Comment on Planetary travel guide
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 4 months agoPluto is here, so minor planets count. That leaves at least Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and Salacia as vacation candidates.
There are 19 more planetary-mass moons to consider as well, if orbital designation isn’t important to your stay. (I’d say it’s a bonus, as you can see some sick eclipses.)
VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
I want to know more about ginggong
Is it pretty? Would I freeze or boil if I visited? What souvenirs should I bring back? Do I need to take my own water and oxygen or can I buy it there? How much fuel would I need to use if I wanted to push it into a more temperate orbit?
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Gonggong is named after a Chinese water god, and it does indeed have it’s own ice. It’s also red, covered in thiolins like Pluto, but even moreso. There’s also likely a thin methane exosphere, leaving methane frost on windows.
Gonggong is very far out, moving between 33 and 101 AU over it’s 554 year orbit. It orbits at a 30° inclination, so telescopes would pick up some interesting shots of the other planets poles.
The 1/30 g gravity is nothing special, plenty to jump around in, but enough to not fly away easily. It’s slightly flattened by it’s rotation, which is a nice 22 hours, much slower than other trans-neptunian bodies. This slow rotation is caused by tidal forces between it and it’s moon Xiangilu.
Xiangilu is named for Gonggong’s minister, a nine headed venomous snake monster. It orbits every 25 days, nearly exactly a month like Earth’s moon, but in an eccentric orbit, changing size throut the month. Gonggong has a polar orientation like Uranus as well, leaving Xiangilu a constant half-moon in the dim sky half the year. Sadly eclipses would be very rare.
The trip out there is rather long, but once there it seems quite unique and cozy.
VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Oh that does sound really nice actually, I’ll book a trip. I really like the sound of the moon changing size, would add a lot of variety to the sky. I would ask what time of year you suggest visiting but since they’re over 500 earth years I don’t really have the option.
Opisek@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You should definitely bring back the gongs.