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Gas Giants as homeworlds?


Sakarissa
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Assuming there is a magnetic field of sufficient strength, Solar Flares should not be an issue for any planet, especially one with an atmosphere.

 

Of course this is the the real universe and not SNs.

 

If you were talking Solar Wind, I could agree to that. With a sufficently strong Magnetic Field, even getting up to 100 times the amount of particles that Earth gets it would be possible to keep the atmosphere (and the light shows every night would be incredible).

 

But, a Solar Flare is a prominence of the plasma which makes up the star. Plasma flowing into space following what is essentially a ruptured solar magnetic field. While that field will weaken as it moves into space, it will still be strong enough to play havoc with the field around any close enough planet. And when that undulating ribbon of plasm and magnetic currents crashes into the field around the planet, something is going to give.

 

And even if the field held, some of the plasma would be diverted into the Polar regions (magnetic fields have holes in the North and South, no matter how stron, where the fields direct space borne particles .. creating items likt the Aurora here on Earth). Large numbers of atmospheric molecules would be blasted at the pole, and driven high into the sky by all the energy (random chance). And once there, they would be trailed off and away from the planet by the Solar Wind. A much slower process, to be sure. But just like the Solar wind has blown away the atmosphere of Mars over time (with no magnetic field to protect it), Solar flares would at the least eject atoms from the poles. So bit by bit the atmosphere bleeds away into space (over hundreds of millions of years).

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Yeah, Chemistry isn't my strong suite. Without oxygen there wouldn't be much to worry about. I think oxygen on my world would be in solid form, so I'd be more or less OK. Though a crystal oxygen forest fire might be an interesting sight!

 

Liquid O2 is still reactive so it would still be interesting. The Ionized Metals would form hydrides. I don't know if it would explode but it could get hot. I used to know how to figure these things out but due to a lack of practice ... :huh:

 

 

Not sure I'd like to see Drasn and Kahless meet at a party. Liquid O2 boils at 90K so any meeting would be explosive, and we're not just talking about Kahless running out of blood wine!

 

Ionised metals would form oxides with oxygen. Hydrogen gives your hydrides, and when you drop (a small) amount of the group I metals into water, like sodium, you get hydroxides- and pretty coloured flames!

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When I started a second empire I asked Pete if he could possibly make sure that it didn't have a methane atmosphere (my wife to be had way too much fun when she saw the first empire). So Pete complied with my wishes but I believe the joke is still on me; my second empire's atmopshere is "hot gases." :huh:

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If you were talking Solar Wind, I could agree to that. With a sufficently strong Magnetic Field, even getting up to 100 times the amount of particles that Earth gets it would be possible to keep the atmosphere (and the light shows every night would be incredible).

 

But, a Solar Flare is a prominence of the plasma which makes up the star. Plasma flowing into space following what is essentially a ruptured solar magnetic field. While that field will weaken as it moves into space, it will still be strong enough to play havoc with the field around any close enough planet. And when that undulating ribbon of plasm and magnetic currents crashes into the field around the planet, something is going to give.

 

And even if the field held, some of the plasma would be diverted into the Polar regions (magnetic fields have holes in the North and South, no matter how stron, where the fields direct space borne particles .. creating items likt the Aurora here on Earth). Large numbers of atmospheric molecules would be blasted at the pole, and driven high into the sky by all the energy (random chance). And once there, they would be trailed off and away from the planet by the Solar Wind. A much slower process, to be sure. But just like the Solar wind has blown away the atmosphere of Mars over time (with no magnetic field to protect it), Solar flares would at the least eject atoms from the poles. So bit by bit the atmosphere bleeds away into space (over hundreds of millions of years).

 

They would have to be massive Solar Flares in order to get even .1 AU from a star. I believe the height of the Suns reaches 0.01 to 0.02 AU at their most energetic. Therefore I was assuming the effects were from Solar Wind.

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When I started a second empire I asked Pete if he could possibly make sure that it didn't have a methane atmosphere (my wife to be had way too much fun when she saw the first empire).  So Pete complied with my wishes but I believe the joke is still on me; my second empire's atmopshere is "hot gases."  :P

 

It is nice to know the Oracle has a sense of humor...

 

:huh:

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They would have to be massive Solar Flares in order to get even .1 AU from a star. I believe the height of the Suns reaches 0.01 to 0.02 AU at their most energetic. Therefore I was assuming the effects were from Solar Wind.

 

Pete is nothing if not imaginative. The survey of this star says is has a Solar Flare zone extending around the star up to 0.4 AU (or approximately 40 Million miles). That's one heck of a flare zone.

 

(Note how your turns, all the space to the left of planetary listing on surveys? Well, as you can see below, it filled it in with the fact that the planet exists in a unique condition. So it's not wasted space on the turn sheets ... just blank most of the time).

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.........Terrestrial....0.1.......42016.......Oxygen ...............Solar Flare Zone

1a.......Moon..........................2016.......Chlorine

1b.......Moon..........................3317.......Ammonia

1c.......Moon..........................2626.......Ammonia

2........Terrestrial.....0.5.....118464.......Ammonia

 

 

A Solar Flare Zone extends from 0 to 0.4 astronomical units (AU's) distance from the M (Red) primary. This is a region of space where totally unpredictable solar flares are common. For long periods of time, everything could be quiet. In the next instant, a plasmatic arm of death reaches out and incinerates your ship without any warning. One second you're there...and the next, you're gone.

 

When I moved to the planet located at 0.1 AU, I got this message: Powerful Solar Flares burst at random intervals very close to the destination - so far, no ships have been struck, but it's probably just a matter of time before one is incinerated by an intense bolt of superheated plasma...

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So how does pressure effect hydrogen? At 83 K hydrogen is still supposed to be gaseous. My homeworlds oceans are semi-liquid hydrogen though. My guess was that as I got deeper into the atmosphere the thicker that gas would become until in the ocean basins it would coallese into a fog and eventually into a liquid. Is that roughly correct?

 

I found an interesting little java applet showing phase transitions in 15 degree increments.

 

http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/period/phase.htm

 

Oh, and I see oxygen would not be solid, but liquid, just as you all said. So as it runs into the ocean, would it pool under the hydrogen or mix with it? I guess it's good I have no moons around my Frozen Rockball or a little geothermal activity at the plate boundries could add the missing ingredient of heat for an explosive combination!

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Ali-T-Akua,

The freezing point also depends on the pressure. What's the pressure on your home world?

Kind regards,

 

AKO, you are correct about the pressure. The number I was quoting was for 1 atmosphere :huh: . My gravity is very high. so I should expect the temp to be different. However, I would expect that the higher pressure would lead to a higher freezing temp. I am not a chemist so I have to defer to those with superior knowledge.

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I dont think those flares are really working just yet or if they are its a very rare event when a ship gets zapped.

 

We have established a colony on an asteroid belt inside a flare zone and have yet

to get zapped after many turns of cargo runs.

 

 

I worry it is just a matter of time before some vessel of the Ring gets blasted... Of course, it will be an old and unshielded one...hopefully that does not have my Legendary Explorer on board.

 

The Ring has been encountering a lot of Ion Storms recently, and it has Stellar Cartography just a little worried.

 

-LX

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The Ring has been encountering a lot of Ion Storms recently, and it has Stellar Cartography just a little worried.

 

-LX

Sorry. That's probably the backwash from all our blindingly-fast colony ships.

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