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Post by Tesla Ranger on Mar 4, 2016 17:20:08 GMT
It seems we often like to play with the shape of our planets and how they relate to other other stellar bodies (suns, moons, etc). This came down my YouTube feed recently and it seemed relevant to that continuing discussion: Essentially: Physics thinks that a torus/donut shaped planet could happen under specific situations but it would be somewhat fragile. Anyone living on such a planet would witness some pretty odd (to us anyway) effects on their weather, day/night cycles, satellite orbits, and gravity. For instance, a person standing on the outside equator of the torus would weigh more than they would if they were standing on the internal "equator". How much more would depend on the radius and mass of the planet itself but it's something to play with. I'm particularly amused by the idea of a moon "bouncing" through the hole in the planet. Other pertinent links: Another YT video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J4iIBKJHLAWikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TorusSimulation of a Torus: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z-wF3Lak-I
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Post by dmsam on Mar 4, 2016 18:43:56 GMT
So Halo CAN happen naturally. Pretty neat.
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Post by Tesla Ranger on Mar 4, 2016 19:23:55 GMT
The Halo ring might be a little different. The thin, regular structure always implied to me that it was meant to be artificial, perhaps even a slimmed version of a Dyson sphere. That it has a reasonably flat cross-section (unlike a donut) might be the strongest evidence that it's artifical, but that's just a hypothesis of mine.
I'm was pretty surprised that the math allows for any shape other than shere (or sphere-ish). This could complicate the definition of planet a bit more too, since a defining feature of a planet is having enough mass to round out it's surface. If we could ever take direct photographs of distant systems it would be a pretty neat discovery to find one "in the wild".
Since one good whack from a space-rock could basically explode the planet I wonder how a fantasy civilization might protect against that. Assuming they advance far enough to predict/detect such threats (divination?) how would they defend against them? Some sort of planetary shield? A mystical version of a gravity tractor? Some sort of stupidly powerful teleportation spell to move the rock somewhere else?
Would such a society grow all of their food on the exterior, leaving the interior an eternally dark, frozen wasteland with wonky gravity? How would tides even work? Volcanoes? Air currents? It's an interesting scenario to try and wrap my imagination around.
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Post by joatmoniac on Mar 5, 2016 0:27:31 GMT
The halo rings were definitely built intentionally. It would be tons of fun to work with a planet like this, and all of the intricacies that comes with it. Especially if you were to play multiple campaigns on the world, and had them be in different locations. So much horizon all the time! Crazy weather, crazier days and night patterns! So much fun.
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