Oolite Bulletins

An interesting system, that's for sure.

I bet they don't do Westerns there though - it would be a bit tricky for the cowboys to ride into the sunset at the end.

Smivs wrote:

I bet they don't do Westerns there though - it would be a bit tricky for the cowboys to ride into the sunset at the end.

That is really cool. I always figured binary stars systems wouldn't have enough mass to form any planets.

I've heard somewhere that binary stars are the rule, and single stars are the exception.

Probably it was here:
http://www.astronomycast.com/2009/09/ep ... ary-stars/
Sadly, the transcript links to a different episode.

A strangely crowded system, this one - our own solar system does seem to be the oddball - so far, anyway!

Oddball? Our own planet/moon combo can be described as unique. It can argued that is a binary system as the moon is roughly a 1/4 the size of the Earth.

Tricky wrote:

Oddball? Our own planet/moon combo can be described as unique. It can argued that is a binary system as the moon is roughly a 1/4 the size of the Earth.

I've heard that argument before... seems very justifiable (although the center of mass of the system is still within the sphere of the earth).

One must remember that astronomy has only sampled a ridiculously small fraction of possible solar systems in our galaxy.

Would be interesting to see systems with multiple suns in Oolite.

Rese249er wrote:

Would be interesting to see systems with multiple suns in Oolite.

You'll be wanting proper orbital mechanics next.

Nah. Just better lighting and a bit of variety is all I want.

CommRLock78 wrote:

Tricky wrote:

Oddball? Our own planet/moon combo can be described as unique. It can argued that is a binary system as the moon is roughly a 1/4 the size of the Earth.

I've heard that argument before... seems very justifiable (although the center of mass of the system is still within the sphere of the earth).

Given our habitable position, the size of our satellite and it's relative size to our sun when viewed from the planetary surface will make us quite the tourist attraction with regards to Eclipses when the Xeno-Space Tourists start turning up...

Tricky wrote:

Oddball? Our own planet/moon combo can be described as unique. It can argued that is a binary system as the moon is roughly a 1/4 the size of the Earth.

Pluto/Charon has a similar ratio, so it might not be all that unusual.

Heh... and now a planet in the Alpha Centauri system! This is really good news!

cim wrote:

Tricky wrote:

Oddball? Our own planet/moon combo can be described as unique. It can argued that is a binary system as the moon is roughly a 1/4 the size of the Earth.

Pluto/Charon has a similar ratio, so it might not be all that unusual.

But it's not a planet anymore. So we're still unique!