[2300 AD] Famous Stars

[Lemnoc]

OTU generally treats the hot-&-famous real stars of the cosmos (Altair, Sirius, Pollux, Rigel) as rubbled junkyards—asteroid belt, no planets, often little of value. Although it's not exactly stated anywhere (AFAIK) just about any real, famous star of significance you might name is mostly useless. But the 2300 AD setting is largely silent on these places, even when they’re reachable by standard stutterwarp.

I wonder if there are thoughts or rules of thumb about these "destination" places and their value and contribution to the 2300 AD universe.

 

[silburnl]

OTU generally treats the hot-&-famous real stars of the cosmos (Altair, Sirius, Pollux, Rigel) as rubbled junkyards —asteroid belt, no planets, often little of value. Although it's not exactly stated anywhere (AFAIK) just about any real, famous star of significance you might name is mostly useless.

I think the fact that they are 'hot and famous' provides the underlying explanation. Famous stars are that way because they are bright in our night sky - to be bright they need to be hot, large or close (preferably all three), to be hot and/or large they generally need to be massive and if they are massive then they will be short-lived. For example the stars you mention are all less than a billion years old - which is not enough time to develop much more than protoplanetary cinders.

I wonder if there are thoughts or rules of thumb about these "destination" places and their value and contribution to the 2300 AD universe.

Well Arcturus (brightest star in the northern hemisphere) is where the Kaefers were first encountered. It's a K1.5 Type III (Orange Giant) and a variable star to boot, so highly unlikely to be host to much in the way of useful real-estate (very low metallicity as well, which wouldn't help either I should think). In the game setting it's a 'rubbled junkyard', although subsequent-to-the-game exoplanet research suggests it might have a 'super-jupiter' substellar companion. The other notable fact that jumps out at me from the wikipedia write-up is it has an unusually high proper motion (122 km/s relative to Sol system) - dunno how that compares to the relative motions of nearby stars (Eta Bootis say), but it might well require some time consuming 'gravitational bleed' evolutions if you want to set up shop in the system long term.

I'm surprised that the setting write up is silent on Sirius as it's only a few light years away - are you sure about that one? It's only a few hundred million years old however so it's not going to be good for much beyond a stutterwarp discharge point and potential resupply from artificial habs in the system (if any).

Regards
Luke

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I seem to remember that Sirius takes a very long Stutterwarp path to reach, so it is a relatively new system being explored.

Also, since Sirius is an A-class (White) star with a White Dwarf companion, it is unlikely that any planets had time to form before Sirius-B destroyed them when it expanded into it's Giant phase then blew off most of its mass into the surrounding space. Rubble pile is about as good as it is going to get for the Sirius system.

 

[Lemnoc]

Yes. Good thoughts.

Curious, I dug out my copy of the old Directors Guide, and there on the bottom of page 88 was the answer regarding OBA stars. Consistent with the OTU in this regard. Still, a lot of these stars are young and probably metal rich. Altair in particular.

And, yes, odd thing about Sirius. It is close, but outside the stutterwarp range. Requires a very long and circuitous route to circle back around to. (we'll pretend to ignore the several important 2300AD links that are likewise outside that range, and farther even than Sirius). :?