Recent content by fructivore

Hello, I am developing a simple orbital mechanics simulator as a software project and am approaching the problem from a slightly different perspective from the one described here. Specifically I have information on satellite position and velocity in spherical polar coordinates (radius...

Oh but that doesn't sound like any fun at all. I like the 23 -> 230 explanation much better. And I seriously bet you that's what the article author was doing.

Well the article cites an estimated surface temperature of 80 F, and an order of magnitude above that is 800 F which is if not instant incineration pretty close. But in C that's only 23, which is much a smaller number so therefore an order of magnitude would be nigh-fatal but certainly not...

It seems like your scenario assumes that you are both tidally locked -and- have an axial tilt close to zero. If your planet is tilted, on the other hand, you would have seasonal variations in your temperature patterns, which might actually be more conducive to life, as it would seem to...

Hi astrophysics people! I am a programmer trying to teach myself the (very) basics of orbital mechanics for a simulation project. Thanks to previous discussions on the subject here, and some articles on Wikipedia, I think I have figured out most of the pieces. There is still one thing left...