These are binary planets not moons and were orbiting only 7000km apart from each other. In contrast, the Moon is 384,400km away from Earth.
Just 7000 km apart
- Thread starter Willa Allason
- Start date
That's a nice find and would make a great point of interest for the galactic mapping project.
If you want to submit it check out the mapping thread
If you want to submit it check out the mapping thread
Great find Cdr
Hopefully one or the other has no atmo. Be a nice place to land and watch the other rising/setting. Can you imagine how huge it will be in the sky??
Can you imagine how huge it will be in the sky??
Hopefully one or the other has no atmo. Be a nice place to land and watch the other rising/setting.
If the tidal forces are anything to go by, when it comes over the horizon you'll be rising up to meet it
Rep for a good find
I wonder if Stellar forge takes the Roche limit into account.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit
If you've got the mass stats for the planets, can you post them please?
Eyeballing it, the smaller planet appears to be about half the mass of the larger one, and has a radius of about 2000 km (making it about the size of mercury
So, the roche limit is
1.26 (2000km) x (1/2)^1/3
2520km x .5^.3
2520km x .796
Roche Limit = 2004km
Wow. 7000km is safely outside the Roche limit, meaning rocks on the smaller planet will not fall up from the surface towards the larger one (which in reality means you have rings in a matter of centuries). Still have wicked tides though. I wouldn't have guessed it.
I love that this games follows the rules of astronomy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit
If you've got the mass stats for the planets, can you post them please?
Eyeballing it, the smaller planet appears to be about half the mass of the larger one, and has a radius of about 2000 km (making it about the size of mercury
So, the roche limit is
1.26 (2000km) x (1/2)^1/3
2520km x .5^.3
2520km x .796
Roche Limit = 2004km
Wow. 7000km is safely outside the Roche limit, meaning rocks on the smaller planet will not fall up from the surface towards the larger one (which in reality means you have rings in a matter of centuries). Still have wicked tides though. I wouldn't have guessed it.
I love that this games follows the rules of astronomy.
Yup, it follows the Roche limit AND the Hill Sphere limit as well. Beauty of Elite.
Having the system map shot for these two would prove it as I have done it before. I don't think one is half the mass of the other though, as the binary systems like these they are way closer in mass (1:0.8 ratio or greater) and this also means they are tidally locked as they need to be to stabilize the system.
As close as they are, they also need to spin fast, and no, sorry to disappoint CMDR TruffleSnout, they will never set or rise on each other firmament.
Possibly, but I did encounter a binary planet system that was "tidally locked" but the rotation period didn't match the orbital period. At first I thought it was tidally locked to the star, but now I'm wondering it isn't some kind of "harmonic lock" where the orbital period and rotation are in a repeating pattern (2 rotations for every 3 orbits or something).
Nice find, imagine that would be a great place for a rollercoaster. Maybe Frontier could add a rollercoaster expansion pack...
I found some even closer planets. This time I was smart enough to make relevant screencaps...
