Does Elite obey the Roche limit ?

rennarda

R
The Roche limit is a physical law that determines just how close two bodies can get before one gets torn apart by tidal forces. Any closer than this point and the body breaks up into a ring system.

I've seen some VERY close planetary pairs, but until (ever ?) we get detailed scanning tools its hard to know if they have broken this limit. I remember there's a moon called Mitterand somewhere (I think it orbits a world called New Africa or something) that skims along just above the atmosphere at such a speed that you can't catch it in super cruise ! Other times I've seen planetary pairs that looked way to close to be believable.

Just wondering if we can get a nod from the devs if this kid of physical limit is supposed to be obeyed by the background galaxy simulation.. ?
 

Dystopiana

Dystopiana
Given some of the pictures I've seen I'd say nopes. OF course most of those pictures were admitted to be 'glitches' in the procedural engine that made the systems.

Athough given what you said about the moon I would love to see it...I'm a major sight see-er in this game, so I love seeing unique or interesting things.
 

Cmdr Pli55ken

C
The Roche limit is a physical law that determines just how close two bodies can get before one gets torn apart by tidal forces
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No. The Roche limit is a limit how close two bodies can form. Once formed bodies in a solar system can move around (due to gravitational perturbations by other bodies). Bodies of high tensile strength (e.g. rocky bodies) can orbit within each other's Roche limit without disintegrating. There are several examples within our very own solar system.

Even bodies of lower tensile strength that have come too close do not disintegrate instantly. That is a process that can take thousands/millions of years. So even if you find two gas planets within each other's Roche limit in Elite: That can happen (you don't know how long they have been that way).
 

DCello

DCello
The Roche Limit alone is not the sole determiner if two bodies stand near each other intact or not -- a lot of celestial bodies that are well inside another's Roche Radius hold themselves together by tensile strength, centrifugal rotation, or orbit speed. Overall, Elite celestial positioning is pretty accurate (even though visual effects like bending, oblation, siphoning and tearing are not yet present in some cases) -- it is not as simple as "being too close = disintegration". :)

Cmdr Pli55ken said:
No. The Roche limit is a limit how close two bodies can form. Once formed bodies in a solar system can move around (due to gravitational perturbations by other bodies). Bodies of high tensile strength (e.g. rocky bodies) can orbit within each other's Roche limit without disintegrating. There are several examples within our very own solar system.

Even bodies of lower tensile strength that have come too close do not disintegrate instantly. That is a process that can take thousands/millions of years. So even if you find two gas planets within each other's Roche limit in Elite: That can happen (you don't know how long they have been that way).
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Wrong. Roche Limit is the gravitation maxim upon which a body's own gravity pull can no longer keep it together. Matter inside the roche radius of a major body tends to form into a ring, while matter outside *tends* to coalesce. "Tends" as in usually does, but not always.
 
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Dystopiana

Dystopiana
rennarda said:
Thanks for the clarifications. As for the mysterious system, I can't remember, but as I said the moon was called Mitterand I'm pretty sure
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Shame you can't search the galaxy map to search for specific astronomical bodies...as far as I know. Though since it's named it means it's likely in colonized space so that just narrows it down to a few hundred systems.
 

rennarda

R
Dystopiana said:
Shame you can't search the galaxy map to search for specific astronomical bodies...as far as I know. Though since it's named it means it's likely in colonized space so that just narrows it down to a few hundred systems.
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I happened upon the very system once again ! It's Epsilon Indi - the world is New Africa, and the moon is Mitterand Hollow. The orbital period is shown in the system view as 0.00, and at a rough guess I'd say its about 1 minute.

You can't catch up with the moon in SC ! A fun game is to park just where you know you're going to be safe and watch the moon as it swings around the limb of the planet and heads right towards you :D I haven't tried actually parking directly in it's path - it would be a good test of EDs physics engine, but I'm not about to try that in my Asp with a full hold of rare goods. I wonder, would it moon sweep you along with it ? Would you get 'crushed' ? Tempted to buy a sidewinder and go and find out...
 

Dystopiana

Dystopiana
rennarda said:
I happened upon the very system once again ! It's Epsilon Indi - the world is New Africa, and the moon is Mitterand Hollow. The orbital period is shown in the system view as 0.00, and at a rough guess I'd say its about 1 minute.

You can't catch up with the moon in SC ! A fun game is to park just where you know you're going to be safe and watch the moon as it swings around the limb of the planet and heads right towards you :D I haven't tried actually parking directly in it's path - it would be a good test of EDs physics engine, but I'm not about to try that in my Asp with a full hold of rare goods. I wonder, would it moon sweep you along with it ? Would you get 'crushed' ? Tempted to buy a sidewinder and go and find out...
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Someone posted about it on the elite reddit yesterday, but thanks for confirming the location ^_^ I've added it to my list of sights to go see once I'm able (sadly having to wait til I get money to repair and outfit my clipper once more).

He even did what you were wondering about and parked right in it's path.

http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDanger...nk_this_moon_might_be_moving_a_liiiiitle_bit/

it's currently the top comment there.
 
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