------ =_NextPart_000_01BDE890.0D680F20
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Herman Miller wrote:
Sent: Friday, 25 September, 1998 00:15
To: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG
Subject: Re: equinox
>On Thu, 24 Sep 1998 10:49:50 -0300, Pablo Flores
><fflores@...> wrote:
>
>>Procyon is a double system?
>
>Yes, its companion is a white dwarf, with an orbital period of 40.65 =
years.
Thanks for the info. I'd no idea.
>>I once began to think, just as an exercise, about how the seasons =
would go
>>on in a planet with two or more suns. The idea is fascinating in the =
field
>>of language too -- how would call the Sun(s)? In one of my SF stories, =
a
>>planet with two suns was inhabited by a race who named them with a
>>compound, something between a colective plural and a non-singular form
>>(like 'the dead, the rich' in English). They imagined they were a =
mother
>>and her daughter (so the word was feminine), and that the daughter
>>constantly played around her mother in circles.
>One possibility would be to borrow the Elfquest word "daystar" for the
>brighter sun, and call the other one the "nightstar". In Jarrda that =
would
>be "teppor" and "thlompor". Procyon B would be (if I did the math =
right) a
>pinpoint of light with the brightness of the full moon on average, and =
its
>brightness would vary according to the 40-year cycle. I'd guess that =
it's
>probably too far away to affect the planet's orbit all that much, but =
I'm
>not an astronomer.
I was thinking more of a planet orbiting around the two stars, which =
would have to be quite close to one another, maybe like the white dwarf =
and the red giant in "2001" (the book). The planet would have nights and =
days like ours, only there'd be two suns in the sky during the daytime.
Anyway, I've read that the conditions needed in order for a planet =
system to be formed would hardly be met in a double system like Procyon =
or Alpha Centauri (actually that's triple), with stars not very close =
but not much apart either. But that's theory of course -- I don't =
_really_ know how solar systems are formed.
>>Anyway, there may not be seasons. If the Earth's axis were not tilted =
by 23
>>degrees, the eccentricity of the orbit wouldn't be enough to produce a
>>noticeable change in global temperatures. (This would be boring, of =
course;
>>I wouldn't have a conculture like that).
>That's always possible, or (as in the case of another of my planets) =
the
>only areas of the planet that are warm enough to be habitable may be in =
the
>tropics. Alternatively, a planet with a closer to 90 degree tilt would =
have
>radically different seasons.
*OR* perhaps the only habitable areas could be the polar circles. This =
happens in Roland, the planet in Poul Anderson's "The Queen of Air and =
Darkness". The primary star is an F9, 40% brighter than the Sun =
especially in the UV zone, so the summer (a short periastron summer) is =
the season when animals go to sleep and "summernate" (?), and flowers =
open at the beginning of winter. The human colony lives inside the North =
Polar Circle.
--Pablo Flores
------ =_NextPart_000_01BDE890.0D680F20
Content-Type: application/ms-tnef
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64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------ =_NextPart_000_01BDE890.0D680F20--