The time capsule must serve as a beacon. Any other civilization that detects it should immediately suspect that it is of artificial origin. And it needs to survive for countless billions of years. … More A cosmic time capsule
This post is an adventure in world-building. I use N-body simulations to find orbital configurations of planetary systems that (I think) are completely new, pretty awesome and unexpected. It involves cohorts of co-orbital planets… … More Cohorts of co-orbital planets
We are building the ultimate Solar System. In Part 1 we chose the right star. In Part 2 we chose the right planets. In Part 3 we chose the right orbits for the planets. In Part 4 we learned two ninja moves about how more than one planet/moon can share the same orbit. Today’s … More Building the ultimate Solar System part 5: putting the pieces together
We are building the ultimate Solar System. In Part 1 we chose the right star. In Part 2 we chose the right planets. In Part 3 we chose the right orbits for the planets. Today’s job: Discovering two ninja moves that will allow us to pack way more worlds in the habitable zone. The … More Building the ultimate Solar System part 4: two ninja moves — moons and co-orbital planets
We are building the ultimate Solar System. In Part 1 we chose the right star. In Part 2 we chose the right planets. Today’s job: choosing the right orbits for the planets. Let’s get started. Our goal is simple. We want to pack as many planets into our star’s habitable zone as possible. We … More Building the ultimate Solar System part 3: choosing the planets’ orbits
We are building the ultimate Solar System. In Part 1 we chose the right star. Today’s job: choosing the right planets to put in our ultimate Solar System. Let’s stick to two defining characteristics: a planet’s size (or mass) and its composition. We want Goldilocks-ish planets. They shouldn’t be too small, too big, too … More Building the ultimate Solar System part 2: choosing the right planets
We are building the ultimate Solar System. Here is an introduction to the game. What kind of star will anchor our ultimate Solar System? It comes down to two choices: stars like the Sun or cooler, redder stars sometimes called “cool stars” or “red dwarfs”. Why not stars bigger than the Sun? Because they … More Building the ultimate Solar System part 1: choosing the right star
A while back I performed an experiment called build a better Solar System. The game was to make better use of the Solar System’s habitable real estate. In the game I was required to keep all of the Solar System’s planets (and large moons) and their orbital configurations. Just by switching the orbits of different … More Building the ultimate Solar System
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