[Pegasus V]

Proper names: Polaris, Alpha Ursae Minoris, 1 Ursae Minoris, The North Star, The Pole Star

* Binary Star System *

Distance from So: 431 light-years

Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Observed Separation: 2646 A.U.s
(1 AU = 150 million kilometres)

Component A:
Spectral class: F7Ib-II
(this star is about the right temperature to support an M-class planet, but it is way too big. This is a yellow giant.)

Component B:
Spectral class: F3V
(this star could support an M-class planet in its orbit, depending upon the radiation levels exhibited by the combined binary.)

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

Proper names: Regulus, Alpha Leonis, 11 Leonis, Cor Leonis

* This is a multiple star system (3) *

Distance from Sol: 77.5 light-years

Component A:
Spectral class: B7V
(way too hot for an M-class planet. Right size though...)

Component B:
Spectral class: K1V
(this is a almost a perfect type of star for supporting an M-class planet. It's too bad about Component A - too much radiation and too hot.)

Component C:
Spectral class: MV
(This is a red dwarf.)

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

Proper names: Antares, Alpha Scorpii, Cor Scorpionis, 21 Scorpii

* This is a binary star system *

Distance from Sol: 604 light-years

Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Orbital Period: 878 years
Average Separation: 537 A.U.s

Component A:
Spectral class: M1Ib
(red supergiant. Too cool and too massive - very old star - close to supernova anywhere from now to 5million years.)

Component B:
Spectral class: B4V-VI
(white main-sequence type star - too hot.)

     The A star is actually egg-shaped, and is only about two-thirds as tall as it is wide.  The "diameter" listed below is measured across its widest chord.
     Both stars are enveloped in a reddish nebula some 5 light-years in diameter, probably composed of metallic dust. But very sparse particles, not dense like you see in FS2.

[Pegasus V]

If you want me to analyse more, just say (in this thread), and I'll get underway. Just supply a list of the star names you want me to analyse. (I have a degree in astrophysics.)

[Stryke 9]

If the [V] dudes had to take into account scientific fact when making science fiction, Freespace would probably have come out in, say... 2137? Maybe later... The truth is hardly anyone knows at all what is going on that far out in space, those few people who do do not speak any recognisable form of English, and what they know is practically nil. So we make stuff up  

[Shrike]

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
If you want me to analyse more, just say (in this thread), and I'll get underway. Just supply a list of the star names you want me to analyse. (I have a degree in astrophysics.)

Kewl, where'd you get it?

[Pegasus V]

I know a few stars that have habitable zones that weren't used in FS.

Like:

Tua Ceti
Pollux
Procyon
Epsilon Eridani
61 Cygni

Apart from Pollux, these are all neighbouring star systems, less than 15 LY's away. Why couldn't they have chosen that. Plus, they have all these stars that are close to Earth, then they have Deneb, which is more than 1000LY's away.... Why?

[Pegasus V]

 

Originally posted by Shrike:
Kewl, where'd you get it?

From my own knowledge. But I did double check in my books just to make sure, and to get some exact figures, like the luminosity (part of the spectral class, etc) and exact distance...

Oh, I didn't realise what you meant... See corrected message further below... sorry.

------------------
'Captain' Nick Brown
Callsign: Pegasus V
E-mail:
[email protected]
m.au

[This message has been edited by Pegasus V (edited 09-04-2001).]

[Nico]

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
I know a few stars that have habitable zones that weren't used in FS.

Like:

Tua Ceti
Pollux
Procyon
Epsilon Eridani
61 Cygni

eh, I'll have Tau Ceti in my campaign (homeworld of the Tau, of course  ) Didn't know that was actually a system where life could exist, I'm lucky  

[Pegasus V]

   

Originally posted by venom2506:
eh, I'll have Tau Ceti in my campaign (homeworld of the Tau, of course     ) Didn't know that was actually a system where life could exist, I'm lucky    

Proper names: Tau Ceti, 52 Ceti
Distance from Sol: 11.90 light-years
Spectral class: G8pV (almost identicle to the Sun, but a little smaller/cooler)
Ideal Orbital Distance for M-Class Planet: 105,000,000 km (Earth=150mill)
M-Class Planet Name Suggestion(s): Ceti Prime, Cetus Prime, Taea, New Mesopotamia

------------------
'Captain' Nick Brown
Callsign: Pegasus V
E-mail: [email protected]

-edit- Formatting Error x 2 -/edit-

[This message has been edited by Pegasus V (edited 09-04-2001).]

[Shrike]

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
From my own knowledge. But I did double check in my books just to make sure, and to get some exact figures, like the luminosity (part of the spectral class, etc) and exact distance...

What, you gave yourself a degree in astrophysics?    I meant where'd you get the degree.

