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Old 02-05-2019, 10:11 PM   #21
ericthered
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
50 light-years in radius is 2,000 stars (http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/50lys.html), so half that would be 250 stars.
Ugg, I should be in bed. I'm not sure what math error I made (refiguring it matches your number, extrapolating the 50 or so systems within 15 ly). Still, the point about the rarity of very large stars stands. They're pretty rare, but they can be seen from very far away.
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:16 PM   #22
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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Originally Posted by Michael Thayne View Post
Worlds that have a particular chemical element in weirdly abundant quantities..
Earth seems to be one of these worlds. Until recently, no one could explain how our crust was so enriched in siderophile elements (gold, platinum group metals). All the theories predicted they would have dissolved in our planets metallic iron and ended up in the core, leaving our crust with a couple orders of magnitude less siderophiles than is observed. A recent theory that the same impact that formed our moon also spread iron from the proto-planet's core across our crust - along with the siderophiles - might be the answer.

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Old 02-05-2019, 10:20 PM   #23
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
...
However, it is possible for post Main Sequnce objects to have planets of some sort. The first extra-solar planets ever discovered were around a pulsar. They were probably the rocky cores of former gas giants and might be interesting places to look for exotic elements.
If any planet is likely to have really exotic matter, it would be one that survived a supernova blast to create a pulsar.

There's also a suggestion, on the Wikipedia page for pulsar planets, that one may be the carbon remnant of a companion star.
Now that would be quite the sight for miners.
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:23 PM   #24
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

What about scenarios where a Sol-like star is orbiting a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole? Even in the neutron star case, if the primary is only giving off "thousands" of times the normal solar wind, could the companion have a habitable planet? In any of these cases could you end up with differences that matter to the economics of the companion's planets, e.g. certain elements being more abundant in the system?
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:26 PM   #25
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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However, it is possible for post Main Sequnce objects to have planets of some sort. The first extra-solar planets ever discovered were around a pulsar. They were probably the rocky cores of former gas giants and might be interesting places to look for exotic elements.
Oh that's a nice tidbit.
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:28 PM   #26
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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Originally Posted by lwcamp View Post
Earth seems to be one of these worlds. Until recently, no one could explain how our crust was so enriched in siderophile elements (gold, platinum group metals). All the theories predicted they would have dissolved in our planets metallic iron and ended up in the core, leaving our crust with a couple orders of magnitude less siderophiles than is observed. A recent theory that the same impact that formed our moon also spread iron from the proto-planet's core across our crust - along with the siderophiles - might be the answer.

Luke
Huh. If that's true couldn't it make space colonies on otherwise-habitable extrasolar planets dependent on asteroid mining in a way Earth isn't?

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If any planet is likely to have really exotic matter, it would be one that survived a supernova blast to create a pulsar.

There's also a suggestion, on the Wikipedia page for pulsar planets, that one may be the carbon remnant of a companion star.
Now that would be quite the sight for miners.
Can you elaborate on the significance for miners?
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:28 PM   #27
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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What about scenarios where a Sol-like star is orbiting a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole?
In the former case, the planets have survived a red giant, which is presumably possible at sufficient range (though at longer ranges, mass loss may mean the stars are no longer orbiting one another). In the latter cases, they've survived a supernova, which again might be possible depending on distance but would certainly eliminate life.
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:31 PM   #28
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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In the former case, the planets have survived a red giant, which is presumably possible at sufficient range. In the latter cases, they've survived a supernova, which again might be possible depending on distance but would certainly eliminate life.
Oh sure, we're talking about running in and colonizing after the fact.

Huh, side note, if a planet once had life but was sterilized by a supernova, couldn't the resulting planet be oddly human friendly, with no native life to try to eat you or your crops, but with a level of oxygen you wouldn't find on what Space calls an Ocean world?
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:31 PM   #29
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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Can you elaborate on the significance for miners?
Mainly that it may be like a giant diamond the mass of Jupiter, though I suppose it should be possible for a smaller planet people could actually land on without superscience.
I just find the imagery properly sci fi.
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Old 02-05-2019, 10:55 PM   #30
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Default Re: [Space] Exotic star system features, and their storytelling role

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Oh sure, we're talking about running in and colonizing after the fact.

Huh, side note, if a planet once had life but was sterilized by a supernova, couldn't the resulting planet be oddly human friendly, with no native life to try to eat you or your crops, but with a level of oxygen you wouldn't find on what Space calls an Ocean world?
The conventional wisdow is that free oxygen always binds with something over time and it's necessary to keep making it with photosynthesis faster than oxidizing occurs.

Note that killing all lifeforms with radiation doesn't get rid of the carbon and hydrogen in their tissues as just one example of the problem.
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