Thursday, 1 February 2018

Too Many Unknowns

(This cover is appropriate because it shows clouds - I thought.)

When the rogue planet, Satan, swings around the blue giant star, Beta Crucis, approaching as close as 0.93 astronomical units, it will heat up. Sure. However, it is not yet clear whether surface conditions will become suitable for an industrial base:

"'The amount and the composition of frozen material could not have been measured accurately. Nor could its behavior have been computed beforehand in sufficient detail. The problem is too complex, with too many unknowns. For example, once a gaseous atmosphere has begun to form, other volatile substances will tend to recondense at high altitudes, forming clouds which will in time disappear but which, during their existence, may reflect so much input radiation that most of the surface remains comparatively cold.'" (Chapter XI, p. 437) (For full reference, see here.)

The surface might remain cold. How about that, then?

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