[Pegasus V]

 

Originally posted by Shrike:
What, you gave yourself a degree in astrophysics?      I meant where'd you get the degree.

Oh sorry! I studied a 3 year course at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. I only finished this year. However, there's not many jobs available in this field in Western Australia  

By the way, does anyone know which system Vasuda is in?

[Xelion]

Vasuda doesn’t exist in the real universe, volition came up with it. I recall a posting on a server a while back that had a Nasa rep stating some details about the real systems and the ones that don't exist. Also they had possible inhabitable systems for a planet and some other stuff.

Max

Volition does have Technical Advisers from Nasa you Know, they just don't select at random. You gotta chose good names as well.

[This message has been edited by Max (edited 09-04-2001).]

[Pegasus V]

Dubhe
Proper names: Alpha Ursae Majoris, the Great Bear
Distance from Sol: ~125 light-years
Spectral class: K0IIIa

Alphard
Proper names: Alpha Hydrae; Alfard; Alphart; Kalbelaphard; Cor Hydrae
Spectral class: K3II-III

Barnard's Star
Proper names: Barnard's Star, Barnard's Runaway Star
Distance from Sol: 5.941 light-years
Spectral class: M4V
Companion (unnamed I):
     Mass: 0.7 x Jupiter
     Semimajor Axis: 3 A.U.s
Companion (unnamed II):
     Mass: 1.15 x Jupiter
     Period: 24 years
     Semimajor Axis: 5 A.U.s
     Besides moving across the terrestrial sky faster than any other star (almost a third of a degree of arc per century!), Barnard's Star, we are certain, has planets.  Although we have never actually seen these planets, wobbles in Barnard's Star's course indicate that it has two invisible companions, one with a mass of 0.7 times that of Jupiter (0.0007 x Sol) orbiting it at 3 Astronomical Units, and one with a mass of 1.15 times that of Jupiter (0.0015 x Sol) orbiting it at 5 A.U.s with an orbital period of 24 years.  However, since this is an old Population II star which formed before the galaxy became enriched with heavy elements, these planets are going to be carbon and metal poor, probably little more than heavy balls of hydrogen and helium.  (One catalog even states that, despite its velocity’s moderate z-component, Barnard's Star actually belongs to the *very* old galactic halo population.)
     The British Interplanetary Society once proposed Project Daedalus, a mission to send an unmanned spacecraft to Barnard's Star using a deuterium/helium-3 nuclear fusion reaction to provide thrust.  Such a mission would require both a larger spacecraft-construction infrastructure, and better hot-fusion technology, than are currently available.

Wolf 359
Proper names: CN Leonis
Distance from Sol: 7.797 light-years
Spectral class: M6eV
Variable type: UV Ceti flare star (eruptive variable)
     Besides its proximity to our own sun, this tiny star is one of the least luminous known, even though astronomers suspect that such intrinsically faint stars are probably very common in space.  Alpha Centauri Proxima is another super-dim star of this ilk; and, like Proxima Centauri, Wolf 359 is now known to be a flare star (hence the CN Leonis variable star designation). Wolf 359's flare outbursts are rarer and not as violent as those of Proxima Centauri or UV Ceti.

Luyten (L) 726-8
Proper names: UV Ceti
Distance from Sol: 8.554 light-years
Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Period: 200 years
Periastron distance: 4.119 A.U.s
Apastron distance: 25.10 A.U.s
Component A:
Proper names: BL Ceti
Spectral class: M5.5eV
Component B:
Proper names: UV Ceti, Luyten's Flare Star
Spectral class: M6eV
     Properly, only the less bright star in this system (Luyten 726-8 B) bears the name UV Ceti, since it is a variable star — the UV indicates that this was the 35th variable star discovered in the constellation Cetus.  It is an extreme flare star; in less than a minute, it can quintuple its total brightness, afterwhich it will fall back down to normal brightness levels within two or three minutes; and then flare suddenly again after several hours.  In 1952, UV Ceti was observed flaring to 75 times its normal brightness in only 20 seconds!
     If van de Kamp's orbital data are to be believed, these two stars would have to be exceedingly small and light -- their masses would be only 0.044 x Sol for the "A" star and 0.035 x Sol for UV Ceti.  This would mean that, although each of these stars is brighter than Wolf 359, Wolf 359 would have a higher mass than both of these stars combined.  However, if we assume that Worley & Behall's orbital data are the more accurate, the two stars' total mass would be 0.23 x Sol, which is more in keeping with the measurements of both their luminosities and their diameters.

No info on Laramis

Ross 128
Proper names: FI Virginis
Distance from Sol: 10.89 light-years
Spectral class: M4nV
Variable type: UV Ceti flare star (eruptive variable)

No info on Delta Serpentis

Sol
Proper names: Sol, Helios, The Sun
Spectral class: G2V
Detected companions: 8
     The "8" in the Detected Planets entry is not an error.  Pluto is not a "planet," but a huge, close-orbiting, low-eccentricity Kuiper Belt object.  With a big moon.  Of course, some die-hards out there still insist that it really is a planet, more for sentimental reasons than anything else.  They're welcome to live in their little fantasy world.  Neener neener.

