Information I'd love to know

JohnRoth wrote:There's apparently a limit as to how close a planet could be to a double star system and remain dynamically stable. I have no idea what it is, or whether it's far enough away to rule out habitable planets. Maybe one of the actual astronomers on the forum could weigh in on the question?

Ensign Re-read wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:There's apparently a limit as to how close a planet could be to a double star system and remain dynamically stable. I have no idea what it is, or whether it's far enough away to rule out habitable planets. Maybe one of the actual astronomers on the forum could weigh in on the question?

Play around with Celestia.

cthia wrote:

Amaroq wrote:Anyone else ever wondered what living on a planet in a binary system would be like? Manticore is a binary system but you never hear much mentioned about double suns and how that would affect daily life.

There are 10 types of people that understand binary.
Those that do, and those that don't.

SWM wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:There's apparently a limit as to how close a planet could be to a double star system and remain dynamically stable. I have no idea what it is, or whether it's far enough away to rule out habitable planets. Maybe one of the actual astronomers on the forum could weigh in on the question?

It depends on how bright the stars are and how far apart they are. The brightness will determine how far the habitable zone is from the stars. Off the top of my head, the instability produced by a close binary pair of stars is a third or fourth order effect (I'd have to look it up). Given binary star, with components A and B, there will be relatively stable orbits around A, around B, and around the center of mass of A plus B. (The fanciful figure 8 orbit looping between both is unstable, I believe.) If the stars are far enough apart, the habitable zone of A will encompass at least some of the stable orbits; similarly the habitable zone of B could encompass stable orbits if they are far enough apart. And if the stars are close enough and/or bright enough, the habitable zone will include at least some of the stable orbits around their center of mass. Contact binaries, in particular, could easily have stable orbits in the habitable zone. (Contact binaries are so close that the star surfaces are close enough to exchange mass.)

cthia wrote:I remember several incidences when Honor was listening to someone talk, yet preoccupied. She would decide to listen half heartedly with the intention to replay the entire conversation later. Is there textev stating what that ability is? I seem to remember something. I don't think textev stated that she had a photographic, or eidetic memory or something similar. Can anyone tac-witch-it?

She floated in zero-gee, and the surface of her brain listened attentively to everything Schubert said. She knew she'd be able to replay the entire conversation verbatim later, but for now her inner thoughts were busy with what she'd already learned about Project Trojan Horse.

Amaroq wrote:Considering Honor's close ties with Beowulf does anyone think that it would have been reasonable for Beowulf to potentially object to Honor's judicial murder on what was obviously trumped up charges? I would expect Jacques to be far more upset at the thought of his niece being murdered in such a manner on live television. Just a thought.

“She nodded her thanks and stepped through the waiting portal, with Archer on her heels.
"Admiral Gold Peak!"
Cortez was a smallish man who wore the uniform of an admiral of the green.”

SWM wrote:

Amaroq wrote:Considering Honor's close ties with Beowulf does anyone think that it would have been reasonable for Beowulf to potentially object to Honor's judicial murder on what was obviously trumped up charges? I would expect Jacques to be far more upset at the thought of his niece being murdered in such a manner on live television. Just a thought.

See: http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/en ... gton/334/1