Tellurus: a worldbuilding project

[Imperator Frank]

Methane based life is possible, though I think you'd need soemthing warmer than pluto.

Maybe make Semreh a tidally locked world with liquid iron?

Aerehtyc is like a slightly (in space terms) less habitable world than Earth, but better than Mars maybe? That is, the jungle/warm ocean world we used to think Venus was?

Also, if you're gonna have 2 moons I syggest having the lighter one on the inner orbit, and having a first-order orbital resonance like 3:4, 2:3, or 1:2 (light moon orbits:heavy moon orbits) so that the two moons are stable together.

I suggest making Thrax-Adrestia marginally habitable, with the lighter one warm enough to match Tellurus' temperate areas in spring (summer for (lighter one)) and the heavier one icy.

Maybe add a watery or even truly earthlike moon to Themis/Caelus/Hemera.

An important note: It seems that planets and spherical moons tend to exist in pairs by either size or mass. This is prominent in the solar system, Saturn's moon system, Uranus' moon system, and Jupiter's moon system. Venus and Earth, Uranus and Neptune, Ganymede and Callisto, Europa and Io, Rhea and Iapetus, Dione and Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas, Titania and Oberon, Ariel and Umbriel.

Thanks for you response. I did plan on having Semreh tidal locked, and i planned for Aerehtyc to have plants but not animals.
Thrax-Adrestia will only be marginally habitable, i wanted one to be frozen over somehow and one unfrozen, maybe one was struck by an icy body early on?
I also wanted Themis to have large Jovian type moons, maybe even a mini earth. Caelus and Hemera might have Titans and Europas.

Cetus is basically a larger Triton without Neptune, it night need a big moon to have tidal forces to generate heat.

Erebus might have Triton like moon as well. Hecate and Hypnos are dead icy rocks like Pluto and Charon.

As for the pairing thing, i might add/remove a planet, nothing is set in stone.

 

[Imperator Frank]

The solar system post has been edited to show moon names. Only tellurus's moons are unnamed. The planets and moons are now listed.

On a side note, it is very hard for me to stay working on one thing

EDIT: Updated again. It now shows distance from the sun, as well as clean ups. Some moons are bigger too.

 

[Gian]

Say, do you mind if I can use Tellurus's map for an ISOT map game I'm thinking of setting up?

 

[Imperator Frank]

Say, do you mind if I can use Tellurus's map for an ISOT map game I'm thinking of setting up?

As long as you give me credit for the basemap somehow.

 

[Gian]

As long as you give me credit for the basemap somehow.

I will.

Anyways, does the map still need polishing, or is it mostly done and you just need to the climes.

 

[Imperator Frank]

I will.

Anyways, does the map still need polishing, or is it mostly done and you just need to the climates?

It still needs work on two continents and the rest of the ocean.

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Say, do you mind if I can use Tellurus's map for an ISOT map game I'm thinking of setting up?

And for other mapgames? Could we use Tellurus there, too - maybe under an alternative name?

 

[The Professor]

Also, if you're gonna have 2 moons I syggest having the lighter one on the inner orbit, and having a first-order orbital resonance like 3:4, 2:3, or 1:2 (light moon orbits:heavy moon orbits) so that the two moons are stable together.

Would not the inner moon orbit faster than the outer moon?

@Imperator Frank what was the reasoning behind the names?

 

[Rosella]

Would not the inner moon orbit faster than the outer moon?

@Imperator Frank what was the reasoning behind the names?

Yes.

As such, having a 3:4 resonance makes sense.

 

[The Professor]

Yes.

As such, having a 3:4 resonance makes sense.

So inner moon at 3 regardless of size?

 

[Rosella]

So inner moon at 3 regardless of size?

Yes.

It's just easier to make it lighter inner, heavier outer. Makes the tides a little less terrifying, yanno?

 

[The Professor]

Yes.

It's just easier to make it lighter inner, heavier outer. Makes the tides a little less terrifying, yanno?

Cool.
Since they are stable orbitally could they appear the same size from the surface?
Especially if we're assuming their total mass is roughly that of our Moon.

 

[Rosella]

Cool.
Since they are stable orbitally could they appear the same size from the surface?
Especially if we're assuming their total mass is roughly that of our Moon.

If one is 25% of moon size, the other is 75%, and Tellurus is the mass of Earth...

The equation, for a 3:4 resonance, works when o=p in this:
a = (cuberoot)T^2/4pi^2 and b = (cuberoot)T*1.33333333^2/4pi^2
o = 2arctan(.25L/a) and p = 2arctan(.75l/b)

Assuming the inner moon's orbital period is 10 days, apparently its orbital distance is 1678.29867733 meters.

Either I'm not reading the equation right, or something's gone horribly fucking wrong.

I give up.

 

[The Professor]

If one is 25% of moon size, the other is 75%, and Tellurus is the mass of Earth...

The equation, for a 3:4 resonance, works when o=p in this:
a = (cuberoot)T^2/4pi^2 and b = (cuberoot)T*1.33333333^2/4pi^2
o = 2arctan(.25L/a) and p = 2arctan(.75l/b)

Assuming the inner moon's orbital period is 10 days, apparently its orbital distance is 1678.29867733 meters.

Either I'm not reading the equation right, or something's gone horribly fucking wrong.

I give up.

I've had slightly too much wine to see where the problems in the equation are!
I assume there's a factor problem somewhere.

 

[Thomas Johnson]

If one is 25% of moon size, the other is 75%, and Tellurus is the mass of Earth...

The equation, for a 3:4 resonance, works when o=p in this:
a = (cuberoot)T^2/4pi^2 and b = (cuberoot)T*1.33333333^2/4pi^2
o = 2arctan(.25L/a) and p = 2arctan(.75l/b)

Assuming the inner moon's orbital period is 10 days, apparently its orbital distance is 1678.29867733 meters.

Either I'm not reading the equation right, or something's gone horribly fucking wrong.

I give up.

It'd be 122,000 miles for an earthlike planet, though Tellurus seems to be slightly bigger from its tectonics.


For a 3/4 resonance, using Kepler's laws, the farther, larger one would be 1.211 times farther away. That would mean it would be 1.77777 times more massive, so 36% and 64%. If we put them at say, 200,000 and 242,000 miles from earth, we'd get tides .61 times as much as Luna from the inner one, and .62 times that of Luna from the outer one, for a near identical total. Do you have any other stats?

If the inner one is 224,000 miles away, the numbers should work out to be equal.

EDIT: Minor formula mistake, 214,000 miles.

 

[Imperator Frank]

And for other mapgames? Could we use Tellurus there, too - maybe under an alternative name?

Same as for the other person, its okay as long as you give me credit for the basemap. And yes, you can use different names.

 

[The Professor]

Interesting @Thomas Johnson do you have an idea of their apparent size from the surface of Tellurus?

 

[Thomas Johnson]

At 214 and 259,000 miles, with masses .64 and .36 times that of the moon, they'd be .79 and .795 lunar diameters.

 

[Rosella]

At 214 and 259,000 miles, with masses .64 and .36 times that of the moon, they'd be .79 and .795 lunar diameters.

Nice.

(How do you get the radius?)

 

[Thomas Johnson]

I was just assuming the same density as the moon. It might be higher or lower, especially given that making two moons from a Theia type event would be somewhere between difficult and impossible. The easiest method would be capturing one.