Beta Aquilae
Proper names: Beta Aquilae, Alschain, 60 Aquilae
Distance from Sol: 44.7 light-years
Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Observed Separation: 175 A.U.s
Component A:
Spectral class: G8IV
Component B:
Spectral class: M3V

Antares
Proper names: Antares, Alpha Scorpii, Cor Scorpionis, 21 Scorpii
Distance from Sol: 604 light-years
Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Periastron distance: 483 A.U.s
Apastron distance: 590 A.U.s
Component A:
Spectral class: M1Ib
Component B:
Spectral class: B4V-VI

No info on Ribos

No info on Ikeya

Beta Cygni
Proper names: Alberio
Distance from Sol: 380 light-years
Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
     Combined Spectral class: K0B8v
     Period: 7,300 years

Betegeuse
Proper names: Betelgeuse, Betelgeux, The Martial Star, Alpha Orionis, 58 Orionis
Distance from Sol: 427 light-years
Spectral class: M2Ib
     Its actual diameter varies from 550 to 920 times Sol. This may be indicative of instabilities within the star which could turn it into a supernova at any time.

Vega
Proper names: Vega, Alpha Lyrae, 3 Lyrae, Wega
Distance from Sol: 25.30 light-years
Spectral class: A0V
Partial Nebulous Properties

Capella, Polaris, Regulus, Deneb done before

Gamma Draconis
Proper names: Eltanin
Spectral class: K5III

Epsilon Pegasi
Proper names: Enif
Spectral class: K21b

Procyon
Proper names: Procyon, Alpha Canis Minoris, 10 Canis Minoris, The Little Dog Star
Distance from Sol: 11.41 light-years
Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Periastron distance: 9.544 A.U.s
Apastron distance: 22.27 A.U.s
Component A:
Spectral class: F5IV-V
Component B:
Spectral class: DAwd (Eggen/Greenstein white dwarf (EG) 53)

Alpha Centauri
Proper names: Alpha Centauri, Alpha and Proxima Centauri, Rigil Kentaurus, Toliman
Distance from Sol: 4.395 light-years
Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Period: 79.92 years
Periastron distance: 11.42 A.U.s
Apastron distance: 35.78 A.U.s
Data for (A-B) and Proxima's orbit around one other:
Period: 500000 years
Observed Separation: 17,652 A.U.s
Component A:
Spectral class: G2V
Comfort Zone: 1.252 A.U.s
Component B:
Spectral class: K4V
Comfort Zone: 0.678 A.U.s
Component Proxima:
Proper names: Proxima Centauri, V645 Centauri, Alpha Centauri Proxima, Alpha Proxima
Distance from Sol: 4.223 light-years
Spectral class: M5eV
Variable type: UV Ceti flare star (eruptive variable)
     Although the third brightest star in the system can be called "Alpha Centauri C," as per the usual naming convention, it is usually referred to as Proxima Centauri, since the dimmest star of this triplet happens to be THE closest star to our own sun.  Proxima is a flare star; its flares about double the star's brightness, occurring sporadically from hour to hour.  In fact, at any given moment, more than one flare may be operating.  This varying brightness gave it the name "V645 Centauri" among variable star enthusiasts.  Unfortunately, such flares are lethal to any life that might otherwise arise on planets in its comfort zone (if Proxima has any).
     Life on planets orbiting Alpha Centauri A or B, however, is almost as likely as life in our own star system.  Since the smallest gap between A and B is 11.3 Astronomical Units, any planets closer to A or B than one-quarter of this distance (2.9 A.U.s) would be in stable orbits.  Furthermore, 2.9 A.U.s is wider than the comfort zone of either of these stars, so any planets in the comfort zones of A or B would also be within the stable orbit region.  These stars are young enough to have developed when the galaxy was rich with life-supporting and solid-planet-supporting heavy elements, yet old enough for any life there to have evolved into complex forms.

Aldebaran
Proper names: Aldebaran, Alpha Tauri, 87 Tauri
Distance from Sol: 65.1 light-years
Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Observed Separation: 607 A.U.s
Data for C and D's orbit around one other:
Combined spectrum: KV-VI
Observed Separation: 33.9 A.U.s
Data for (A-B) and (C-D)'s orbit around one other:
Observed Separation: 2430 A.U.s
Component A:
Spectral class: K5III
Component B:
Spectral class: M2V

Altair
Proper names: Altair, Alpha Aquilae, 53 Aquilae
Distance from Sol: 16.77 light-years
Spectral class: A7V

No info on Vasuda (of course)



------------------
'Captain' Nick Brown
Callsign: Pegasus V
E-mail:
[email protected]
m.au

[Ace]

Technical advisors at NASA?

