Stars around Sol - Version 2.0!

[Malenfant]

I've updated the near star map that I advertised on the other thread here

This version tidies up the maps considerably, and also adds all the stars from the Solstation Nearby Star List that are within +/- 6pc of Sol (the stars beyond that vertical distance will be shown on an upcoming Solomani Rim Sector map)

The new maps can be found at:
http://members.shaw.ca/evildrganymede/rpg/traveller/mapping.htm

Hopefully this makes it even more useful to anyone interested in real star positions around Sol.

 

[TJP]

Thank you, again! BTW, the +1 layer is still the v1.0 map (7 parsecs around Sol).

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by TJP:
Thank you, again! BTW, the +1 layer is still the v1.0 map (7 parsecs around Sol).

Not to me it isn't... have you tried refreshing your browser? Sometimes it resorts to the cached copy.

 

[TKalbfus]

Excellent map! I'm curious though, why does the +Y axis point spinward and the +X axis point coreward. Isn't it traditional in a set of cartesian coordinates for the +Y direction to point toward the top of the page? Are you planning on transposing OTU UPP onto these stars, or are you going to generate your own UPP? Some Gas giants in comet like orbits may nix some planetary systems. In addition I was thinking of rolling 1d12-1 for planetary sizes and reserving the digit B as indicating the presence of a water world and then rerolling for the size of the water world. The tables in the GMs book for the 2300 game have some interesting tables in that regard. the sizes of a water world can range up to 30,000 km on that table which translates to a size J if we uses traveller's extended unicode digits or size 18 if we don't. At a density of 2, the table indicates that a size J world would have a surface gravity of about 1-g. I was thinking of rolling separately for the size of the water planet's rocky core, just use another 1d12-1 to indicate the size of the rocky core and a 1d20 + (the rocky core size) to indicate the overall size of the planet. from these two numbers we can figure out the density and the gravity of the planet at the water's surface.

 

[Malenfant]

+x points corewards because that's the direction of the axis that points toward the core in astrography. Since galactic longitude is measured anticlockwise from this line (when viewed from "above", as this map is), +y points to the left.

I was thinking of making my own systems, but this has been an awful lot of work so far and I want a break. Besides, some of those stars have known planets around them, described on the solstation pages, so others can wade through those and find them.

Transposing systems from the OTU to this map would be pretty difficult, since most of the stars are in different places relative to eachother.

 

[TKalbfus]

In that case, then I'll generate some UPP for the stars of that map. I'll transpose Prometheus since I've already begun work on it, and also because I want the Alpha Centauri system to have a habitable planet in it. I've decided to do the inner systems of the stars and go out to the nearest gas giant. I think I'll count planets that are mostly made of water as a gas giant as most gas giants have "oceans" of one sort or another at the bottom of their atmospheres. The water giant I envision would have a system of moons similar to a small gas giant. Past some point, a large enough water planet actually becomes a gas giant as it retains free hydrogen and helium. I believe their diameters would be similar whether they are frozen ice balls in the outer solar system or water planets in the life zone. So using my 1d12-1 planet size generating system every result of 11(B) indicates a water planet instead of a conventional terrestrial planet. I think the format I'll use would go like this: XB(J8)#A### # where X is the starport, B indicates that its a water planet, J is the actual planet's size, and 8 is the planets gravity in 8ths of Earth's surface gravity. The atmosphere is generated normally which in this case uses the second digit in parenthesis as the modifier instead of the planet's actual size, they hydrographics is always 100% so its A, and everything else is generated just like it was a normal terrestrial planet which I've indicated with a # as a place-holder for that digit.

 

[Malenfant]

Have a ball

Some of the systems are obvious, like Barnard, Sirius, Altair, and Prometheus. I guess you could use Thrash's Known Near Star List) as a guideline but I don't know how well his Conjectural table would tally.

Either way, the actual spatial arrangement of the stars and jump lines will be drastically different.

 

[TKalbfus]

I created some worlds to fill in some of the hexes in the map. This setting takes place just before contact with the Vilani. The Scout Bases are operated either by NASA or the ESA. The time is between the years 2087 and 2113 AD. The mainworld names are in Bold as are the system names.
Sol: Hex 1827+0; Sol Subsector; Solomani Sector
Sol; G2 V; Lum 1.0; Mass 1.0
AU Name UPP Bases Notes
0.4 Mercury G300516 9 N Mining Company
0.7 Venus G8B0168 8
1.0 Earth A867973 9 B
60 Moon F200766 9 N Research Lab. Colony
1.6 Mars F43056A 9 N Military Base. Colony
2.8 Asteroid Belt
5.2 Jupiter Large Gas Giant
2 Ring System YR00000 0
6 Io F210561 9 Research Lab. Colony
9 Europa F200561 9 S Research lab. Colony
15 Ganymede F300568 9 N Military Base
25 Callisto Y300568 9 Research Lab.

Alpha Centauri: Hex 1927+0; Sol Subsector; Solomani Sector
Alpha Centauri A; G2 V; Lum 1.3; Mass 1.1
AU Name UPP Bases Notes
0.53 Leretheus XAC0000 0
0.63 Nereus XAB0000 0
1.10 Prometheus D785776 1 S Scout Base Personnel = 50
1.47 Sepreus D554100 8 S Scout Base Personnel = 50
23.00 Alpha Centauri B; K6 V; Lum 0.36; Mass 0.89
AU Name UPP Bases Notes
0.15 Camerius X749000 0
0.33 Lepterius X558000 0
0.60 Theseus D869676 1 S Scout Base Personnel = 50
Proxima Centauri; M5 V; Lum 0.00006; Mass 0.1
AU Name UPP Bases Notes
0.01 Cassius Small Gas Giant S Scout Space Station, crew 50

Sirius: Hex 2029+0; Sol Subsector; Solomani Sector
Sirius A; A1 V; Lum 23.0; Mass 2.31
AU Name UPP Bases Notes
4.76 Aquea DB(J8)6A200 8 S Base Personnel = 500
24.00 Sirius B: DA; Lum 0.0028; Mass 0.98
AU Name UPP Bases Notes
0.053 Columbus Scout Space Station Pop. = 500. Orbit 4.5 days.

Scout Vessels used:
Subsidized Merchant with 88 tons of extra jump fuel tankage stored in the cargo hold.
Free Trader with 44 tons of extra jump fuel tankage stored in cargo hold.

 

[kafka47]

Tom,

Don't forget something must be happening in around Pluto...

In the CT universe, Pluto/Yuggoth is off-limits presumably due to something very old. At the very least, put a research station digging up something from under the Ice...**

The Thing meets Aliens with the weirdness of the Ancients thrown in check out these images for inspiration...

The exploration of Pluto confirms we are not alone in the universe anymore...

Who are these humans who have been trapped in the ice?

The horror confronts mankind only to shut the gate for another several thousand years...

all images are copyright Flying Lab Inc.

 

[TKalbfus]

May very well be. I'm detailing the inner systems out to the first Gas Giant of each star system. The idea is so that each system can fit onto an index card. Gas giants have alot of moons so I find myself using alot of space detailing these gas giants moons. I also don't list moons of size S as there would be too many of them and they are mostly just rocks and balls of ice. Pluto is basically a giant comet of size 1 as is the recently discovered Sedna which meanders in an orbit from 120 to 400 AU. Who knows how many other giant size 1 comets there are out there.

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Kafka47:
In the CT universe, Pluto/Yuggoth is off-limits presumably due to something very old.

Is it off-limits though? (and it's not Yuggoth, unless your Traveller universe is Lovecraftian. In which case the Terrans are going to get a nasty surprise when they get to Aldebaran and Fomalhaut...)

 

[TKalbfus]

Sorry, I don't know what a Yuggoth is. I'm not sure that the Terrans would have so much control over the solar system circa 2114 as to be able to make Pluto off limits. I imagine that the Solar System would be much more heavily settled in this early period that it would be in the Classic Traveller period. The Jump Drive was a recent invention and only the first steps into other solar systems have been made. A class D starport has been set up on Prometheus, but most of the Prometheans are unaware of it, It basically services scouts and merchants from Earth. Since they only have Jump-1, the Terrans use Free Traders, Subsidized, and Yachts from the T20 book. All these vehicles sacrifice some cargo space so they can store extra fuel to make 3 jumps instead of 1, it still takes 3 times as long to go the same distance as a jump-3 drive.

 

[kafka47]

Yuggoth is another name for Pluto. Remember, however, Jump Drive was used to reach Pluto & Ort Cloud before going to the Stars.

Having Pluto as a forgotten Ancient base would be consistant with a mystery on Pluto that needs to be solved.

 

[Malenfant]

Yuggoth is another name for Pluto in the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Traveller is not Call of Cthulhu, though it can be if you like crossing genres.

In reality, "Pluto" does not also have the name "Yuggoth".

 

[TKalbfus]

Pluto is a giant comet, like Sedna their each over 1000 miles in diameter. There may be 100 such comets in our Solar System. There is also the mystery why Uranus has a nearly 90 degree axis tilt. It doesn't seem to me that a planet would naturally form with its angular momentum perpendicular to the angular momentum of the Solar system as a whole. Also its satellites orbit at right angles to the Solar Ecliptic. What could possible cause that? Perhaps a collision or gravitational interaction with another body that visited the Solar System and is now gone, but then it is strange that Uranus is in a nearly circular orbit instead of an elliptical one as one might expect with such an interaction.

 

[Malenfant]

Uranus's tilt is believed to be the result of a large collision not long after it formed. Even a collision with a Mars-sized body wouldn't have affected its orbit though - it's too massive.

