Basil Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Need a place to send a scientific expedition? Someplace the PCs (or the NPCs the PCs are guarding/helping/tagging along with) will find all kinds of wild scienterrific stuff happening? How about Eta Carinae and its surrounding nebula? They say it is likely to "explode in a spectacular supernova sometime in the next few million years." Note that "the next few million years" could include right when the expedition gets there! :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition It has been a long while, but I may have observed Carina back in 1988, when I was in the Philippines. It would have been barely visible, but I remember looking it up in my star charts, at least. I didn't look at the nebula, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition How about Pluto? not as far to go, but imagine the excitement of the atmosphere freezing out around your ears, and the superfluid native Plutonians burrowing out of the dark red crust? Likewise exploring the cryovolcanic tunnels of Triton, the petrochemical sludge seas of Titan, the electric whirlwinds of Mars, the metallic frost craters of Mercury, and the weirdly low-density moon of Saturn Hyperion, with it's chaotic orbit and freakish topography? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Pluto is a good possibility. The New Horizons probe should arrive there around 2015. It just passed Jupiter recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shigeru Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Sirius or Casseopeia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted July 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition How about Pluto? not as far to go, but imagine the excitement of the atmosphere freezing out around your ears, and the superfluid native Plutonians burrowing out of the dark red crust? Likewise exploring the cryovolcanic tunnels of Triton, the petrochemical sludge seas of Titan, the electric whirlwinds of Mars, the metallic frost craters of Mercury, and the weirdly low-density moon of Saturn Hyperion, with it's chaotic orbit and freakish topography? Oh, interesting enough, and certainly much more appropriate for a Solar HERO campaign. But really, not as interesting as Eta Carinae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted July 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Sirius or Casseopeia. What's of superlative interest at either of them? BTW, which star in the constellation Casseopeia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition how about the cannibal star V385 Monocerotis? It gobbled down its neighbour (or three planets) and bloated up into the brightest IR source in the galaxy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Need a place to send a scientific expedition? Someplace the PCs (or the NPCs the PCs are guarding/helping/tagging along with) will find all kinds of wild scienterrific stuff happening? How about the fridge in the break room? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted July 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition how about the cannibal star V385 Monocerotis? It gobbled down its neighbour (or three planets) and bloated up into the brightest IR source in the galaxy? I tried googling that and came up empty. Do you have any site(s) about that? Sounds very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Pluto is much more interesting if if is infested with the fungi of Yuggoth, the Mi-go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition On a more serious note here are a few possibilities. Microquasar XTE J1550-564 Rho Cassiopeiae Crab Nebula & Pulsar LBV 1806-20 AB All of the above taken from Notable Nearby Stars website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition hmmhm - maybe I got the number or spelling of the constellation wrong. Try wikipedia - look up Mergeburst either a cannibal star or Galactus ate the Chilli Planet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shigeru Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition What's of superlative interest at either of them? BTW, which star in the constellation Casseopeia? SOrry about being so vague. I was at work and din't take the proper time to flesh out my post. Sirius has some cultural significance to earth, having been recorded by Egyptians and also the Dogon peopel in West Africa. THere's probaly some cool stuff that could hearken back to ancient man, or at least provide some explanation for ancient man's knowledge and tracking of the star. Its ( Sirius A) also got a lot of metallic content to it, which might make for some interesting phenomena on the surface. Cassaopeia A is a remnant of a supernova and resides in the constellation. Wikipedia says its the strongest radio source in the sky beyond the solar system. I don't have much reason to cite it as an interesting target other than the mythological significance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Zahadum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Might I suggest the Saturnian moon Iapetus? This celestial body is full of inadequately-explained oddities: one of its hemispheres is almost two orders of magnitude brighter than the other; it has an irregular shape, neither spherical nor elliptical; there's a huge, continuous mountain ridge around its equator; and its orbital plane is at an angle to those of all the other stable moons of Saturn. Of course Iapetus in fiction is most famous as the destination of the Discovery expedition in the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. In that novel a giant black alien Monolith is at the center of Iapetus's brighter hemisphere. Later space-probe photographs have shown that there is indeed a dark spot in the bright region... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Zahadum? No thanks. Wherever I went I'd prefer to return alive, with my soul, and with more than twenty years ahead of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Zahadum? [Creepy Vorlon Voiceover]If you go to Zahadum, you will die![/Creepy Vorlon Voiceover] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted July 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition On a more serious note here are a few possibilities. Microquasar XTE J1550-564 Rho Cassiopeiae Crab Nebula & Pulsar LBV 1806-20 AB All of the above taken from Notable Nearby Stars website. Bunch of cool ones, alright. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted July 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition hmmhm - maybe I got the number or spelling of the constellation wrong. Try wikipedia - look up Mergeburst either a cannibal star or Galactus ate the Chilli Planet Or you could've just pointed to your own page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Inded, I could have, but that would have required considerable work given the limitations of this PDA - I can't even do quotes in this forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition There is also Gliese 710 http://www.exitmundi.nl/Gliese710.htm http://astroprofspage.com/archives/664 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_710 It is an unassuming star, were it not for the fact that it is on a more or less direct collision course with the Sun. It may not hit, but it may initiate a deadly rain of comets from the Oort cloud. Don't be too worried, it isn't going to get here for about 1.4 million years. But the fact it is heading right at us is very suspicious. Almost like it was ... sent... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition When it comes to pre-supernova stars, you really should send an interstellar expedition to IK Pegasi. The Eta Carinae pre-supernova is about 8000 light years away. IK Pegasi is only 150 light years away. Things will get pretty hot and radioactive around Earth when IK Pegasi blows up. http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/cas/cas2004/casreports-2004/rep-310/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition And then there is WR 104. It is a pre-supernova about the same distance as Eta Carinae (8000 light years). The difference is, with WR 104, Earth finds that it is looking down the gun barrel aimed right between its eyes. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/03/03/wr-104-a-nearby-gamma-ray-burst/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Nyrath, stop scaring the kids! (And thanks for the little dose of Bulglish, too.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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