If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. — Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey This series is about how planets die — it is introduced here. Earth is a cosmic freaking paradise. Just look at our neighboring planets: … More How planets die: climate catastrophe!
If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, just let them go because, man, they’re gone. — Deep thoughts by Jack Handey This series is about how planets die — it is introduced here. What do you think of when you hear the word tides? Ocean waves? The Moon? Maybe sitting … More How planets die: Fried by tidal volcanoes
Gas giants have murdered rocky planets (or their building blocks) around ~5 billion stars in our galaxy! (Usually by dropping them onto their Suns!). … More How planets die: When good Jupiters go bad
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. … More How planets die
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! … More Can moons orbit moons? — the poem
Planets orbit stars. Moons orbit planets. But no moons have their own moons (let’s call them submoons). Why is that? … More Can moons have moons?
One star. Two planets share an orbit, with one following a horseshoe-shaped path around the other. Boom! … More Real-life Sci-Fi World 14: A horseshoe planetary 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 … More The Million Earth Solar System
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: … More Is Pluto a mega-comet?
What happens when the central body in a planetary system is replaced with a million-Sun black hole? … More The Black Hole Ultimate Solar System
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