Celestia Forums

Any developers up for a challenge?

Three little known planets that make interesting and very useful add-ons:

1) Nibiru: orbits in a train-track shaped orbit every 3,657 years around our sun and it's unknown dark twin positioned 19 time farther away than Pluto in the direction of Orion. Has an atmosphere and ocean like Earth, but is similar to Mars in appearance/color. More ocean/less land-mass than Earth. An over-abundance of volcanic activity along much of it's ocean floors emanates heat and light throughout the oceans and into the atmosphere, creates a purpetually dusk/dawn-type planetary light on this life-bearing world.

2) Clarion: A lifeless world without an atmosphere, similiar to our Moon and Mercury in appearance, only about the same size as Earth, that shares Earth's orbit around the sun, and is positioned exactly behind the Sun from Earth's vantage point at all times.

3) The Zeta Retilculi binary star system: The close pair of companion stars in this system, Zeta1 and Zeta2, should be old disk population II stars aged seven billion years old, and should occupy less than 1/3 of the total Zeta Reticula star system area. The 4th planet orbiting outside of Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 is a dead world, slightly larger than Earth, with a bit cooler average temperature, with thinner air containing a higher proportion of Argon and Helium.

Little-known? I've never even heard of them. Can you post links to some reference material for these?

As far as I know it was the Greeks who proposed a second earth on the other side of the sun. But Clarion does not sound Greek. Can you tell me where it comes from?
And what gravitational effect would an earth on the opposite side have on the whole solar system?

mediatiger

The counter-Earth on the other side of the Sun is a common feature in the more fanciful variety of science fiction. Probably the most elaborate treatment was the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson movie Doppelganger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun). But I don't know where that name comes from. The one in the movie was just called Earth, since it was a mirror-image duplicate!

I think the Cybermen on Doctor Who originally came from another such planet called Mondas.

It doesn't make any sense gravitationally since that configuration of planets is not stable (and, anyway, it surely would have been detected by its gravitational effects on Venus over a century ago).

But it could be a fun Celestia add-on.

Actually someone already did Nibiru a while back...Its in here somewhere...

Mondas was more based on the Planet X idea...It had a revolution of several million years from the 10th Planet Episode of Who...

@ Matt: Thank you for the information.
Funny: The term Doppelganger is of German origin.

Here are some more links, that should be sufficient for a starter.
I think in Germany Nibiru was called Nemesis by the media.

http://www.crystalinks.com/nibiru.html

http://home.sol.no/~kjole/ncca/anunnaki.html

http://www.ufoconspiracy.com/reports/ze ... ar_sys.htm

http://www.crystalinks.com/zeta.html

If anybody has more information about Clarion or counter-earth I would be glad if you send me a link or whatever you know. Thank you.

mediatiger

Hi ppl,

in German the term 'Doppelg?nger' stands for a person which looks absolutely indentical to you.

It it somewhat in the direction of the 'double', although it has been used in the 'classic' literature in a rather disturbing way. A 'Doppelg?nger' is quite often a threat or used to achieve an advantage in war, love or crime.

E.g. Saddam Hussein is believed to have had at least 11 'Doppelg?nger' during the 90's to protect him from desert storms and assasination. The same goes for many hsitoric despotes.


Take care,
Axel