Alpha Centauri - help needed!

Jo Zebedee

Jo Zebedee

Aliens vs Belfast.
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I am working at a sequel to Inish Carraig.

I need two possible planets - one Earth-like - within Space Opera levels of conceiveability of proximity to Earth.

The two planets need to either share a system or be close enough to make a spatial war possible.

I'm happy to handwavium the travel between planets. So, without getting too technical, is there any reason that Alpha Centauri AB/Proxima couldn't provide the two planets needed?

Also - are there any other systems I should be looking at?
 
What about that one they discovered recently with seven planets? I can't remember where it was, but it seems like it was relatively close.
 
Jo, you might want to take a look at David Weber's "For the Honor of the Queen." He has a pair of planets in a binary system who are waging war. You might get some ideas from that.
 
Jo Zebedee said:
I am working at a sequel to Inish Carraig.

I need two possible planets - one Earth-like - within Space Opera levels of conceiveability of proximity to Earth.

The two planets need to either share a system or be close enough to make a spatial war possible.

I'm happy to handwavium the travel between planets. So, without getting too technical, is there any reason that Alpha Centauri AB/Proxima couldn't provide the two planets needed?

Also - are there any other systems I should be looking at?
Click to expand...

Yay! I wanted backstory!

Ok so what level of technology are you positing for the Barathna and Xelo? Do they have FTL? If they do spatial distances are irrelevant. Do they have wormhole technology or something like that? Or are we talking about standard spacecraft burning fuel?

A binary star system could work quite well, especially given the different natures of the Xelo and Barathna and would make interplanetary war plausible. With the tech they would most likely have planet busting bombs (or at least a few thousand nukes) would cause some major damage so likely they would have some automated defence systems and rely heavily on AI drone technology (although maybe AI is something they never developed, who knows - your story!)

So yeah lots of things you can do with it Jo and looking forward to reading the sequel.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
What about that one they discovered recently with seven planets? I can't remember where it was, but it seems like it was relatively close.
Click to expand...

I might look into that one - I remember at the time thinking it might suit the IC world well. :)

Alexa said:
If you are interested in Alpha Centauri, you may be interested in the links provided in the thead below

Alpha Centauri has a planet
Click to expand...

Thank you! Perfect!

Parson said:
Jo, you might want to take a look at David Weber's "For the Honor of the Queen." He has a pair of planets in a binary system who are waging war. You might get some ideas from that.
Click to expand...

I think I have that one on my kindle. Will go take a look :)
SilentRoamer said:
Yay! I wanted backstory!

Ok so what level of technology are you positing for the Barathna and Xelo? Do they have FTL? If they do spatial distances are irrelevant. Do they have wormhole technology or something like that? Or are we talking about standard spacecraft burning fuel?

A binary star system could work quite well, especially given the different natures of the Xelo and Barathna and would make interplanetary war plausible. With the tech they would most likely have planet busting bombs (or at least a few thousand nukes) would cause some major damage so likely they would have some automated defence systems and rely heavily on AI drone technology (although maybe AI is something they never developed, who knows - your story!)

So yeah lots of things you can do with it Jo and looking forward to reading the sequel.
Click to expand...

Yes, young writing peeps. Always devise your world before writing your book. Or you'll end up with a headache when starting a sequel....:D

I haven't decided yet between FTL or wormhole. FTL is more of a stretch but a better fit for the world and keeps the claustrophobic nature better, I think. Definitely AI tech as I need it for another element of the story.

Let's hope it works!
 
Mirannan said:
the primary is a red dwarf
Click to expand...
Which the article calls an "ultra-cool dwarf star". (I knew The Fonz was an alien. Now I know where he came from.)

No wonder the inhabitants of the TRAPPIST-1 system are keeping quiet about themselves.
 
Common consensus in the scientific community is that almost all stars have at lease a single orbiting planet.

I would expect based on a law of averages and based on the mechanisms that form solar systems that almost all stars will have a multi-planetary setup, even if you just see a division in material weight (gas giants vs rock planets).

So I don't think the 7 planetary system above is anything particularly special, most likely it is a few tiny swirls of pebbles in an ocean of them. 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone - that's a lot of chances for planets!
 
Go all out with it.
Have them gate in from a parallel universe.
Then they can mention the Earth of their own continuum, with the Emerald Isle a sterile radioactive wasteland cos Bush led Tony Blair down a wrong path in The War against Terror.
:D
 
Jo Zebedee said:
I am working at a sequel to Inish Carraig.

I need two possible planets - one Earth-like - within Space Opera levels of conceiveability of proximity to Earth.

The two planets need to either share a system or be close enough to make a spatial war possible.

I'm happy to handwavium the travel between planets. So, without getting too technical, is there any reason that Alpha Centauri AB/Proxima couldn't provide the two planets needed?

Also - are there any other systems I should be looking at?
Click to expand...

Alpha Centauri could have two planets that fit your description. So could almost any star within an arbitrary distance. Our telescopes have not gotten good enough to exclude terrestrial-sized planets from any star. In twenty years, we should have full maps of the nearest stars down to the sub-Earth level, but for now, you're as free from restriction as you might have been 50 years ago (with the exception of the few nearby systems that have been proven to host planets -- you'd have to work around those).
 
What Vertigo says. We know so little. You have a fair bit of leeway.

Of course, if you want an excuse for why the planet's never been detected, it might be in a dust cloud (there has been speculation of dense interplanetary dust in that system). Or, those tricky aliens, they might have stealthed their planet. :p
 
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