Extreme Planetary Features vs realism

[Naima]

Ok here is another question ...

I have a planet like earth , and I woudl like to have two moons , one double of moon the other sized as the moon , and by size I mean when seen by the ground , so they can be either smaller and more close or larger and more distant whatever fits best ...

then I was wondering if I can also add two suns , one as normal sun and the other as a much minor sun visible in distance almoust looking like a very bright star ....

what woudl be the problems and advantages of such a configuration? how would environments react and also how can I manage to enstablish the cycles of all the year and moon phases?

Also how those woudl have any effect on north pole , magnetism , tectonics, seasons , floods , weather etc?

[BlackChakram]

The setup of the moons would mostly affect the tides. Instead of a nice pattern of tides twice a day, you'd get a much more irregular and complex pattern of tides spaced oddly and of different sizes. Maybe you'd see some increased tectonics as well, but not likely to be much.

With the two suns, you wouldn't see much effect from the farther one. It may increase the average temperature of your planet by 5-15 C, but that's about it. If it's far enough away to mostly be just a bright star, then nearly all its heating and lighting effects will be too small to notice.

That's all that should be affected. Magnetism, north pole, seasons, and weather should all be pretty much unaffected.

[Naima]

how would rotate the suns around each other and how the moons? I can use any tool to calculate those?

[BlackChakram]

If you wanted to get some exact numbers, you'd probably need to use some software like Sandbox Universe. But essentially, here's a rough idea:



The star on the left would be your main one. The band around it represents the area where planets can orbit. Your planet with its two moons would be in this area. You na use any remotely realistic numbers here for orbit distance and moon distance. Your dimmer, other star is the one far on the right. Numbers on this scale are about as precise as you can get. You can make up anything you want as long as its within these ranges.

[Azélor]

If you wanted to get some exact numbers, you'd probably need to use some software like Sandbox Universe. But essentially, here's a rough idea:



The star on the left would be your main one. The band around it represents the area where planets can orbit. Your planet with its two moons would be in this area. You na use any remotely realistic numbers here for orbit distance and moon distance. Your dimmer, other star is the one far on the right. Numbers on this scale are about as precise as you can get. You can make up anything you want as long as its within these ranges.

i tried the software but he has a serious problem with binary systems. You need to folow the tutorials to get it to work and still. My planet was at a good 50 AU from the center and was still unstable.

I calculated the brightness of a star at around 75 AU. A big white dwarf... Nearly 3 time brighter than Venus and 600 time fainter than the full moon. By comparison, Sirius A, the brightest extra solar star as seen from Earth is about 50-60 times dimer than our old star. i used this formula to calculate the brightness : Inverse-square law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I suppose this formula can also be used to determine the energy dissipation ? the impact on temperature)

infos from that topic: http://www.cartographersguild.com/co...rophysics.html

[BlackChakram]

Alright. I've whipped up some equations with some sample math. It was easier to do this as a word document. Post questions if you have 'em!

[Azélor]

so if the brightness of a star is around -16 in scale of magnitude, it's more than 100 times dimer than the Sun ?

the apparent magnitude is -6 from the planet. I got that number using the inverse square law. I tried you formula and I got the same numbers .

so if I understand correctly, the second star increases the temperature by 10.38. That is a huge impact considering the star is at 216 AU. The difference between a temperate world and a tropical one.
In my case I get 9.37 degrees. I was going to wonder If something was wrong with the formula, but no. I tried with Neptune and got similar numbers to the wiki.

0.008 times is the brightness of the star compared to the Sun and it is located at 75 AU.

[BlackChakram]

all sounds about right to me!

And yeah. 10 k does make a difference. But that can easily be undone by reflective cloud cover, planetary tectonic activity, or any other number of factors.

[s0meguy]

There probably are endless combos, but I can think of at least one. A planet in the path of a pulsar would get bathed with deadly radiation thousands of times per second. But you could have a planet and a pulsar arranged in such a way that only one latitude gets exposed, so you have a dead strip on the planet where nothing can survive.

Hope this answers your question!

Wouldn't the gamma radiation just go through the planet and irradiate the other side too? As well as irradiate the atmosphere, that circulates on the planet between the part that is facing the pulsar and the part that isn't.

But perhaps complex life forms could develop that utilize the radiation could be possible under such circumstances too?

This article is about how at least a fungi can use radiation for sustenance.

Chernobyl Fungus Feeds On Radiation

[BlackChakram]

Wouldn't the gamma radiation just go through the planet and irradiate the other side too? As well as irradiate the atmosphere, that circulates on the planet between the part that is facing the pulsar and the part that isn't.

But perhaps complex life forms could develop that utilize the radiation could be possible under such circumstances too?

Gamma radiation can be stopped with 15 inches of lead or 3 feet of dirt.

The only kind of radiation or particle that would be able to go through a whole planet would be neutrinos, but the good thing is that they'd harmlessly pass right through you as well.

The fungus thing is cool, though. Could definitely present some interesting opportunities.