Comets

[Growltigga]

quote:

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
The orbital period of a comet is comparable to the orbital period of a planet.
[ 24 January 2002: Message edited by: suicide_junkie ]

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not sure this is striclty correct, the rotational period of an orbital body depends on too many variants to generalise

<everybody reaches for their boys' book of astronomical information>

[Suicide Junkie]

Most comets have periods comparable to the outer planets. 30+ years.
If the periods were any shorter, then the comet would have come too close to the sun too many times, and would have boiled off into a dead rock long ago.

[Growltigga]

alright SJ, I do not have my astromony textbook here with me abroad so you being clever, you tell me how comets will manifest themselves in SEIV Gold - the public have a right to know

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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you tell me how comets will manifest themselves in SEIV Gold

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Uhm, as an entire starsystem, Last I heard...
They will possibly be converted into stationary system objects like asteroid fields & planets

[Growltigga]

As an entire star system? I think I am going to have to wait and see how they do this

[Suicide Junkie]

Just download the Gold Demo, and see for yourself.

[Growltigga]

nope, I refuse to download the gold demo just in case I don't like what I see - I'll will buy the game and then, hopefully, be pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed, either way, I will have spend the best part of £50 buying it so will have to live with it

[Mephisto]

"Comets" are stationary objects and fill a whole system. In fact they are no longer called "comets". The descriptions are as follows:

Name := Comet 1
Description := A massive planetary fragment is passing through this system.

Name := Comet 2
Description := A massive gas giant core is passing through this system.

Name := Stellar Core Fragment 1
Description := A hyper-dense core fragment is passing through this system.

Hope this helps.

[ 24 January 2002: Message edited by: [K126]Mephisto ]

[Growltigga]

[quote]Originally posted by [K126]Mephisto:
[QB]"Comets" are stationary objects and fill a whole system.

Cheers Mephisto

BTW did you see me at the airport the other day? I was the green belching one standing the corner with the dumb redhead holding the sign saying "Get out of my swamp"

Hard to miss really

[ 24 January 2002: Message edited by: Growltigga ]

[MegaTrain]

quote:

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Originally posted by Growltigga:
not sure this is striclty correct, the rotational period of an orbital body depends on too many variants to generalise

<everybody reaches for their boys' book of astronomical information>

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Not really: The gravitational attraction is determined by the mass of the 2 objects (the sun/star and the comet) and the distance between them, and the only other relevant information would be the current speed/direction of the comet. I don't have the formulas in front of me, but that should be enough to determine the orbit/period.

The only thing special about a comet is that it tends to be a fairly small (low mass) object, it tends to have an extremely elliptical orbit (as opposed to nearly circular like Earth's), and it puts out a cool trail when it comes near the sun so it's easy to see. The formulas should all work the same for planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and even manmade sattelites.