Comet Interceptor!
A space mission to intercept an Oort cloud comet — or, if we’re lucky, an interstellar object like ‘Oumuamua.
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How planets die: When good Jupiters go bad
Gas giants have murdered rocky planets (or their building blocks) around ~5 billion stars in our galaxy! (Usually by dropping them onto their Suns!).
How planets die
Just like people, planets are born and they die. We know how people die. But google “how planets die” and you’ll get the wrong answer.
Can moons orbit moons? — the poem
Can moons orbit moons? wondered Juna and I.
Some planets have moons, you know, up in the sky
But none of those moons has its own moon around it.
When Juna’s son learned this he just was astounded!
Can moons have moons?
Planets orbit stars. Moons orbit planets. But no moons have their own moons (let’s call them submoons). Why is that?
Real-life Sci-Fi World 14: A horseshoe planetary system
One star. Two planets share an orbit, with one following a horseshoe-shaped path around the other. Boom!
The Million Earth Solar System
Welcome to what might very well be the culmination of the Building the Ultimate Solar System series. Teaser: the system built in this post could also be called the Ultimate Engineered Black Hole Eyeball Ringworld Solar System (if you’re really not into the whole brevity thing). Our Solar System has one habitable planet. A few…
Is Pluto a mega-comet?
Short answer: Well sort of, but it’s more useful to think of it as being built from the same stuff as comets. Like an Uncle of the comets. Read on for an explanation. Earlier this week my wife mentioned a headline she saw. “Pluto is a giant comet? Whoa!” It was all over the place:…
