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The orbits of the planets in the Dual Universe system.


Thugra

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Anyone who has looked at the interactive 3D map of the Dual Universe system on the dual.sh website has probably noticed that the orbits of 3 of the planets are highly inclined relative to the plane of the ecliptic (the flat plane along which the other 9 planets orbit). By placing a protractor on top of a side view of the system, you can measure this inclination. It's a bit hard to eyeball it, but it looks to me like the orbits of Sicari and Sinnen are inclined by 44 degrees, Feli by 48 degrees and Jago by small amount, maybe 2 degrees. Compare this with our own Solar System, where the orbit of Pluto is inclined by 17 degrees. It kind of makes you wonder why the orbits of these 3 planets are inclined by so much. Feli's surface is marked by what looks like a giant impact crater. Did the impact that caused this crater knock Feli's orbit off the plane of the ecliptic? (and maybe also affected the orbits of Sicari and Sinnen). How about the giant canyon on Thades? It is reminiscent of the Valles Marineris canyon on Mars, but is much larger and deeper. Was it caused by a giant impact or some other natural cataclysm?

Dual Universe system map 3. The orbits of Sicari and Sinnen are inclined 44 degrees relative to the ecliptic, Feli 48 degrees, and Jago 2 degrees (Pluto's orbit is inclined 17 degrees).png

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Oh yeah the game is totally doing the “dangerous” universe theme (whether natural or not it doesn’t change much of what the players will see.  Since no PvE). Since we left Earth as it got hit by a neutron star, and the most viable system  we found has had at least two mega scaled disasters.

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I think the only way that could happen in real life is if the highly-inclined planets were not part of the original system and they were captured or merged from another star system.

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16 hours ago, Haunty said:

I think the only way that could happen in real life is if the highly-inclined planets were not part of the original system and they were captured or merged from another star system.

That's not true. With the discovery of over 4000 exoplanets since 1992, it was discovered that planets with orbits that are highly inclined relative to the plane of the ecliptic are common. This was a surprising discovery because before that we only knew one system, our own Solar System, where all the major planets orbit close to the Sun's equatorial plane. Here is a quote from an article written in 2016:

 

"To date, astronomers have measured the orbital inclinations of 91 exoplanets and more than a third (36) move on orbits that are significantly misaligned, tilted by more than 20 degrees."

https://theconversation.com/stars-with-planets-on-strange-orbits-whats-going-on-56511

 

It's true that most of these planets with highly inclined orbits are gas giants similar to Jupiter, not smaller rocky planets like Earth.  Many are so-called "hot Jupiters" with very short orbital periods (a few days). The theories proposed to explain their highly inclined orbits are usually based on migration. The planet originally formed further away from the star in an orbit in the star's equatorial plane, as expected from the standard theory of planetary formation. But its orbit was later disturbed by some large body in the same system, such as another star, which caused the planet to migrate closer to the star and its orbit to become highly inclined.

 

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