Page 1 of 1 [ 6 posts ] 

NewTime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2015
Posts: 2,117

20 Jul 2015, 5:21 pm

A wiki talks about moving dwarf planets to be moons of the outer planets Uranus and Neptune and terraforming them, terraforming black dwarfs by moving them into orbit around Sun-like stars (this probably would occur in the distant future, as no black dwarfs are thought to exist today) and even creating artificial "suns".

http://terraforming.wikia.com/wiki/Dwar ... ice_giants

http://terraforming.wikia.com/wiki/Terr ... ack_Dwarfs

http://terraforming.wikia.com/wiki/Artificial_sun

Sounds a bit far fetched to me.



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,951
Location:      

20 Jul 2015, 6:38 pm

Possible, but improbable; especially when considering the energy required to move a world like Ceres from its current orbit to one further away from the Sun, and without any interference from the gravity of Jupiter or Saturn.



NewTime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2015
Posts: 2,117

20 Jul 2015, 7:24 pm

Fnord wrote:
Possible, but improbable; especially when considering the energy required to move a world like Ceres from its current orbit to one further away from the Sun, and without any interference from the gravity of Jupiter or Saturn.


I don't think they're suggesting moving Ceres. They're talking about the further away dwarf planets like Pluto and Eris moving them closer to the Sun by making them moons of Uranus or Neptune and terraforming them.



izzeme
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Apr 2011
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,665

21 Jul 2015, 2:26 am

possible in theory, but terraforming in and of itself is a long shot with our current technology levels.

moving a planet is just not practically possible yet; the fuel required to do so is so mindbogglingly large, there is no way we can lift that amount off of the earth (assuming we even have enough), so we'd have to set up fuel mining on other celestial bodies (like the moon; which has been talked about before).

getting the fuel in position isn't the problem, and the theory of moving a planet is the same as moving an astroid, just bigger, so it's all theoretically possible.

just don't expect to see it within our lifetime



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,951
Location:      

21 Jul 2015, 6:23 am

NewTime wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Possible, but improbable; especially when considering the energy required to move a world like Ceres from its current orbit to one further away from the Sun, and without any interference from the gravity of Jupiter or Saturn.
I don't think they're suggesting moving Ceres. They're talking about the further away dwarf planets like Pluto and Eris moving them closer to the Sun by making them moons of Uranus or Neptune and terraforming them.
Same problem. It takes energy - lots of energy - to decelerate that much mass and drop it into a lesser orbit. Any change in velocity requires it. F=ma, after all.



Spiderpig
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,893

27 Jul 2015, 1:33 pm

I wonder whether moving Eris into orbit around Neptune would be cheaper than blowing it up. It might be an interesting option to restore Pluto's planet status.


_________________
The red lake has been forgotten. A dust devil stuns you long enough to shroud forever those last shards of wisdom. The breeze rocking this forlorn wasteland whispers in your ears, “Não resta mais que uma sombra”.