In the previous two posts, you will have found content of interest to Science Fiction writers: Rogue objects (asteroids, planets, and even stars) and the Earth’s Tilt. These Scientific topics are meant as fuel for fine science fiction writing.
Below you will find the beginning of a collaborative writing project along these general lines.
If you choose to contribute, we will fill in the missing aspects of the story: the year of the story, a character or characters, the kind of Rogue that passes by, how close it comes, how much our climate and seasons are to be altered, and was the Rogue inhabited, or is it still inhabited.
I see myself as one contributor among equals, and I pledge my share of the millions this story will eventually receive back to the group to be distributed as the group sees fit.
Below, you will find a tentative first few paragraphs!
Add suggestions in Comments!
WinLoseorDraw
Rogues
Chalk up your stick and set the balls in motion. But first go outside and look up at the night sky. Imagine all those specks of light as billiard balls on a billiard table but not the two-dimensional table on which you shoot pool, a table of at least three dimensions, very possibly many more.
Less than a minute after your break shot, all the balls appear to stop moving. But do they really? From our perspective, the lights in the sky don’t appear to be moving either, but I can assure you they are, moving in gravitational patterns or tracing a solitary and independent streak. Often, they run into each other. The universe in which we live is rife with cosmic collisions but there are no bumpers to keep the balls from flying off the table.
We experienced the first near miss in …….
…recorded history. It’s going to be a big chill as we orbit away from our sun.
—————————————————
Would you like to have several short stories set in a disrupted solar system?
All the nuclear weapons on Earth won’t budge a planet much.
Jim: could it (and should it) be a smaller rogue that passes between us and the sun. If so, I presume, we would be pulled even closer to the solar oven.
As to your question, yes, I would like to see several stories about a disrupted solar system. If the group prefers, it could be a contest! Fun!
I am currently leaning towards the latter scenario, a smaller rogue passing between us and the sun, pulling us a little closer to the sun, and reducing Earth’s tilt a little. I am thinking of a world more like Arrakis in Frank Herbert’s Dune.
As our story (or stories) currently stand (at least this initial version) we have not established a date for our setting. I believe the more near future the higher the stakes are which I’m told is a good thing. Without objection, let’s go with my favorite near future year, 2048. We will also have to determine how long it will take for our inter-stellar object to pass by. Based on my limited understanding, an event like we are discussing could last a few hours to a week or more, although it is possible that we would “see” the object coming in advance of its arrival. Arbitrarily, and subject to approval, I will place the peak of our exposure to Wednesday May 6th., 2048.
Other arbitrary, and subject to approval, additions to the story line so far are as follows:
Since we want (I hope) significant, but not total and massive planetary disruption, we need a smaller inter-stellar visitor, a moon or planet, more likely a planet (see the notes below).
Also. let’s go with an inter-stellar visitor that pulls Earth closer to the sun and not farther away.
Also, the event should correct Earth’s tilt, reducing the seasonal effects. Still we need to land on a new degree of tilt, between 0 and 23 degrees.
Notes: I have asked science officer Stehr about the plausible effects of such a scenario. He has responded as follows:
Question: If a rogue moon the size of our moon passes between us and the sun, what will happen?
Answer: If it passes a few million miles or more away, not much. If it passes as close as our moon, tides would change, amplitude doubled or cancelled. It could change our moon’s orbit and to a lesser degree change our orbit around the sun. Or the rogue moon could enter orbit around Earth, so we would have two moons.
Question: Would a rogue planet change Earth’s tilt and draw us closer to the sun?
Answer: As to Earth’s tilt, if a rogue planet passes close over a pole, there would be a gravitational pull. If a rogue planet passes close while moving towards the sun, it could pull us closer to the sun; or if it grazes us, it would slow our orbit and move us closer to the sun. Or, as with a rogue moon, a rogue planet could join us in orbit.