Celestial Bodies

StevenH · 06-17-2009, 11:15 PM

The two suns circling the planet is indeed dynamically unstable, and wouldn't work from a purely scientific viewpoint. But there is nothing stopping a deity from setting it up as he/she/it sees fit, depending upon how real/active your deities are in your universe.

As for the paired moons orbiting the planet...don't know. I would suspect that it would be possible, with the right mass and distance from the primary. Although I would think that from the point of view of someone on the planet surface, both moons would have about the same phase, since they would necessarily always be close together. (If they weren't close together, I would think that the two moons would just orbit the primary instead of each other. Gravitationally, the primary must see the pair of moons as a single source of mass for the concept to work. People with more skill at astrophysics than I have* are of course encouraged to elaborate!)

*I estimate that I have Astrophysics-3 (on a good day, without overcast) ;-)

06-17-2009, 11:15 PM	#17
StevenH Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Portland, Oregon	Re: Celestial Bodies The two suns circling the planet is indeed dynamically unstable, and wouldn't work from a purely scientific viewpoint. But there is nothing stopping a deity from setting it up as he/she/it sees fit, depending upon how real/active your deities are in your universe. As for the paired moons orbiting the planet...don't know. I would suspect that it would be possible, with the right mass and distance from the primary. Although I would think that from the point of view of someone on the planet surface, both moons would have about the same phase, since they would necessarily always be close together. (If they weren't close together, I would think that the two moons would just orbit the primary instead of each other. Gravitationally, the primary must see the pair of moons as a single source of mass for the concept to work. People with more skill at astrophysics than I have* are of course encouraged to elaborate!) *I estimate that I have Astrophysics-3 (on a good day, without overcast) ;-) __________________ Warmest regards, StevenH My current worldbuilding project. You can find the Adventure Logs of the campaign here. I try to write them up as narrative prose, with illustrations. As such, they are "embellished" accounts of the play sessions. Link of the moment: Bestiary of Plants. In a world of mana, plants evolved to use it as an energy source. It is also the new home of the Alaconius Lectures, a series of essays about the various Colleges of Spells.