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Hi,
Pitch black was on tv today, and i was wondering
could a system with 3 stars where 2 are orbiting around eachother at close range even have planets and all say in a stable orbit?
from as far a i could tell from the small model of the system that was shown it 2 red giants and either i think a neutron or white dwars, 2 rock plantes and a gas planet simular to satren (darn i can't spell today)
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Alpha Centauri is an example of a trinary or ternary?, whatever....Originally Posted by Jorge
System, and its our closest neighbour, orbiting as you have suggested above. I am not sure if we have seene planets there as yet, but I believe it is highly likely that stable orbits wil be found there.
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Stable, maybe. Lifebearing, probably not. If a planet is orbiting not one star, but the barycenter of two that are close together, then I might expect a stable orbit to be outside the habital zone. If the planet is orbiting a single star,and the companion star is far away, say 100 AU, then it might be relatively stable and able to bear life.Alpha Centauri is an example of a trinary or ternary?, whatever....
System, and its our closest neighbour, orbiting as you have suggested above. I am not sure if we have seene planets there as yet, but I believe it is highly likely that stable orbits wil be found there.
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I am not positive about this, but I think the idea in Pitch Black was that the planets were pretty much in between the stars, as if they were about the center of the stars orbit around one another. The white dwarf and one of the red giants were very close while the other star was always on the opposite side of the planets. As one star set, the other would rise.
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If you enjoyed the movie, you should read Issac Asmiov's short story (also turned into a novel) "Nightfall". It's similar, but deals with the effect of the once in two thousand year darkness on the local population (rather than being about scary monsters).
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I'm surprised Pitch Black isn't among the Bad Movies on the site here, actually. It is pretty bad, scientifically.
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<shrug> I happen to like Pitch Black, but I don't try to pretend it's more than what it was. It was a monster movie with an exotic setting, and as such, it was done pretty well. Vin Diesel makes a good antihero, if that's not an oxymoron. The protagonist is--another oxymoron--nicely flawed. There's weird lighting, a director who understands how to leave the scary off camera (at least at the beginning), and a lot of action. There's even a refreshing lack of Spring Loaded Cats.
But, to start with, the biology is--er--questionable. We have night every 24 hours, and there is no Earth animal so specialized that it is actively harmed by light. On a planet with that much day . . . forget it. The only thing I can think of is that the creatures weren't native to that world, some sort of gengineered attack beasts, and they were dumped there as some kind of quarantine measure because the world was so inhospitable to them. Or something. That interpretation is borne out by all those big freaky bones. Presumably, the creatures ate most of the local ecology and were reduced to snacking on eachother when they couldn't get Stranded Space Traveler. If the hoers d'oevres--I'm sorry, I mean Our Heroes--had come along a century or so later, the things would probably have gone extinct.
It's still pretty dodgy. And I have no great grasp of orbital mechanics, but I suspect that the astronomy also bears a strong resemblance to a Hoover.
In a way, the recent Chronicles of Riddick really irritated me even though I didn't go to see it. There was this pretty watchable monster movie--and they went and tried to pretend it was the Beginning of the Next Great Epic. Stupid. IMO, of course.
Izunya
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Yeah, I like Pitch Black too. I think Phil left it off the list because there's not a lot of astronomy in it. I think he could have found enough to be worth a write up but then maybe he didn't see it. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good.
Somewat on topic, how is it that the orbits had already lined up at least once before and separated but they said it would stay dark? Plus that's what they showed on the model, everything got locked together. I don't think that would have worked but I'm not educated enough to sound smart saying it.
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I figure, if they could model the system with a mechanical model, then it must be true, right???
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, bad astronomy and biology, or not.
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Yeah, I liked Pitch Black. Folks I talked to at the time had bad things to say about it, but when I probed them for details it always came down to "It has Vin Disiel in it", which I found to be a rather silly reason to dislike the movie. But then I like Vin, he's a good action star IMO.<shrug> I happen to like Pitch Black, but I don't try to pretend it's more than what it was. It was a monster movie with an exotic setting, and as such, it was done pretty well. Vin Diesel makes a good antihero, if that's not an oxymoron. The protagonist is--another oxymoron--nicely flawed. There's weird lighting, a director who understands how to leave the scary off camera (at least at the beginning), and a lot of action. There's even a refreshing lack of Spring Loaded Cats.
But, to start with, the biology is--er--questionable. We have night every 24 hours, and there is no Earth animal so specialized that it is actively harmed by light. On a planet with that much day . . . forget it. The only thing I can think of is that the creatures weren't native to that world, some sort of gengineered attack beasts, and they were dumped there as some kind of quarantine measure because the world was so inhospitable to them. Or something. That interpretation is borne out by all those big freaky bones. Presumably, the creatures ate most of the local ecology and were reduced to snacking on eachother when they couldn't get Stranded Space Traveler. If the hoers d'oevres--I'm sorry, I mean Our Heroes--had come along a century or so later, the things would probably have gone extinct.
It's still pretty dodgy. And I have no great grasp of orbital mechanics, but I suspect that the astronomy also bears a strong resemblance to a Hoover.
In a way, the recent Chronicles of Riddick really irritated me even though I didn't go to see it. There was this pretty watchable monster movie--and they went and tried to pretend it was the Beginning of the Next Great Epic. Stupid. IMO, of course.
Izunya
Chronicles of Riddick was basiclly a sci fi version of Conan. At least that was my impression of it (god it even ends the same way as the first Conan movie, right down to the brooding posture on the throne). I'm not gonna criticize them for going in a new direction though, that can lead to good things. Take Alien and Aliens. Same storyline, but very differant movies. Alien was a suspense/horror film, Aliens was pure action, both were good movies.
Only thing that irked me about Riddick was the use of melee weapons. I just do not understand the idea of using such weapons in a high tech setting. Post apoloclypse? Ok. Blood sport in a high tech setting? Ok. Stand issue weapon of a army in a high tech sci fi setting? No, not buying it. I'm not slamming Vin's character here, he's fine. For what he does, a knife is probably optimal (plus he will pick up a gun and use it when it's called for, he just prefers quick, silent kills).
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Yeah that what i didn't understand too, if the system locks up and stay dark,...
how did it became day again? It happend before so i was confused.
Maybe it was xx year light , then the same amout of years dark?
that would work and give a reason for the monsters to survive.
Btw they vagaly reminded me of (veloci) raptors. Was i the only one?
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Both good movies though more disappointing on Riddick than Pitch Black. Pitch Black is one of my favorite monster movies. Still like the original Thing as best though.
What do those critters live on now that they have eaten everything else? They only get to come out and play once every 20 some years? Well, monsters are often mysterious, otherwise they'd just be lions.
Riddick? Just what world has a breathable atmosphere when it's 700 degrees during the day and manages to cool off to 200 below at night? Give it a right off, there are stranger things on heaven and earth, yada yada yada. But Riddick turns its character away from being a well trained killer to some extra-human being. Dis-appointing again. Still, face value it was fun. Not Casablanca, but not Steel Magnolias either!
Member
I liked both Pitch Black and Riddick, though monster movies usually aren't my thing. The one thing that really jumped out at me in both movies was the insanely short time frame - everything happens in less than, what, 30 years? For me, that actually made it kind of more plausible; the hot/cold planet could still have a breathable atmosphere and the ecology of the Pitch Black planet could still be functioning after a fashion.
Still and all, the most horrifying thing in either movie is the prospect of Vin Diesel as the leader of an invincible army of the undead.
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