No, Volition has writers, fiction writers.

Eshtimo, what I am stating is that star systems and their contents within FreeSpace are not written or altered to match reality, they are written for plot and artist convenience.

Instead of writing pages of data trying to fit what we see of Capella in FS2 to reality, focus on things which are useful to mission designers such as the canon events and politics.

Having data such as this in a format which can be used and acessed is great, but should be in it's own categories of reference... (and not in the FS canon category since Volition has never stated whether "real life" star data is true in the FS universe, and assumption is a fallacy in this sort of case)

------------------
Ace
Staff member FreeSpace Watch
 http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/

[This message has been edited by Ace (edited 09-04-2001).]

[Shrike]

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
No info on Delta Serpentis

You couldn't find anything on Delta Serp?  Geez, I found it on a starmap..... can't you?  

[Pegasus V]

Here's a scale of whether or not it is possible for a FS star to have an M-class planet in orbit (10=definately, 5=possibly, 3=doubt it, 1=you kidding?, 0=impossible)

Capella A (7)
Capella B (7)
Capella Ha (1)
Capella Hb (1)
Altair (2)
Ross 128 (0) - Dangerous system
Polaris A (4)
Polaris B (6)
Regulus A (3.5)
Regulus B (3.5 - 6) - Depends on radiation from A.
Regulus C (1)
Antares A (0) - You'd freeze to death, or suffocate from the volatile gases thrown out by that thing.
Antares B (0 - 2) - Depends on A.
Dubhe (7)
Alphard (6.5)
Barnard's Star (1)
Wolf 359 (0) - Dangerous system.
Luyten 726-8 (0) - Dangerous binary system.
Sol (10) - Evidence already exists.
Beta Aquilae A (8 - 9) - Depends on radiation from B.
Beta Aquilae B (1)
Beta Cygni (1 - 5) - Hard to tell.
Betelgeuse (0) - Standing one minute, caught in a nova/supernova next minute...
Vega (3-5) - Probably too hot.
Gamma Draconis (8)
Enif - Epsilon Pegasi (5)
Procyon (7-8) - Depending on B.
Alpha Centauri A (10)
Alpha Centauri B (8)
Alpha Centauri C - Proxima Centauri (0) - Dangerous near habitable zone area, but farther enough not to effect a planet in orbit of A, B.
Aldebaran A (6)
Aldebaran B (1)
Altair (2)

I hope this helps.

Shrike, I didn't have time to find Delta Serpentis... If you have any info on it, why don't you send it through?

[Jabu]

Right... back to that damn drawing board then.

[Setekh]

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
Sol (10)

Well, that's always good to know.  

[Jabu]

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
Alpha Centauri A (10)

But that again is quite worrying... you don't happen to possess any really advanced sensors or interstellar flight, do you?

[Xelion]

First of all

Ace, Volition does have Nasa Technical advisers even though most information is made up by fictional writers. They have advisers so the game is a little more realistic. They advise on particular information like the physics, astronomy, etc only when Volition requests it though.

Pegasus V did you say you got all that info from a book, because I have yet to see stuff like that too easily produced in one place. Oh by the way if your an astrophysicist shouldn't you have many sources to acquire such information on most systems.

Becuase I did find delta serpentis, what little information there is!

Apparent Magnitude: +3.08
Spectra: F0IV
Constellation: Serpens

The other systems that Pegasus V did not find can be found on the net but are not under the names specified.

Max  
Flash Developer

[joek]

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
(this is a blue star - extremely hot. No Earth-like planet could exist in orbit of this star - too hot and too much radiation.)

 

Originally posted by Pegasus V:
I know a few stars that have habitable zones that weren't used in FS.

Like:

Tua Ceti
Pollux
Procyon
Epsilon Eridani
61 Cygni

Ah man! Now it looks like I'm going to have to remap and change around some of the fiction/placenames in my campaign. I've got Beta Pic as having life (next to Epsilon Eridani without any), and now it looks like I'll have to reverse that or something...

... or should I just do like Volition and change facts for fiction?

 

Originally posted by Ace:
Instead of writing pages of data trying to fit what we see of Capella in FS2 to reality, focus on things which are useful to mission designers such as the canon events and politics.

I think that the reference should have both. Like a section devoted to what is officialy Volition (as you say), and another section devoted to what is scientifically fact (so that people can compare and contrast). Also, a section for hypothesis/fiction to help people when they're making campaigns (like my goof above). And another section maybe for fan-fiction, like all the facts stated in the fan-made campaigns (though maybe just the popular ones if it's a lot of work).

Joe.

------------------
www.joek.com
Revelations: A FS2 Campaign