how to hide a planet

[springs]

Loads of brillliant ideas which have sparked lots in me, ty everyone. Although Chispy's force field will play havoc with my mile-high club scene.
(Sticky saying woman making a joke inserted)

[RJM Corbet]

Originally Posted by springs1971

...(Sticky saying woman making a joke inserted)

[David Evil Overlord]

Is it possible to "tune" a force field so it's see-through for those inside, and reflective on the outside? Like mirrorshade sunglasses?

That way (provided those damn Trekkies don't reverse the polarity), you can have your mile-high club scene without the participants suffering performance anxiety when they discover they have an audience...

[Warren_Paul]

I'm pretty sure readers would believe such a system, David. There already is glass which can do as much. On one side it's transparent, the other a mirror. Wouldn't need to be explained either, just stated. Its very plausible.

Originally Posted by springs1971

Loads of brillliant ideas which have sparked lots in me, ty everyone. Although Chispy's force field will play havoc with my mile-high club scene.
(Sticky saying woman making a joke inserted)

Only mile-high, Springs?

[David Evil Overlord]

Probably really one hundred to two hundred mile high club, for proper, um...orbital insertion.

Of course, with metrification, the mile high club becomes the 1.60 kilometre high club.

[psychotick]

Hi,

A Dysan sphere. Essentially a hollow ball shape around the entire sun, and which people live on the inside of. It makes it damned hard to find the world at all, because all the light that the sun gives off is trapped, so from far away all you'd see is blackness. It would come with other problems though, like cooking everyone inside to a crisp.

Cheers, Greg.

[ctg]

Dyson's sphere is extremely hard to build and maintain, not talking about that it'd be so expensive to construct that it would negate the hiding race effect. So springs, just pick your best and get on with the writing.

[springs]

I'm getting to the editing stage with this little scene. Again, it is space opera, as soft as it gets, but there are two things I'm pretty sure I haven't got right. Firstly, could a debris cloud be maintained in orbit, and if so do I need another planet/satellite nearby to keep that stable? And secondly, the drop to the planet, is it visualisable (my new word for today).


Kare pulled his restraints on and looked out at a field of debris of all sizes. “You’re flying into that?”

Farran nodded. “Our planet lies beyond it.”

“Where does the debris come from?”

"Think about it. We transport goods and collect planetary scrap. It has to go somewhere, so we jettison it - the orbit is relatively stable.”

“You hide behind it.”

They reached the edge of the debris and Farran started to fly through it, ducking to the side, moving under obstacles. The smaller ones he ignored, and any that hit the ship ricocheted off - some sort of force field, Kare supposed. The larger ones, he flew round using the thrust to steer. As he danced around one, almost grazing it, Kare gave up all pretence at coolness and put his hands on the edge of the control panel, his knuckles white. He bit his lip so hard he tasted blood.

A huge piece of masonry came straight at the ship’s viewing window. There was a hunk of metal to the left, another to the right – they had nowhere to go. The ship dived.

Dived; how? Ahead, beyond the debris, a thin blue planetary atmosphere appeared, quickly dominating the viewing window. The planet became clearer, much, much faster than seemed normal. They reached the atmosphere, the sky lightening around them, so fast Kare was sure they’d burn up. A long, terrified scream was forced from him as they hurtled toward the planet.

[ctg]

So, an astronomer looks up on the sky and focuses on a specific solar system with his ubersuperduper telescope thing and sees almost normal system. The word almost comes in the play because unlike in any other, this one planetary orbit it clouded with a debris field. Therefore, don't you think he would think there's a planet hiding behind it or that particular location in space is so interesting that he does his everything to get a scientific expedition in that part of the space.

A debris field is nicely written. It gives reader beautiful images, but a nerdy reader could start picking holes in the plot. Therefore, don't worry, keep writing and add more details when and if they come out from the planet, or if someone brings up the topic in the surface.

Note. I don't want to go in the topic what a planetary gravitational well would do to a debris field over the time.

[springs]

Hmm, that's been raised before. I don't mind that the planet can't be found, just that those in it think it can't be. So, if its so obvious, I might go with plan b, and hide the evidence of them being there on the planet instead. Pity, cos it's a fun scene...

[alchemist]

My main issue is ther same as ctg's. A planet surrounded by ... rubbish is going to stand out. Perhaps some of the ideas on page one are better. It's a barren, inhospitable, poison-atmosphered planet/moon/big asteroid that nobody would ever possibly think of colonising. Except for your people. If the underground base is shielded, and these folks' ships are suitably invisible ("cloaking device", non-reflective material - but you have a force field anyway so it's not a stretch) then you don't need the debris field.

Although then, your pilot will have to crawl into the atmosphere instead of diving and lighting it up like a Christmas tree.

Edit: I see you got there before me.

[iansales]

Most planets orbit in the plane of the ecliptic, which means you only have to approach it from above or below the plane to avoid asteroid belts and the like. Any obstacle would have to orbit the planet itself, perhaps a shell of debris in geosynchronous orbit. It wouldn't hide the planet though, just make it near impossible to land on its surface.

One possibility might be to hide the planet in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant. The wake it causes would be easily visible but it might be mistaken for a storm system.

[alchemist]

Originally Posted by iansales

One possibility might be to hide the planet in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant. The wake it causes would be easily visible but it might be mistaken for a storm system.

Throw in some actual storms and there's your exciting approach. Winner!

[springs]

Looks good, thanks Ian. I'll play around with that, see if i can get anyone to suspend their disbelief when I write it... Thanks.

Just to check - would the satellite share the gas giant's atmosphere, or have its own?

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by springs

Can't find the ask a scientist thread....

It's the Need a scientist? thread.