 

[TKalbfus]

Here is the list of planets mapped out for the stars around Sol, its not complete as of yet, but some explanations are in order. The first letter in the UWP is the star port, the second is the planet’s size, some times in place of this there is SGG or LGG followed by a number in square brackets; SGG stands for Small Gas Giant and LGG stands for Large Gas Giant, the number in square brackets is the planet’s size using the same scale as terrestrial planets, but because Small Gas Giants range from 13 to 37 and Large Gas Giants range from 38 to 75, their aren’t enough Unicode letters to represent all these sizes so I substitute numbers in square brackets instead. The number in parenthesis is the planets Density in Tenths of Earth’s Density, by multiplying this nunber by the planet’s size and dividing by 80 you get the planet’s surface gravity. The “Surface” of a Gas Giant is that level in its atmosphere where the atmospheric pressure is 1 bar. There are 3 different Allegiances shown on this list; Ind = Independent, Vil = Vilani, and Ter = Terran. Stellar data includes the Star’s Name or Designation and the Star Types within that system. The Hex number in the second collumn has a + or a - followed by a single number, that indicates which layer in the map that star system can ba found in.
Here is the beginnings of my list:

Sol Subsector 13 TO 37: 38 TO 75
Name______Hex#___UWP________________Bases Trade Zone PBG Alleg. Stellar Data
Lyperion__1725+6 XSGG[25](2)AA834-8 _____ _____ G___ 323 Ind___ Xi Bootis G8V/K4V
Cornalla__2027+6 DSGG[14](2)AA522-8 S____ NI___ G___ 312 Vil___ GL Virginis M5V
Turval____2029+6 CSGG[33](2)AA555-B _____ NI___ G___ 902 Vil___ Ross 104 M2.5V
Kreenor___2229+6 ______A4(8)5467A-D _____ Ag NI G___ 503 Vil___ EE Leonis M4V
Adelene___2323+6 CLGG[48](2)AA755-C S____ _____ G___ 722 Vil___ 61 Virginis G5V
Dalonia___1825+5 CSGG[28](2)AA735-8 _____ _____ G___ 702 Ind___ Wolf 498 M1.5 V
Sarvona___1730+4 DLGG[43](3)AA755-A _____ _____ G___ 923 Ind___ Groombridge K7V
Balon_____1829+4 BSGG[22](3)AAA55-E _____ _____ G___ 114 Ind___ WX Ursae Maj. M1V/M5.5V
Jerhal____1923+4 ______E8(E)A9887-8 _____ _____ G___ 303 Ind___ Wolf 562 M2.5V
Falon_____2023+4 ______BJ(2)9A558-B N____ NI WW G___ 905 Vil___ HN Librae M3.5V
Myren_____2027+4 ______CC(2)2AA78-D _____ In WW G___ 110 Ind___ Wolf 424 M5V/M5V
Yolar_____2029+4 ASGG[31](2)AA855-C _____ _____ G___ 712 Ind___ AD Leonis M3V
Relen_____1829+3 CLGG[75](4)AA953-E S____ _____ G___ 611 Vil___ Ross 128 M4V
Torbane___2022+3 ______E3(5)42587-6 _____ NI Po G___ 702 Ind___ Gliese 570 K5V/M1V/M3V/TB
Kotar_____2122+3 ______BD(4)BA8BA-9 N____ WW___ A___ 802 Ind___ LHS 3003 M7V
Neapal____2228+3 ______E8(4)45589-5 _____ Ag NI G___ 923 Ind___ LHS 292 M6.5V
Tripen____1722+2 ______BB(7)DAABA-E S____ WW___ R___ 421 Ter___ Wolf 630/629 M5V x 5

 

[TKalbfus]

Basically I rolled a 1d20 to determine the planet's size, I rolled a 1d14 on my calculator to determine the planet's density, then I consulted the minimum molecular weight table in my 2300 referees book, I've converted that to equivalent planet sizes to modifying the atmosphere and hydrographics rolls. Actual planet sizes greater than 10 (A) are either water worlds or the cores of gas giants. If the planet's density and size produces a minimum molecular weight retained of 3 or less, it becomes a gas giant and I reroll the gas giant's size and I divide the planets density by 4. I roll 1d25+12 to get the size for small gas giants and I roll 1d38+37 to get the large gas giant's size. By multiplying the gas giant's size by its density and dividing by 80, you get the planet's gravity at the 1-bar atmospheric level.

 

[SpinwardMarquis]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
I've updated the near star map that I advertised on the other thread here

This is really great--but are you sure you've got Tau Ceti in the right place? All the star charts I can find seem to indicate it should be a little further spinward...this might just be an artefact of the hex system.

 

[Malenfant]

According to RECONS, Tau Ceti is at

X = -1.03
Y = 0.12
Z = -3.49

It should be a bit to spinward, yes, but nowhere enough to shunt it into the next hex over. So I think it's in the right place, the only ambiguity is in which vertical hex layer it should go (I put it in the -3pc layer).