158
votes
Accepted
This sword is forged from meteorite iron - but how is that any good?
Kamacite and Taenite
Kamacite and Taenite are both Iron-Nickel alloys found (on Earth) only in meteorites. Kamacite's composition is in the 90:10 to 95:5 Fe:Ni range. Taenite's composition is from 20%...
- 84.3k
129
votes
Accepted
How could a planet have a sky without stars at night?
Dust cloud.
The star may be residing in a dust cloud with no other stars nearby. This interstellar dust will create a faint nighttime glow, and can be thick enough that no other star's light can be ...
- 41.1k
108
votes
Accepted
What could make a star green?
Give it a circumstellar cloud of oxygen.
Some planetary nebulae, such as NGC 6826, appear green because of ionized oxygen.
Image in the public domain. Yes, this is a true-color image.
I see no reason ...
- 97.5k
76
votes
Accepted
What's the largest body in the solar system that you could destroy without endangering humanity?
Ganymede
No matter which one you go for, blowing up a planet is going to make a lot of shrapnel. An asteroid of several miles long is an extinction-level event, and you've just thrown millions of ...
- 28.3k
70
votes
How could a planet have a sky without stars at night?
Perhaps their planet is on the inside of a giant Dyson sphere that was created by an ancient civilization.
This would be a vast solid shell that surrounds their entire solar system, the inside of ...
- 1,702
61
votes
Accepted
How would a Martian colony be able to celebrate Christmas?
Since Santa's death fortress is based on the North Pole of Neptune, he shouldn't have too much trouble making it to Mars. He and all of his reindeer are robotic, so they won't have any trouble ...
- 45.6k
57
votes
Where in the solar system is the most viable place to put my colonists, after Mars and Luna?
The Asteroid belt.
It has similar requirements for life-support systems as the moon. With the additional need perhaps for some areas with simulated gravity.
It is next closest in terms of energy ...
- 3,318
57
votes
How do you non-catastrophically reduce the mass of the Sun by half?
C. Must not create any phenomena that would have devastating consequences on life on the planets (i.e.: no radiation, excessive heat, energy surges) except for the diminishing of the Sun's current ...
- 126k
51
votes
How could a planet have a sky without stars at night?
One possibility is for the surface of the planet to be covered in highly luminous matter. Perhaps all the surface is an interconnected network of bioluminescent life.
There is no moon (assumed ...
- 36.9k
50
votes
Accepted
Could two planets follow the same orbit and never "see" each other?
I assumed, based on the limited knowledge I have on the subject, that all star systems have ellipsoidal orbits (the star being in one of the two focal points) just like our own
You are right, this is ...
- 241k
46
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Plausible reason for Earth not be able to get updates about terraforming on Mars?
Switch planets.
Venus has a permanent, thick, global layer of clouds that covers it. We cannot observe its surface from the Earth. Even satellites can only peek at its surface through radar. The only ...
- 126k
45
votes
Accepted
What happens if the sun disappears and then reappears some days later?
I'll start with Earth
Earth is hurling through space at a speed of approximately $29.78 km/s$ If the sun were to disappear, the Earth would move in a straight line until the sun reappears. Since there ...
- 5,535
40
votes
Accepted
Why might a valued mineral be only found on one planet?
Organic
Your mineral could have been deposited millions of years ago by a specific type of organism, class of organisms, or type of biome. For instance, you might have a forest that produces lots of ...
- 2,817
40
votes
This sword is forged from meteorite iron - but how is that any good?
Don't make space iron better. Make all other iron worse.
Read up on Low Background Steel. Have all of earth's iron contaminated with something, and less useful than we think of iron being.
At some ...
- 3,120
39
votes
How do you non-catastrophically reduce the mass of the Sun by half?
Wormhole
[A,C,D,E,F,G] A traversalable wormhole would be an excellent mechanism to remove mass from the sun. A wormhole is consistent with general relativity while avoiding all of the pitfalls of ...
