Sol B

Red dwarf stars: there are a dozen in our close neighborhood, but red dwarves are so dim that not one is naked-eye visible.

So, POD: the Sun is really a double star, with a red dwarf companion a couple of thousand a.u. away. The dwarf is just barely naked-eye visible, but there's nothing to distinguish it from any other dim star. Since it takes something like 100,000 years to orbit the sun, nobody's going to notice it moving against the stellar background.

In fact, nobody's going to notice it at all... until Friedrich Bessel starts measuring parallax (the shift of stars caused by the earth's orbit around the sun) in the late 1830s. Bessel may or may not spot it, but by the 1860s -- when the British and French start measuring every damn thing in the sky -- someone is going to check the parallax, just to be sure. Then, dear me, they'll find that the nondescript little star has a parallax measured not in arc seconds but in arc /minutes/. Heck, you can spot the shift with the naked eye, if you're incredibly patient and know exactly how to look.

Assume arguendo that this has no major effects on Earth via the Kuiper belt, long-term comets, what have you, so that human history is identical until the dwarf is discovered. [handwave] Aside from us knowing a lot more about red dwarves, are there any other effects?

For the hell of it, I'll stipulate that the dwarf has a couple of planets in orbit. No, they're not remotely earthlike -- they're gas giants, and pretty cold. (Like, the inner gas giant is just 1/20 of an au away from the dwarf... which means it gets less energy than Saturn.)

Any other knock-on effects on astronomy, or other sciences?

Any chance of paying a visit by the early 21st century? -- Okay, I can answer that one. No. Voyager, currently ~100 au away, would be less than 1/20 of the way to the dwarf. By the early 21st century we could probably launch something that could make the trip in under a century -- ion drive, solar sail, something -- but I doubt we would have; New Horizons, the Pluto probe, didn't get launched until 2007.

Oh, and: what would it be called? It'll be somewhere in the plane of the ecliptic, if that helps.

Thoughts?


Doug M.
 
I think a simple "Sol A" and "Sol B" would work. And, there would probably be no major effects until FTL spaceflight is handwaved into existence.
 
It being visible with the naked eye would make it be discovered earlier I'd imagine. Lots of ancient civilizations were really big on the most boring of things in the sky.
So assuming its below naked eye visible and not discovered by earlier telescopers....

I'd think something different to Sol A/Sol B. Afterall Sol isn't a 100% established name even.
Effects...it'll probally be studied a lot. Help shed light on star formation, different types of stars, etc... Also the effects on sci fi could be interesting.
 
Proxima Centaury (or Centaury C) were a good exampel

10000 AU from Alpha Centaury need 500000 years to a orbit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri
http://www.solstation.com/stars/alp-cent3.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri

Proxima makes a natural Latin name for it....It would afterall be given some name being that close. Didn't Arabic astronomers name the most prominent and nearby stars with actual names...

Altair, Betelguese and so on. Or maybe they were Greeks or at least a combination.
 
Proxima makes a natural Latin name for it....It would afterall be given some name being that close. Didn't Arabic astronomers name the most prominent and nearby stars with actual names...

Altair, Betelguese and so on. Or maybe they were Greeks or at least a combination.

the Babylonians and old Greek will notice this littel star in sky
and his bizzar movement, because the Paralax
see here for more info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax

other wise to five planets how move atlong Ecliptic (Old greek: planētēs, meaning "wanderer")
the five are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn
but this six one move only inside a Constellation, Forward and back.
(can you imaginen wat happen to astrology with Sol b?)
the Greek will name this star and Romans give its currend Name

mabye its called: Vesta
(Vesta's presence was symbolized by the sacred fire that burned at her hearth and temples.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesta_(god)

The effects in ancient Rome and young Christianity under Sol B
and how the Star influence Kopernicus, Kepler and Newton
is something for the Alternate History Discussion: Before 1900

How to get to Sol B ?
is 10000 AU von Sun & Earth
Voyager 1 traveling outward at 3.28 AUs per year, takes 3068 years :rolleyes:
(after 48 year the Power supply goes dead !)
at 200 AUs per year it take only 50 years
at 2000 AU per year 5 years
or 9600 km/s for fly by
for stop at Sol b 19200 km/s deltaV
if you wandet to return 38400 km/s deltaV 10 years trip

Choose your engine here
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3c.html
and check this engine list
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3c2.html
 
the Babylonians and old Greek will notice this littel star in sky
and his bizzar movement, because the Paralax

I'm not so sure. The Parallax shift will be measured in arc minutes. Hold your thumb and forefinger half a centimeter apart; now hold them out at arm's length. That's the size of the shift. And we're talking about a fifth magnitude star here -- just barely visible on a perfectly clear night. It might be spotted, but I doubt it... and if it is, then the Arabs with their excellent star maps are probably more likely than the Babylonians or Greeks.


Doug M.
 

TelClaven

Banned
It's still possible there is a companion star to Sol. Probably a brown dwarf if it exists, but there's SOMETHING out there shaking up the Oort Cloud.
 
Interesting scenario.

If the star had only few useless planets, then nothing would change - it would be too far to send a probe there with our present-day technology.

Let's say we find an Earth-sized planet close enough to the star to have liquid water on the surface. Granted, it would be nothing like Earth - it would be tidally locked with one side in eternal light and the other in eternal darkness, the atmosphere would be several times denser than Earth's, there would be no moon and the solar flares from Sol B would pose a danger to all life on it. Only a small portion of its surface would be habitable - the parts in the eternal twilight zone with acceptable temperatures.

But still, the incentive for humans to explore it would be huge. Perhaps it would stimulate development of better space drives - nuclear powered plasma rockets, laser-powered sails or something else. We could send a probe there by mid 21st century (the trip would take decades, of course).
 
Interesting scenario.

Let's say we find an Earth-sized planet close enough to the star to have liquid water on the surface. Granted, it would be nothing like Earth - it would be tidally locked with one side in eternal light and the other in eternal darkness, the atmosphere would be several times denser than Earth's,

after new scientific studies a tidally locked planet with atomosphere
transport the heat from day to night side
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitability_of_red_dwarf_systems

Photosynthesis of plant hase some problems because
red dwarf produces most of its radiation in the infrared

Photosynthesis on a red dwarf dwarf planet would require four photons to split the water molecule for every two used on Earth,
due to their lower average energy level. Having to adapt to a far wider spectrum to gain the maximum amount of energy,
foliage on a habitable red dwarf planet would probably appear black.
from Wiki
 
after new scientific studies a tidally locked planet with atomosphere
transport the heat from day to night side
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitability_of_red_dwarf_systems

Still, the night side would be pretty cold, probably with continent-sized glaciers covering most of it. The center of the day side might be in fact a one huge everlasting storm. The habitable areas would be (probably) located in the eternal twilight zone between the darkness and the the heat.

Photosynthesis of plant hase some problems because
red dwarf produces most of its radiation in the infrared

On the other hands, red dwarf stars' lifespan is much longer, not just roughly 10 billion years our Sun has, but 40-80 billion years. Life on their planets would have longer time to evolve.

One way or another, if we found a habitable planet (watern and oxygen in the exoplanet's atmosphere can be found with our present-day technology) so close to Earth it would surely change the shape of our space programme.
 
One way or another, if we found a habitable planet (watern and oxygen in the exoplanet's atmosphere can be found with our present-day technology) so close to Earth it would surely change the shape of our space programme.

Or the other way around

Sol B first planet got intelligent life
and they come over for a visit...
 
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