
votes
2answers
126 views
What kind of star will work for my system?
After what feels like forever and after asking several questions (like this, this and this), I believe I may have decided upon a suitable orbital system for my world:
$M_{S}=2.272\;571\;144\;5 \times ...
6
votes
5answers
380 views
What star can give an earth-like planet a 1-day year?
I did the orbital period for a planet orbiting a mass = 1 sol with a 24-hour year, it’s got a semi-major axis of 1.82 million miles - far and away beyond the Roche limit, still beyond the corona, but ...
10
votes
3answers
1k views
How to mine a star?
Things like Dyson spheres need a whole lot of raw material, which is rather difficult to come by, since the elements needed for good structural steel are scattered fairly thinly into the universe upon ...
10
votes
9answers
2k views
What element, if any, would justify mining stars (financially)?
Alright so in my sci-fi a prominent corporation dominated by the Borlak species (Mantis-like Hexapods). The Borlak make their money by mining "dead systems", solar systems without any habitable ...
asked Oct 25 '19 at 13:36
Celestial Dragon Emperor
10.3k4 gold badges37 silver badges79 bronze badges
5
votes
1answer
163 views
If someone dropped a black hole into the Sun, when and how will we notice it?
Suppose someone dropped a black hole into our lovely Sun a few million years ago. It was big enough (far bigger than that) from the start to eat matter faster than radiating it away, and kept growing ...
2
votes
1answer
97 views
How would the world be different if we orbited a different star to our Sun? [closed]
I was reading this article on stars that are just right for the formation of habitable planets, and I was interested in what it had to say about K stars. Here is an except so you can read for ...
27
votes
8answers
7k views
What elements would be created in a star composed entirely of gold?
I'm working with the idea of creating a sun made out of pure gold. Of course, this would be completely man-made. Why would anyone want to do this? Because I want a cool concept like that in my story! :...
1
vote
2answers
120 views
Can an Unstable Ternary Star System Last Several Hundred Years?
After reading the following question, I know that there are not that many solutions to the 3-body problem, and I know that a ternary system is unstable. The 3 stars all orbit each other in a rotating ...
8
votes
1answer
123 views
What color would plants orbiting a white dwarf have?
So, let's say there's a white dwarf star that has recently been born (by recently, let's say about 3 million years ago) Now around that time, a rogue planet, about the same size and mass as earth, ...
57
votes
12answers
13k views
If every star in the universe except the Sun were destroyed, would we die?
If every star and planetary system and blackhole—all mass (not sure whether to include dark matter or not) except what directly makes up our solar system—in the Universe except the Sun were wiped from ...
3
votes
4answers
211 views
Can a planet orbit two stars, the first sun being like Earth's Sun, the second and larger star only visible from the planet around the horizon?
My planet orbits two suns. The orbit of the first sun is similar to Earths orbit around our sun. The orbit around the second sun however makes it appears only around the horizon. Is this possible?
2
votes
3answers
95 views
How is the visual luminosity of a star calculated?
My idea is a planet that orbits a red dwarf at a distance in which the apparent magnitude of this seen from the planet is the same as that of the sun seen from Earth. Does this mean that the daylight ...
4
votes
1answer
59 views
A Stable Red Giant Trinary System
In an alternate universe, we have a spot in the Orion Arm where we have nine Earth-like planets orbiting three red giants. Judging from the size and luminosity of each star, it's been conferred that ...
19
votes
7answers
6k views
A continuous water “planet” ring around a star
It is impossible to have a continuous mostly liquid water ring around a star?
Probably such a configuration would be unstable under normal planetary forming condition. I am looking for a good ...
3
votes
3answers
203 views
Which Stars Would Best Suit For the Habitable Zone of The Nine Norse Earths?
In an alternate universe, the nine realms of Norse mythology--Midgard, Asgard, Vanaheimr, Jotunheimr, Alfheimr, Hel, Nidavellir, Niflheim and Museplheim--are actual, real-life "Earths", in the sense ...
9
votes
5answers
395 views
What sort of solar system / atmospheric conditions, if any, would allow for a very cold planet that still receives plenty of light from its sun?
The setting I'm interested in would involve a cold planet (cold enough for most bodies of water to be frozen - I'm thinking of an average global temperature of -20C or below). The simplest way would ...
7
votes
2answers
289 views
Life around Cepheid Variable stars
Are there any unique challenges life would face evolving on a planet orbiting a Cepheid Variable star? I'm aware this is a broad question, so to narrow it down, consider this a question about Great ...
49
votes
20answers
12k views
Killing a star safely
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 or ...
5
votes
3answers
311 views
Can you prevent a star from dying with infinite energy?
In my story, an advanced alien civilization that can travel to other universes has created an infinite energy source, named "an amvelian core". This core resembles a small sphere in appearance (about ...
1
vote
3answers
237 views
In Search of a Super-Bright, Super-Stable Star
Long ago, I asked a question on how to make possible turning the nine realms of Norse mythology--Midgard, Asgard, Vanaheimr, Jotunheimr, Alfheimr, Hel, Nidavellir, Niflheim and Museplheim--into nine ...
9
votes
2answers
601 views
What is the theoretical maximum number of habitable planets in one solar system?
In the DC comic book universe, the Vega System is a solar system around the star Vega (Alpha Lyrae), which is depicted as having dozens of habitable planets. While it seems to be an implausibly large ...