- 901
38
votes
Where in the solar system is the most viable place to put my colonists, after Mars and Luna?
My choices: Ganymede and Callisto (and maybe Titan)
This is perhaps a bit of a buzzkill, but I honestly would not recommend colonizing much in the solar system besides the Moon and Mars. Here's why I ...
- 97.5k
38
votes
How could a planet have a sky without stars at night?
It is never night.
https://www.tripsavvy.com/midnight-sun-in-scandinavia-1626397
Your people live on the north pole of a tidally locked planet. Like the countries near the north pole on our planet, ...
- 277k
35
votes
Accepted
Blind spot in the Solar System
Get the ship as close to the sun as the ship can tolerate then maintain position between the sun and the earth. The sun is a strong gamma ray emitter. As long as the ship stays between the earth and ...
- 52.1k
35
votes
What could make a star green?
Phil Plait of the Bad Astronomy fame:
Why are there no green stars: "The fault lies not in the stars (well, not entirely), but within ourselves".
Followup: Green objects in space: "So,...
- 74.4k
34
votes
Could two planets follow the same orbit and never "see" each other?
Circular orbits are not practically possible
From Astronomy.SE, there are a variety of reasons why orbits are not circular. There is relativity, there is planetary flexing with gravity, there is ...
- 84.3k
31
votes
Accepted
What are the main problems with beaming light from the Sun to Saturn?
The problem is that "focused" does not really mean "concentrated"
Everyone that has ever played with a magnifying glass "know" that you can take the light from the Sun and turn it into an infinitely ...
- 39.7k
31
votes
How short can Milankovitch Cycles be on a world with a stable orbit?
Don't. Please just don't.
I have no idea how short such a cycle can be, but I can tell straight away that the idea of people capable of interstellar travel and colonization of new worlds not noticing ...
- 42.9k
30
votes
Accepted
What are the possibilities of a dwarf planet orbiting opposite Earth's orbit?
The point directly opposite Earth on the other side of the sun is called the L3 Lagrange point. It's not quite at the same distance from the sun as the Earth is, assuming that the body residing there ...
- 45.6k
30
votes
Accepted
What would be the first thing humans would mine on Jupiter?
Skimming various gasses from the Jovian atmosphere or using superscience to extract metallic hydrogen from deep below the surface only taps a small amount of the potential resources available. Since ...
- 96.8k
29
votes
How would a Martian colony be able to celebrate Christmas?
Fun question!
I would expect at the start that Christmas would be celebrated when it happens back on Earth. As a species we'd all celebrate it at the same time (relatively). Meaning that Martians ...
- 48.6k
28
votes
How difficult would it be to turn the Asteroid Belt into a single body? What's the best method?
How difficult would it be? Unfortunately, your timeline is too tight for any of the easy options to work.
The mass in the asteroid belt is highly concentrated. Between them, Ceres (~30%), Vesta (~...
- 16.2k
27
votes
Plausible reason for Earth not be able to get updates about terraforming on Mars?
One problem: I want the results of the terraforming to be something of a surprise to the arrivals. That requires that there be something that keeps Earth from getting broadcasts from the Martian ...
- 497
27
votes
How could a planet have a sky without stars at night?
The laziest answer is to just wait a while. If you wait an incomprehensibly-long while, eventually the expansion of the universe will move all currently near-by light generating bodies outside of our ...
- 279
27
votes
A Habitable Zone Within a Habitable Zone--Would that Make any Difference?
No habitable zones at all.
Consider a habitable zone. It receives enough radiation from its star (or star pair) such that water does not freeze or evaporate.
From OP "one habitable zone is deep ...
- 277k
26
votes
Accepted
Stable ringworld interactivity with other solar system objects
TL;DR: Yes, helical motion around a ringworld is possible. However, it is far from uniform at larger distances (≥ 0.04 AU).
Summary of results:
For a toroidal ringworld with mass
$M_R = 3 M_\text{...
- 1,076
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible