[Space] GURPS Handbook of the Planets

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Whill

As a Yankee but strong proponent of metrification, I also want to thank you. Down with US customary measures!

I fully understand the sensibility of using metric. But I simply can't think in it, and prefer American units to be more user friendly... at least for this sad antiquated user. :)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I fully understand the sensibility of using metric. But I simply can't think in it, and prefer American units to be more user friendly... at least for this sad antiquated user. :)

I agree. The foot is the size it is for a reason. That reason just has nothing to do with math.

That said, it does give something of a more furistic feel to use the metric system.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I agree. The foot is the size it is for a reason. That reason just has nothing to do with math.

That said, it does give something of a more furistic feel to use the metric system.

But then I would want to go whole hog and invent a unique system for my aliens. As it is, I'm coming up with a different set of time units based on their planet's cycles. Base ten as I'm a lazy hypocrite. :)

[Nemoricus]

Originally Posted by Nakawaros Generator Changelog

[#8] White Dwarf temperature assignment follows no scientific basis. Neither does spectral type.

Spectral type for white dwarf is always a D(second letter). The difference between the various types is the emission lines present in their spectra. Have a look at the first parts of this paper.

Temperature varies in a huge range, and I've seen figures from 150,000 K to 6000, depending on the age.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Nemoricus

Spectral type for white dwarf is always a D(second letter). The difference between the various types is the emission lines present in their spectra. Have a look at the first parts of this paper.

Temperature varies in a huge range, and I've seen figures from 150,000 K to 6000, depending on the age.

I would imagine that they run everywhere from really hot all the way to cold dead rock assuming the universe is old enough.

[Nemoricus]

A white dwarf will ultimately equilibrate with the cosmic background radiation, yes, but in the time scales that GURPS Space considers, this won't happen even for the oldest of white dwarves.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Nemoricus

A white dwarf will ultimately equilibrate with the cosmic background radiation, yes, but in the time scales that GURPS Space considers, this won't happen even for the oldest of white dwarves.

Games could always take place in the really distant future when most stars have already died out. Struggling in the last warm corner of the universe hoping to find someway to restart star formation or punch through to a younger section of reality sounds epic to me.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Nemoricus

Spectral type for white dwarf is always a D(second letter).

What was this quoting? In any case, white dwarf properties are somewhat irrelevant when looking at planet stats for space purposes, as any planets that survived the red giant phase will be in a hard freeze once the white dwarf has evolved to any significant degree (this article is old but has a comprehensible table on page 3 (L79), suggesting dropping down to 0.1Lsun within 18-42 MYr and 0.01 within 155-274 MYr).

[Nemoricus]

Originally Posted by Anthony

What was this quoting?

The changelog Nakawaros posted for his generator. I'll make that clearer in my post.

[Nakawaros]

Originally Posted by Anthony

What was this quoting? In any case, white dwarf properties are somewhat irrelevant when looking at planet stats for space purposes, as any planets that survived the red giant phase will be in a hard freeze once the white dwarf has evolved to any significant degree (this article is old but has a comprehensible table on page 3 (L79), suggesting dropping down to 0.1Lsun within 18-42 MYr and 0.01 within 155-274 MYr).

Agreed, but I prefer to supply spectral type, luminosity and temperature for all stars. (Although I force apply something that "looks good" for White Dwarves. I candidly could not force my way through Wikipedia's refrences for them, nor what came up in the first 4 pages of a google search.)