Chace Randolph

Blog Post #61 Written: 04-25-2023 Uploaded: 06-09-2023

Well, these blog posts are still a thing, my website and book dreams are still running. I guess I have to write some new blog posts now that I have used all the prewritten ones. I know some of those strayed a little far from the path of of science fiction and writing it, so let me get a little bit closer to ‘back on topic’.

Let me elaborate on something I learned a little more recently. While looking into some astrophysics to double-check the veracity of some of the science in my writing. I had another idea, what if a moon, had a moon? There are no instances of this in our solar system, and no known ones outside of the solar system, yet. It is possible though, and that excites me. While looking through this stuff I discovered the rule of nines.

This ‘Rule of Nines’ is a loose rule of thumb kind of thing. It does not apply in all situations, but it does apply in many. If for example, you are looking at an Exo-planet, trying to locate its moon, this rule gives you an area where you’re most likely to find that planet’s moon.

This rule is, that a planet’s moon will be roughly one-ninth the distance from the planet, as the planet is from its star. For example, if it is 3 AU from the planet to the star it orbits, then the region where you’re most likely to find a moon is about 1/3 AU from the planet. Like, I said, it’s not 100% accurate, but it is a good, quick estimate. When I need to mention travel times and whatnot, it’s an easy reference I can use in my writing.

As a footnote, there is lots of other math involved. But the rule of nines also applies to secondary moons. If a moon is a ninth the distance from its planet as the planet is from its star. That moon’s moon will be a ninth the distance from the moon, as the moon is from its planet. That severely limits the probability of it happening due to distances, and the densities of the objects involved, but it is still possible. If someone were to build an artificial satellite, that is something to take into account. I.E. the Death Star was the moon, of the forest moon of Endor in Star Wars. There’s a thing I learned, hopefully, that is useful to you too. I’ll see you in the next post. Please leave a comment if you know of any other tricks of the trade like that.