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Old 01-14-2019, 05:24 PM   #1987
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

The ALMA observatory has made some observations of the star system HD 98000 that show that it's a binary star system with a protoplanetary disk -- but one in which the disk is rotated 90 degrees with respect to the orbits of the two stars in the center of the system, so it's a polar orbit, instead of in the plane of the ecliptic.

See this article for more details, and an artist's conception. A planet in the system would have an enormous arch through the sky (like you've probably seen for rings, or ringworlds -- but even bigger), and the two primaries would be seen to switch sides on that arch as they orbit. There's also two more distant companion stars in the system, outside the protoplanetary disk, just for good measure.

This could make a nice setting if you wanted something exotic, yet with some hooks to plausibility. It fits a space opera game, of course, to spice up the endless strings of type M dwarfs with some featureless rocks. But the image also might make a good fantasy setting. What sort of mythology do the inhabitants have -- brothers dueling over the bridge to the heavens? Or are they scheming to escape their prison while the other two gods patrol the perimeter?
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