Original submission for Scylla and Charybdis | ||
Original submission, by Julian Ford [2024-10-11 05:26:16] | ||
DISCOVERER | ||
→ | MrTutu | |
NAME | ||
→ | Scylla and Charybdis | |
SYSTEMNAME | ||
→ | Phrooe Blou AA-A h62 | |
CATEGORY | ||
→ | Stellar Features | |
CATEGORY 2 | ||
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REGION | ||
→ | Trojan Belt | |
LATITUDE | ||
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LONGITUDE | ||
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CALLSIGN | ||
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SUMMARY | ||
→ | A pair of ringed neutron stars, one fully lit and one in darkness. | |
DESCRIPTION | ||
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→ | This h-mass system contains the only known ringed neutron stars in the Trojan Belt - a pair of them, one in light, and one in shadow. In ancient Greek mythology, Scylla and Charybdis were monsters in the Strait of Messina, whom together posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors. To avoid Scylla would place you too close to Charybdis; to avoid Charybdis, too close to Scylla - when sailing through, a choice needed to be made to decide the lesser evil. Named for the vicious, six-headed beast who boldly plucked sailors off of passing ships, caring nothing for stealth or finesse, Scylla (AB 2) sits brightly in the sky, illuminated by a nearby M class star. Its outer rocky ring is over three million kilometers in radius, and can clearly be resolved against the backdrop of space from nearly 1,000 ls away. The inner ring is much smaller, and rotates around Scylla at a quickened pace - with an orbital period of only 15 minutes, you can sit inside the ring and ride it like a carousel, the starscape visibly spinning around. Charybdis (AB 3), its sibling, lies roughly 4,900 ls distant. In the same way that this ancient personification of a whirlpool "sucked black seawater down," this star and its spiraling ring receive no light from any other external source, leaving the ring in treacherous, nearly invisible shadow. Positioning the galactic disc in the background just right will allow you to see its silhouette. Approaching this ring is far more dangerous than approaching the ring of Scylla. It is very difficult to gauge how close you are to its drop zone, and going more than barely above minimum throttle is enough to cause an emergency drop, hull and module damage. Once inside, despite the piercing light of the nearby neutron star, the scene remains in stubborn, supernatural darkness. Charybdis has a voyeur - a landable body (AB 3 A), ringed in itself, every bit as dark and mysterious as its parent star. Also like its parent star, you can catch a glimpse of the body and its ring by casting it against a bright backdrop. Flying around and through the system, you will experience distortions of space around you, caused by the two black holes in the vicinity of these creatures, which lend further eerieness to this already strange place. | |
JOURNAL | ||
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OBSERVATORY | ||
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