Perhaps an interesting hypothetical?
Posted: 24.11.2013, 08:37
Let's say aliens arrived and immediately promoted us to a Type III Civilization. Once the chaos of being suddenly Monolith'ed calms down, someone realizes Earth is indeed almost directly on the inner edge of Sol's habitable zone, with the inner edge being 0.99 AU, as recent RL research suggests. So, after convincing whatever chain(s) of command they need to convince, they get the approval to literally split our sun into two. How this might be possible shall be left up to the imagination. 
Anyways, splitting Sol into two, naturally, makes the Sol system instantly circumbinary. Of course, the splitting does have a few restrictions, mainly preserving current orbital distances and inclinations as much as possible, which probably might not be too much of a hassle; the center of the system still contains 1 solar mass; no more, no less. An added benefit might be an increased system lifespan as well.
The real question is, there are countless combinations of which two mass ratios and spectral types for the suns could be used, but which one? Transferring masses naturally changes each sun's luminosity and spectral type, which in turn changes not just their own individual habitable zone, but also their combined HZ for the whole system, further influenced by their mutual orbital separation! (Trust me, I checked.) Therefore, deliberately splitting our sun into two, once we figure out how to help Earth life adapt to the new spectral types if need be, helps prolongs our own world's reign of habitability!
Not to mention prettier sunsets...
So, over the years, I have come across numerous online calculators, along with astrosynthesis, that have become tremendous aids in my worldbuilding efforts, so if I share these with you (a number of which a lot of you are already familiar with), they should help in answering the question: What masses and their corresponding luminosities and spectral types should be distributed between these two components that best prolongs Earth's habitability as we know it?
Plan a (planet around a) main sequence star
Stellar Luminosities from AppMag & AbsMag
Bolometric Luminosity Calculator (Useful for significantly hotter or cooler stars, and likely this scenario outlined above as well)
Javascript webpage with various star options (Some might find this useful, some not)
For orbital periods and conversions, I use these two: http://www.onlineconversion.com/astronomical.htm and http://www.orbitsimulator.com/formulas/
Here's the question I posted earlier: What masses and their corresponding luminosities and spectral types should be distributed between these two components that best prolongs Earth's habitability as we know it? (Again, combined mass of both components is 1 sol, no more, no less, no exceptions.)
Anyways, splitting Sol into two, naturally, makes the Sol system instantly circumbinary. Of course, the splitting does have a few restrictions, mainly preserving current orbital distances and inclinations as much as possible, which probably might not be too much of a hassle; the center of the system still contains 1 solar mass; no more, no less. An added benefit might be an increased system lifespan as well.
The real question is, there are countless combinations of which two mass ratios and spectral types for the suns could be used, but which one? Transferring masses naturally changes each sun's luminosity and spectral type, which in turn changes not just their own individual habitable zone, but also their combined HZ for the whole system, further influenced by their mutual orbital separation! (Trust me, I checked.) Therefore, deliberately splitting our sun into two, once we figure out how to help Earth life adapt to the new spectral types if need be, helps prolongs our own world's reign of habitability!
Not to mention prettier sunsets...
So, over the years, I have come across numerous online calculators, along with astrosynthesis, that have become tremendous aids in my worldbuilding efforts, so if I share these with you (a number of which a lot of you are already familiar with), they should help in answering the question: What masses and their corresponding luminosities and spectral types should be distributed between these two components that best prolongs Earth's habitability as we know it?
Plan a (planet around a) main sequence star
Stellar Luminosities from AppMag & AbsMag
Bolometric Luminosity Calculator (Useful for significantly hotter or cooler stars, and likely this scenario outlined above as well)
Javascript webpage with various star options (Some might find this useful, some not)
For orbital periods and conversions, I use these two: http://www.onlineconversion.com/astronomical.htm and http://www.orbitsimulator.com/formulas/
Here's the question I posted earlier: What masses and their corresponding luminosities and spectral types should be distributed between these two components that best prolongs Earth's habitability as we know it? (Again, combined mass of both components is 1 sol, no more, no less, no exceptions.)
