Insert pathetic 'leet' title here.

Dapple · Post by **Dapple** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:00 am

why is it that TOTQ seems to attract so many interdimensional stories though?

Yeah you noticed that too huh.

AYBABTU · Post by **AYBABTU** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:57 am

Let's just say that the idea has too much potential, and leave it at that.

Earl McClaw · Post by **Earl McClaw** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:27 pm

I'd say the presence of luxcraft (and fairy rings?) and the fact that TotQ is the one RHJunior story not set in the "contemporary world" opens the possiblity.

Dapple · Post by **Dapple** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:11 pm

Maybe we should have a poll for the best Fan fic RP with Interdemensional Travel in it.

Dapple · Post by **Dapple** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:12 pm

Hey Rokas how long did it take you to write this Fanfic?

Rokas · Post by **Rokas** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:21 am

That first part took me about a night to write, and then I proofread it a few times.

I HAVE another part ready, finished it last night... Only my cable modem went out and I have to wait for the cable tech to come check it, so I can't upload it. Currently, I'm posting from work (when there's nothing to do/no customers), so that's how I'm contactin' now. Hopefully, tonight it'll be fixed...

Anyway, it's just too much of a temptation to cross-connect dimensions, especially as they're not even on Terra, let alone on our same brane.

AYBABTU · Post by **AYBABTU** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:09 pm

Wait...NOT on Terra? Did you just type NOT on Terra? Please tell me you didn't say NOT on Terra! I wanted to see 'em meet the President.

AYBABTU · Post by **AYBABTU** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:09 pm

Ah, well, it's your story. Write it anyways, it's still good.

BrockthePaine · Post by **BrockthePaine** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:22 pm

I knew it! The big thing in the sky is a Death Star, painted white and blue!

J/k of course.

Tbolt · Post by **Tbolt** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:27 pm

Hey Rokas, sorry for posting so late, but I just wanted to compliment you on your storytelling ability. I liked the "Message found in a bottle" beginning. I will look forward to the next installment when you post it!

Rokas · Post by **Rokas** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:14 pm

AYBABTU wrote:Wait...NOT on Terra? Did you just type NOT on Terra? Please tell me you didn't say NOT on Terra! I wanted to see 'em meet the President.

I meant that the Rac Cona Dimh are not on Terra, nor is the setting of RH's universe on our brane. (Brane: The new, hip way of reerring to alternate realities

)

And YES! New cable modem, new internectivity, (GW ain't the only one who can make up words!), and soon, new topic for part two.

And thanks for the comments, everyone.

JakeWasHere · Post by **JakeWasHere** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:41 pm

I propose that this is not actually Terra - the big moonlike object in the sky is Terra. My theory is that the Rac Cona have broken through into an era when Luna and Mars have been terraformed, and they've wound up in one or the other of those places.

BrockthePaine · Post by **BrockthePaine** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:51 pm

If they were on either Selene or Mars, they'd immediately remark on the lower gravity. Mars is .38G, Selene is (I recall) about .14G. A definate tip-off that would get picked up straight away.

MikeVanPelt · Post by **MikeVanPelt** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:55 pm

RHJunior wrote: Another thing. The smaller one has about the same apparent diameter as the RL moon.... the larger one has TWICE the apparent diameter (it looks twice as big. Think "Ridiculously huge anime moon," almost.) They wouldn't have been startled by the moon so much as they would have been startled by the fact that "the BIG moon is missing."

Hmmm... that seems odd, orbital-mechanically. You wouldn't think it odd to go outside at night and not see the moon -- it's not above the horizon all the time. On Aerith, with two moons, they'd be in different orbits. Depending on the orbits, one, both, or none of them could be visible.

The only way for them both to always be visible would be ... Hm, some kind of tide-locked or Lagrangian point thing. But that, I think, would put undesirable constraints on the lenght of day. For that to be the case, the big and little moon would have to be 60 degrees apart in the sky, which I think violates what we've seen in some of the strips.

Well, maybe if the "moons" are much larger planets than Aerith, orbiting each other, with Aerith tide-locked in a larger orbit around the two of them. But again, that would just about require Aerith to have a months-long "day".

If it's a question of "*if* one moon is up, both of them are up", that could work. They could be orbiting each other, or could be in one of those "orbit-swapping" configurations.

BrockthePaine · Post by **BrockthePaine** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:10 pm

MikeVanPelt wrote:The only way for them both to always be visible would be ... Hm, some kind of tide-locked or Lagrangian point thing.

