AccidentsHappen

If anything happens to Gem or Theo I will stop reading immediately

so pumped for the next chapter

If you have the time @Just Jim, you should download BD Armoury and and make a short story (maybe around 10-20 chapters) about an interplanetary war in the Joolian system (you could have battles in orbit, ambushes on Tylo and shelling and air skirmishes on Laythe!)! Then again, maybe I should do that...

Mine is a slight different design, using one Whiplash and two R.A.P.I.E.R.'s. It's really compact, but can only get to about a 100,000 orbit before the need for refuelling. Still up for improvement!

Me! Actually, I think Jim, if he has the time, should make a Diamondback Jr.!! That would be amazing, maybe one the kids could fly (that is, if they can get off the Diamondback itself!)

Patience! Jim needs time to make this chapter as good as all the others! I'm sure you'll be able to read about the Diamondback soon (those cheeky kids!).

I got the demo in the second week the game was out (early July 2011), then bought the game a few weeks later. I seriously can't believe I've been playing for nearly 5 years! Thing is, I only joined the forums early this year Did anyone else start playing in 2011?

I don't think I've been this excited to read a story since I first read The Martian (current times read: 4)

I love it! Tell me another story!

I'm sad that my thread got merged... They got rid of the vote too! Aw well, as long as the theories stay alive, I'm happy!

I hope so, I mean look at Pluto. It's colour was unexpected, and so was pretty much everything about it. It's so far away from the sun, yet places like Sputnik Planum (part of Pluto's "heart") is very young, indicating fairly recent cryovolcanic activity. I've always wondered if we could find a planet that's atmosphere is coloured like a soapy bubble. You know, when it goes rainbow and it gets Jupiter storm patterned all over it? That'd be so cool.

I've heard theories that it isn't a planet at all, and is really a brown dwarf. I think it's pretty far fetched, but who knows? Certainly not me, I just make theories! SO TRUE! But it would have get denser and denser till the liquid became solid, otherwise it wouldn't be a planet.

I'd think that space pirates would have to have such precise trajectories to intercept freighters travelling between systems that it would be more logical to instead travel to a space station that has a constant, predictable orbit. Only problem with that is, why would space pirates want to ransack a space station? Most would just be performing science experiments and accommodating people, so unless the pirates are holding hostages ransom or selling zero-g cucumbers on the black market, I don't really see the point in heading there. I think the only time space pirates would intercept a freighter is if it had an extraordinary cargo, something very rare and very expensive, otherwise I don't see the point in even bothering with all the effort. But thats just me.

Wow, I didn't even think of that. Would you classify that as "semi-terrestrial" or "super-dense-comet-10-times-the-size-of-Earth"? I was thinking in the direction of a Gas Giant devoid of internal heat, and so cold that parts of its atmosphere have condensed, frozen and fallen, compacting at the planets core and creating a "surface". I'm really not sure, but I love the theories.

So now that we have evidence of a ninth planet, what do you guys think it's made up of? Is it rocky, gassy or something different? If the latter, show us your theories!

What kind of planet will it be?

Well, assuming it has a periapsis of 200AU and an apoapsis of 700AU (as predicted by Caltech), it would dip out of the Heliosheath at the top of it's orbit and come about 100AU from outside edge of Termination Shock. Voyager 1 is technically in Interstellar Space, but isn't anywhere CLOSE to emerging from the Heliosheath. Assuming we launched a space probe on top of the SLS, used gravity assists where we could and aimed it perfectly for an encounter at blazing speeds, I'd have to agree with K^2; maybe in 100-500 years. Only problem with THAT is (let's be optimistic and say that humanity is still around), at our current rate of technological discovery, we'll probably have some form of extremely fast transportation. Maybe super efficient and powerful ion engines, maybe, just maybe, we'll even have near light speed travel. Some genius might solve the equation to teleportation, but who knows. Still, I doubt we'll actually see it in detail anytime soon.

Apparently it'll take about 5 years to finish scanning for it. If we do find it, sending a space probe to investigate would be a pain, considering the plane-change needed for the planet's predicted orbit. I'm still waiting for a probe to Eris, although due to it's position, I don't think I'll be seeing it in my lifetime... Another theory for the strange orbits of our Trans-Neptunian dwarf planets I heard about was that a Red or Brown Dwarf was acting as a companion star to our sun. I'm doubting it.

Hmm... Sounds like fun. I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE