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Orbital animation

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So I decided since I've been writing my novel recently I've really got to figure out the orbital paths of everything so I can make a calendar and keep everything straight in my head. I literally cannot write a good story without knowing all these tiny little details most people probably wouldn't even think about. xD So many bookmarks on astronomy and physics queries I've had to try and figure this out.

So here's what I got:

Qîélá orbits and rotates clockwise unlike Earth, which orbits and rotates counter-clockwise. This means on Qîélá the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.

Qîélá's axial tilt, wobble and rotational speed are basically identical to Earth, however it’s slightly larger size means that each day is 30 hours long instead of 24.

Qîélá's distance from its star is more akin to Mars than to Earth, making its year 640 days instead of 365.

The largest moon, Qämkét, depicted in orange, also orbits clockwise around the planet and like Earth's moon it has a synchronous rotation so the same side is always visible. It also formed the same way Earth's moon probably did, from a collision some 4 billion years ago between Qîélá and a much smaller planetoid in the young solar system.
-It completes a full orbit around Qîélá every 32 days.
-The Ôrnês developed a calendar that has 10 months, 64 days each. Theoretically this would mean 2.5 months per season, but this is only accurate in temperate regions. (This is the calendar used primarily in the novel.)

Nêš is the smaller, closer moon; it orbits in retrograde and is a captured asteroid rather a naturally formed satellite as is Qämkét.
-It completes a full orbit every 8 days.
-It is tidally locked to Qîélá, meaning it does not rotate on an axis at all.
-Nêš's orbit is so fast and close that it will eventually begin to degrade. It will migrate even closer to the planet and likely break apart to form more rings and rain debris on the surface, causing another extinction; though not for many millions of years.

Qîélá has a ring system which orbits and rotates very slowly in prograde. This is remnant of a third moon, slightly larger than Nêš, which was struck by a comet a few million years ago. It was originally farther out than the rings are now, but force from the impact sent pieces inward towards the planet. While much of it was caught but Qîélá's gravity and began to orbit some of it still fell to the surface, causing a mass extinction.


I had a lot of fun making the orbital diagram, even if it was perplexing at some points to try and get the orbits just right. xD
But now I can write a little easier, knowing where the moons will be on each day.

Yeah yeah I'm sort of fudging things with making everything even numbers and no variation (so no leap years and stuff) but I'm not a god damn physicist so this was hard enough as it is! >:U
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© 2012 - 2024 gutter-child
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Ronnen's avatar
You sound so much like me...I CANNOT start writing a book until I have all this crap figured out. But more about the cultures, religions, histories, etc. Though the size, shape, and orbit of the earth the book inhabits is also quite important.

I love that you figured it all out and shared it with us. Thanks for sharing love!