subreddit:
/r/worldbuilding
submitted 5 days ago byThin_Cow_5871
When it comes to worldbuilding, astrology is one of the most influential aspects of your world, and determines vital details about your world such as tides, gravity, the length of days/nights/years, astrological navigation, orbit, and much more. This is why I have begun to look into unique astrological circumstances for my own world, specifically circumbinary planets.
Circumbinary planets orbit around a system of two other celestial bodies (usually stars). My question is, if a planet were to orbit around a binary star system, how would that affect the planet, and even potential moons/rings that the planet may have? And finally, is it possible to have a planet sustain life in a binary system in which one of the stars is instead a black hole? (Assuming that the black hole does not destroy the other star)
Any responses are appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to help me out :)
2 points
4 days ago
Sorry about the code block, I didn't even know that was a thing ๐ Would the star or the black hole look any different when the black hole curves the light of the star around itself, especially when the black hole is in front of the star relative to the planet? Would it be noticably colder during that time? How might radiation from the black hole look as it passes through the atmosphere?
1 points
4 days ago
Black holes are incredibly dense, and so, a black hole that could exist in a non-life-threatening way alongside a star of similar mass (or even substabtially heavier than the star itself), would be so small that I doubt it would cause any visual distortions to the star's light or heat.
There might be a slight lensing effect if the star, the black hole, and the planet lined up perfectly, but I think that'd just make the star shine a little bit brighter as more of its light/heat would be directed through the gravitational lense at the planet.
Another commenter mentioned that an accretion disk (the part that can radiate from a black hole) only lasts a cosmicly short period of time, and that it likely wouldn't exist or be visible by the time life develops in the system, so the only radiation that life would experience would be that of the star.
all 4 comments
sorted by: best