03-06-2013, 10:00 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Whills Universe, Whills Multiverse
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GURPS Space - assistance
Hello. I here am new. I love GURPS Space 4e! I submitted an erratum that was added to the official errata for this book a few years ago after getting it, but I am just now getting around to generating my first star system, the central system for my next campaign setting. I wanted to make it somewhat disctint and unusual, but still somewhat plausible. So of course I didn't start out with an easy one.
Would this be a good place to ask for a little assistance and discuss the worldbuilding / star system generation process? (If not please move the thread as needed.) Thanks, |
03-06-2013, 10:06 AM | #2 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
Welcome!
Ask your question. This is the place.
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03-06-2013, 11:00 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Whills Universe, Whills Multiverse
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
Thank you. Welcome to the "Primordial System"...
I envision a binary system, but the twist is that a G2 V star ("Astra") more luminous than our sun but the same mass, is a companion to a black hole ("Thanatos"), with the planetary system around the companion. I want them to be the maximum distance apart possible for the dice roll, which I calculated to be 600 AUs (12x50). I don't want the star to just orbit around the black hole - I instead want them both to technically orbit around a gravitation barycenter that is of course closer to Thanatos due to minimum black hole mass being higher than Astra's. I think I consulted an outside equation for this step but I worked out a barycenter to be 10 AUs from Thanatos, which has a mass of 59 solar masses (likely to be a conglomeration of multiple black holes). Anyway, in calculating the forbidden planetary orbit range, I got an Inner Edge of 200 AUs and an Outer Edge of 1800 AUs! My first question is what the Outer Edge actually means here? According to this system, does that mean that no planets could form around Astra because it is between 200 and 1800 AUs away from Thanatos? Or does that just mean no planets could orbit Thanatos in that range, but the companion star's own planetary orbit stability would be uneffected? Of course Thantos doesn't need planets, just Astra. Last edited by Whill; 03-06-2013 at 11:04 AM. |
03-06-2013, 11:06 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
That's the zone where planets are allowed, not the zone where no planets are allowed. Those stars are so far apart that they can't interfere with each other's planet formation at all.
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03-06-2013, 11:13 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Whills Universe, Whills Multiverse
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
I'm not talking about the Inner Limit Radius and Outer Limit Radius. That is the range that stable planetary orbits can form around each star (p. 106). This is the Forbidden orbit zone for systems with more than one star (p. 107).
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03-06-2013, 11:18 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
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03-06-2013, 11:32 AM | #7 | ||
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
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Other than a few orbital and observational tricks, an external barycenter is nothing more than a scientific curiosity. Quote:
The distances involved suggest that there is no need to worry. There is no chance of objects at that kind of distance anyway, assuming the roughly circular orbit these numbers imply. ETA: If I remember the numbers in Space correctly, I realized that there is a possibility of a planet out in the far fringe of the system, beyond the outer edge of the forbidden zone.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. Last edited by RyanW; 03-06-2013 at 11:35 AM. |
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03-06-2013, 11:34 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
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03-06-2013, 01:07 PM | #9 | |||
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Whills Universe, Whills Multiverse
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
Thank you all!
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Which brings me to an astronomical question. Before I get back to system generation questions, what would it be like at the barycenter? I thought of making the space near the barycenter a sacred site for a local species. If you could park your ship there (not moving with respect to the Thanatos-Astra system), would it just be completely weightless with no gravitational forces pulling in either direction? |
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03-06-2013, 01:40 PM | #10 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: GURPS Space - assistance
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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Tags |
gurps space, space, star system, system generation, world generation, worldbuilding |
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