 December 5, 2011 - 5:31am | Is there a resource that can be used to figure out details for say a moon. How small and how big for that matter can a moon be with an atmosphere? There is also the issue of if a body is losing its atmosphere could it be possible , with a future tech to have atmospheric plants as seen in some sci-fi? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 5, 2011 - 11:02am | There probably are but I don't know of any off the top of my head. It depends on the type of atmosphere, location of the planet/moon in relation the the star and planet, other factors. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
December 5, 2011 - 11:46am | So how would I put a value to a moon that the canon says is being colonized? So I'm guessing the strength of the star is a factor as well distance and gravity of the moon. In particular I'm looking at Exib over Yast, Arthor system I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 5, 2011 - 12:52pm | There is an article at this link which may be helpful: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/how-to-get-an-atmosphere.html Be reading to do some reading Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 December 6, 2011 - 4:38pm | I was wondering myself about how to maintain an atmosphere where there is little-to-no core activity. The core activity produces the magnetosphere that protects the atmosphere from being eroded by solar winds. This problem exists with Mars. With Mars, I was thinking that due to the high amount of iron in its composition, you could simply charge the planet by means of nuclear-powered electromagnetic generators to charge the air and pulse into the ground. The thought is that over time of low-level pulses in distributed areas, the surplus of energy could build up enough to magnatize the iron to increase the magnetic resonance to the point of generating a sustainable magnetosphere. It sounds good for a comicbook, but would it, or anything similar, be possible? If not, what would it take to revive the core into a molten state in order to generate the field and would it be possible and would it cause devestating effects? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
December 6, 2011 - 5:19pm | Magnetic fields are not needed to maintain an atmosphere. Venus has virtually no magnetic field (it is barely larger than Mars's field) and it's atmosphere is 90 times thicker than Earth's. The magnetic field plays a small roll but it is hardly a critical one. The link rattraveller gave is a good one and provides a basic explaination of the major factors that go into generating and holding an atmosphere. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 December 6, 2011 - 5:56pm | When I have a sinus infection, I pretty much feel like I'm holding jupiters atmo in my head. |
December 6, 2011 - 7:29pm | I was wondering myself about how to maintain an atmosphere where there is little-to-no core activity. The core activity produces the magnetosphere that protects the atmosphere from being eroded by solar winds. This problem exists with Mars. With Mars, I was thinking that due to the high amount of iron in its composition, you could simply charge the planet by means of nuclear-powered electromagnetic generators to charge the air and pulse into the ground. The thought is that over time of low-level pulses in distributed areas, the surplus of energy could build up enough to magnatize the iron to increase the magnetic resonance to the point of generating a sustainable magnetosphere. It sounds good for a comicbook, but would it, or anything similar, be possible? If not, what would it take to revive the core into a molten state in order to generate the field and would it be possible and would it cause devestating effects? this sounds like the tech that the GODco mega corp brings to the table; and you better keep up with the payments lest they shut it off. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 6, 2011 - 8:24pm | So I've read the article and it doesn't look like a terrestrial planet can have a moon tha has an atmosphere. is there a ratio between the size of a terrestrial planet and how large its moon can be? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 6, 2011 - 11:45pm | As I understand it, the smaller body, regardless of how little the difference between the two bodies, is always the satellite (moon). So even a binary of two planets is still considered a planet and a moon. That said, I don't think you'll ever have two gas giants in that arrangement. By the way, the documentary I saw on Mars blamed its lack of a magnetosphere on why it has very little atmosphere, describing the solar winds as stripping its atmosphere away. Of course, we've learned a whole lot more about Mars and Venus in the last few years, that the documentary may have had our current understanding right at the time, but improvements in our knowledge may have changed it, as that article doesn't seem to mention it. The documentary had a whole computer generated illustration of the effects of the magnetosphere on maintaining Mars's atmosphere, so I know what I saw, but our knowledge must have been updated since. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
December 7, 2011 - 5:02am | I guess the real issue here is that I was looking for science that would justify keeping Daren Pattens work on Exib. It was good creative material and I was enjoying extrapolating more from it. So perhaps two Yast with a gravity of 1.0 and Exib having a gravity of say 0.7 and the two of the orbiting a Barry center might work. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 7, 2011 - 11:00pm | The Heinlein atmospheric replenishing nuclear reactors? To set it up the way Heinlein imagined as a self-perpetuating global esoterica civic-project, meant to stand the test of social degeneration... there still needs to be some external source of material being shipped in or the planet runs out of resources to convert and power the atmosphere regeneration over such long spans of time... but in shorter periods of a ~hundreds up-to a few thousand years it might be feasible to use material locally collected, without reductions of society being an issue. The technical verdict on the definition of a binary planet rests on how you define the barycentre's influence in the definition... some say the barycenter needs to be inside the crust, others say within the atmosphere is acceptable, and others place attributions on some magnetic overlap or other factors entirely... and these issues (all being valid for different reasons) lay at the hart of the lack for any confirmed scientific definition to the term... the term itself is still valid and usable - just with the understanding that misconceptions may arise until it is formally defined. But a dual-Jovian would be an exotic arrangement to say the least. My head reels at the entangled convolutions of equational quandaries such a discovery would make. Minimum size for a breathable atmosphere is not going to be significantly smaller that Earth and likely still in the range of a Terrestrial body (as if that is even a size category anyway), the larger end of dwarf planets having the capacity for an artificially replenishable atmosphere within reasonable technology levels is not discountable, but smaller dwarfs I would not count on even having a non-toxic atmosphere in what little they might have. Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