Regarding Lagrange Points, Abhall could be in Caashey/Aerith's L1 point. That would be a solid scientific explanation for why the moons usually appear close together, as Abhall is the smallest. But LPoints and three-body orbits require the third body inhabiting the LPoint to be of negligible mass compared to the other two. Abhall, although small, still has enough mass that it wouldn't stay in an L1 orbit.

Any of the Sun-Aerith Lagrangian points would be so distant that the body would be virtually invisible to casual viewing - basically, it'd be like looking at Mars or Venus in the sky.

Lagrangian points are out, then...

There's also a notation from the UberCD that totally discounts the possibility of Abhall being in an L1 point.

MikeVanPelt · Post by **MikeVanPelt** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:14 pm

BrockthePaine wrote:Abhall, although small, still has enough mass that it wouldn't stay in an L1 orbit.

The L1 point also isn't stable. It is possible to put something in a halo orbit around the L1 point. Again, it must be of negligible mass compared to the other two bodies. They used this kind of orbit for the SOHO solar observatory satellite.

Wanderwolf · Post by **Wanderwolf** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:03 am

Ah-ah-ah... you're overlooking what RH is saying:

RHJunior wrote:The smaller one has about the same apparent diameter as the RL moon.... the larger one has TWICE the apparent diameter (it looks twice as big. Think "Ridiculously huge anime moon," almost.)

Keep in mind that the apparent diameter of our own Luna varies depending on its position in the sky... it looks larger closer to the horizon, smaller higher up.

Remember, Aerith is not Earth. Assuming...

Warning: Mathematical formulae follow, and may or may not be accurate. You have been warned.

Assuming that the larger moon is actually further away, the smaller moon could well be a satellite of the larger. If we postulate a lower density of material for the two satellites, that additional size may not even be important. Given that our moon's apparent diameter is 29.5 arc-minutes at 406,500 km distance, with a true diameter of 3,476 km, we may take the apparent diameter of the larger moon as 59 arc-minutes. Moving the moon closer is obviously not a probable solution... therefore, if we double the distance (to 813,000 km), we must now quadruple the diameter (to 13, 904 km) in order to achieve the 59 arc-minute apparent diameter. That puts the larger moon around Earth's size, and thus capable of having its own satellite at most densities.

Now, assuming the Aerith system is gravitational and not the long-forgotten crystal spheres... is that far enough away?

Answer: It depends on the total mass involved. But yes, assuming the right mass and mass constant, that is far enough away for the larger moon to have a satellite... artificial structures have achieved stable lunar orbits, after all, and that's much closer in.

Curious note: When running simulations based on the Theia hypothesis, scientists found that moon accretion would have taken only a year. What makes this curious is that Luna is the result in only 66.6666_% of the runs; the other 33.3333_% resulted in two moons of similar sizes. Mind you, the second moon tended to crash into the Earth after a few decades...

Hm. You might want to go with the crystal spheres, Ralph.

Yours truly,

The wolfish,

Wanderer

RHJunior · Post by **RHJunior** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:09 am

Okay, look.

I went to the tremendous trouble of actually downloading orbital simulation software to get this right.

Caashey is orbiting at the same distance as earth's moon.

Abhall is orbiting at half that.

Two simple orbits.

Abhall's apparent diameter is the same as that of earth's moon. Caashey is twice that.

And according to the software, to the best possible determination, the orbits are stable.

ARGH.

Wanderwolf · Post by **Wanderwolf** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:47 am

RHJunior wrote:Okay, look.

I went to the tremendous trouble of actually downloading orbital simulation software to get this right.

Caashey is orbiting at the same distance as earth's moon.

Abhall is orbiting at half that.

Two simple orbits.

Abhall's apparent diameter is the same as that of earth's moon. Caashey is twice that.

And according to the software, to the best possible determination, the orbits are stable.

ARGH.

Yes, Ralph, each orbit is stable as a simple orbit around a center. But how do the moons interact? Assuming a gravity-based orbital mechanic, each orbiting body has its own mass, thus its own gravity, thus an influence upon the orbits of other bodies. (That's why I suggested reverting to the long-ago notion of crystal spheres, which turn with a heavenly music as they carry the moons, stars and planets in their orbits.)

I'll go ahead and download some orbital simulation software myself, so I can see how wrong I am, okay? What program do you have?

As a side note: If Caashey is orbiting at 1 lunar distance, but has twice the apparent diameter, then it is twice as big as Luna. Abhall, at 0.5 lunar distance, to have the same apparent diameter as our moon, must be half the size.

Yours truly,

The wolfish, double-checking,

Wanderer

BrockthePaine · Post by **BrockthePaine** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:13 am

Wanderwolf, try buying the UberCD, it has some notes on the Aerith-Abhall-Caashey system which give you numbers to plug into your equations.