how to hide a planet

[springs]

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

I have a planet that I want to make very difficult to get to except for those who live there, who are kind of a race of super pilots who can fly without the use of charts etc.

I know all sorts of terms like ionic storms, but have no idea what they actually do.

So, is there an atmospheric condition or a solar/system consideration that could make a planet close to inaccessible if relying on instincts only.

This is space opera, btw, but it's not supposed to be completely implausible. Honest.

[Bowler1]

A solar system with a lot of orbiting debris in would go a long way to helping. So what you need is some large event that would have created all these floating rocks in space which would be easy enough.

There would still be a lot of dust and smaller items causing problems at spaceship speeds so stronger shielding being used by the super pilots could be an advantage. A small differential in technology can make all the difference and in a arms race would be expected.

[springs]

interesting because their hulls are somewhat distinctive. What sort of material would be both transparent and incredibly strong? Or could some sort of ceramic base work?

[chrispenycate]

The most obvious 'transparent and incredibly strong' hull is the General products range from the Larry Niven "Known Space" series which he explains (in the course of the volumes) in even greater detail than I go into! It is a single, stabilised, extremely large molecule.

Alternatively, a 'force field' (defined as the forces that hold the subatomic particles together without the particles) if switched on and off fast enough that only light has time to traverse the thickness of the hull, so all matter is maintained/excluded (depending on your viewpoint), would not be as totally clear – a faint mistiness defining the outline from the photons that arrived exactly when the field was in place – but would give a pretty clear view of the cosmos.

Disadvantages are obvious. Sunburn, for one, and vulnerability to laser-type pure radiation weapons. And in deep space it would require more heating than a conventional shiny hull, not tending to prevent energy radiating out, while at close stellar approaches you'd need dark glasses and impressive air conditioning (I take it 'transparent' means all frequencies of electromagnetic radiation, from gamma rays down to long radio? The second option would certainly imply this). If you painted the walls to eliminate the problems you'd lose the surreal ghost ship effect of the crew on loungers sunbathing in the vacuum, and anyway, I can't see how you'd paint a hull that was only there a tenth of the time, and disappeared completely when turned off (I do know how to build the airlock, though. So it would be internal screens put round the sanitary facilities, and the computers on the bridge (so no-one with a good telescope could eavesdrop on your navigation).

[Glen]

Could you consider some kind of inter-planetary vodka cloud. Then even if they found their way to the planet they wouldn't be able to get their key in the door.

[Bowler1]

Transparent and strong, just use a Star Trex force field. A bit of a lazy I don't have to explain writer option and just ignore all the problems Chris has quite rightly pointed out! If you want more technical and hard SciFi then Chris some of what Chris has pointed out will have to be considered.

[David Evil Overlord]

Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_...Littul_Kittons

[Abernovo]

For the hull itself, you could possibly have carbon nanotube technology. Still in its infancy, but reckoned to be a possible answer to building large, strong structures in space. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the force field/electromagnetic shielding etc., either. In fact, if I was travelling across space, I'd like both a strong hull and a force shield, just in case.

For windows, perhaps some crystalline structure, providing great strength, but also visibility. You can get synthetic diamond windows, but at present they're only ~10cm diameter and used for lasers. However, they should be very strong and, as this is SF, your characters could have improved manufacturing abilities.

[Vertigo]

Originally Posted by David Evil Overlord

Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_...Littul_Kittons

Good story that one - one of my favourites of the few CS stories I've read.

The question is are you trying to hide the planet or just make it impossible to get to?

The problem with the cataclysmic event surrounding the planet in asteroids is that if they are dense enough to make navigation difficult and they cover the whole sphere of the planet then their orbits would not be stable. There would inevitably be collisions as they would all have to be in different orbits. I suspect that they would eventually settle into an accretion disk. Also such a dense screen of asteroids would blot out much of the sun/star light and have a pretty negative impact on the planet's climate.

[Bowler1]

There is no mention of a planet hospitable to life Vertigo. Indeed hiding on a planet no-one else want to go to would be ideal. A surface being pounded by asteroids on a regular basis would have many advantages and the bases for these super pilots could all be underground. The underground colonies would still have problems, asteroid strikes being one (strengths & weaknesses) of them but nothing that a bit of shielding could not help with. Or even, small robotic flyers in low orbit pushing back asteroids that pose a danger and even maintaining the asteroids cover around the planet.

I like your idea Vertigo, not so much as hiding a planet but using a planet no-one else would want to go to.

Good link DOE, giant sheep, only in SciFi.

[springs]

Essentially it doesn't matter if the planet is actually hidden and not known about, or if its known about, but never visited due to difficulties in flying there. It's planned to be an oceanic type palace with a habitable cave system(although this is still fluid), so that works well with Bowler's underground theory.
The hulls; they have decorative decals, so that's why a force field, or preferably ultra strong, see through material over them would be good. (I like yours, Aber.)
Now, giant sheep, those I hadn't planned for.....

[nightdreamer]

I have a number of planets either hidden or disguised, but in all cases these require technology far above that of anyone looking for them. One thing I haven't used is to place one in the ergosphere of a rapidly rotating black hole. It's at least possible to get in and out, (even easier with warp technology) but you'd want to research tidal forces (could the planet hold together?), orbital velocity (maybe hundreds or thousands of orbits per second), and so forth.

Oh, yeah. Time-dilation effects. Can't forget that one.

[ctg]

Well, how about using a moon next to the hot gas-giant at the inner solar system, where the outer solar system is compromised with the asteroid rings? Or using a lethal combination of a binary stars and asteroid belts? Note that the scientist theorise that the binary star systems are full of radiation and if you're using the moon, you can make the mother planet to cast an extra strong magnetic shield around the moon.

[David Evil Overlord]

Nightdreamer's post reminded me of something. Let me see if I can google it...

Larry Niven's 1974 essay "Bigger Than Worlds" suggested a system could have several Ringworlds, each built to occupy the orbit of a planet (Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter), and offset so the inner "worlds" didn't totally eclipse the outer "worlds".

A Jupiter-orbit Ringworld had to spin at a fair percentage of the speed of light, IIRC, to maintain enough centripetal force to create an Earthlike "gravity".

Try matching velocity with a structure spinning that fast...

[Bowler1]

I had a thread on here a while ago about the views from a moon orbiting a gas giant. The ideas I got were great were great and I have since used many of the ideas suggested. You may find that useful Springs.

Magnetic fields were discussed there as well. From CTG above, suns radiation would have the affect of radio wave and communications which could help hide your characters.