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Author Topic: Vanishing Planets  (Read 2467 times)

Tesseract13

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Vanishing Planets
« on: October 14, 2015, 11:20:33 PM »
I've been trying for a while to simulate a binary system for a sci-fi story. I figured out how to get the stars to orbit, but I can't even begin to try adding a planet... because after travelling maybe 1/2 AU along, they disappear. I've tried using the search function to see if maybe they just suddenly escaped for some reason, but they don't show up. I've watched them closely and they just seem to vanish for no particular reason. Is this a bug, or perhaps a setting I'm overlooking?

codefantastic

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  • I hope these asteroids don't cause trouble
Re: Vanishing Planets
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2015, 05:38:16 AM »
 1). Binary System right now are very finicky and don't work too well, the best way to do them in my opinion is to make the central star "locked in position".
2). This is defiantly a bug, if you could provide the set-up so me or one of the Devs can check it for themselves that would be great.   

vmorgo

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Re: Vanishing Planets
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2015, 06:04:33 AM »
I have had little trouble with binary systems, at least those with stars of dissimilar masses.  The only significant problem I have had seems to be that anything orbiting BOTH stars soon ends up getting ejected into space. 

I set the stars fairly close together (about 2 to 3 AU apart) and have chosen a late F-type primary (Type F8 or so) of about 1.2 solar masses, and an early M-type secondary (of about 0.6 solar masses, type M0.5).  Orbiting planets close in to either star is not a problem, provided orbits are close enough not to be significantly influenced by the gravitational well (Hill sphere?) of the opposite star.  In my particular simulation, the single habitable planet in the system orbits the secondary at a distance of about 50 to 75 lunar distances (about 0.14 to 0.25 AU?). 

Now, getting a moon to reliably orbit that habitable planet---That's another story entirely!

I've never figured out what the "lock in place" function does, other than to lock a primary star into one position so the entire solar system doesn't drift through space.  It didn't strike me as particularly useful, though if it helps with getting binary/multi-sun simulations to work properly, then it may be worth using, bearing in mind that, in reality, the stars do NOT remain fixed in space.