Planet composition of the kerbol system

[AHO]

Ever since 0.17 came out, I've have been speculating at this for quite some time and want to know what you think...

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What are the planets made out of?

How did they form?

Why does Eve look like that?!?!

And basically questions like this.

Based on what the planets around kerbol look like, What do you think they are composed of? Duna seems to be made up mostly of iron given it's rusty, mars like color; I think that Eve might have a gaseous iodine atmosphere given that it is purple. What do you think?

[PakledHostage]

I can't speculate what they are composed of but I always liked the fact that, much like our beloved kerbals, they are kind of dense...

[r_rolo1]

Eve purple can't be iodine Iodine in a oxygen rich environment gives oxo-iodine compounds that are normally brownish ( and we know that Eve has oxygen in the atmosphere because jet engines work there ). I would bet more in a organic compound ...

[opticalshadow]

rumor has it the planets that we are now discovering such as eve, are a direct result of all the debris jeb has induced into the envrioment.

[Sherlock21st]

All that I can figure is that with Laythe's atmosphere and sheer distance from Kerbol... I would say that Laythe's oceans must be something other than water... but it could easily be water if tidal forces create internal heat that supplements Kerbol's energy. It is simply too far from the habitable zone to sustain liquid water off of Kerbol's light alone.

[opticalshadow]

All that I can figure is that with Laythe's atmosphere and sheer distance from Kerbol... I would say that Laythe's oceans must be something other than water... but it could easily be water if tidal forces create internal heat that supplements Kerbol's energy. It is simply too far from the habitable zone to sustain liquid water off of Kerbol's light alone.

possibilities of a thin mantle with a heavy volcanic core? perhaps the bottom of the oceans are riddles with volcanic activity, while the surface remains within normal tempetures, its only because of the heated floro putting the heat into the atmoisphere.

[Max Grant]

Eve is made of amethyst. That's why it is purple.

[iamwearingpants]

Eve is made of amethyst. That's why it is purple.

"In the news today, Amethyst prices has plummeted as a lander full of them has returned with over one ton of the rare gemstone. The sample return mission has nearly doubled our supply of it, and inadvertently caused massive inflation to panic Jebrod, Kerbin's main supplier of Amethyst based products. The crystals are to be scientifically studied by major universities before release to the public.

...

In other news, billionaire Geomond Kerman has died after being stuck in his diamond-plated toilet for 36 hours straight. All attempts to cut him out have been futile."

[kamilDrakari]

I'm not sure what they're made of, but I think the Kerbol isn't actually a star. According to the wiki, it's less dense than water while a small rock from Eve should have more mass than the average human.

[TheHengeProphet]

I would say that liquid water on Laythe could be possible if tidal forces and heat from Jool were a factor; however, judging by that one can "safely" land on Jool... heat from the planet does not look like a possible factor. I am going to assume that all of Kerbal Space is a pleasant 15 degrees centigrade, though, as a low flight by Kerbol itself will not bake you - as would be expected.

[stargazer1235]

I would say that liquid water on Laythe could be possible if tidal forces and heat from Jool were a factor; however, judging by that one can "safely" land on Jool... heat from the planet does not look like a possible factor. I am going to assume that all of Kerbal Space is a pleasant 15 degrees centigrade, though, as a low flight by Kerbol itself will not bake you - as would be expected.

I was going to post something very similar. It is actually possible that Laythe could have water on it. I believe the reason that Laythe has water is because of its close proximity to Jool. Scientists like call this effect tidal tug. Simply said due to Jool gravity and the gravity from other moons, Laythe is stretched and becomes a bit egg shape. This forms cracks along the crust and creates friction underground. In turn this creates heat which I stops the oceans from freezing over. This same process can be seen on moons o biting Satan and Jupiter. On the moon there are a lot of ring shape and semi ring shape continents. This could be signs of past volcanism. Laythe's atmosphere could comprise of green house gases that or more potent then carbon dioxide. The aren't massive ice caps so it must be pretty warm down there. If Kerbals were looking for life outside Kerbin, they have got their work cut out for them.

[kacperrutka26]

If Kerbals were looking for life outside Kerbin, they have got their work cut out for them.

Only if that was our solar system....

[Kulzar]

I was going to post something very similar. It is actually possible that Laythe could have water on it. I believe the reason that Laythe has water is because of its close proximity to Jool. Scientists like call this effect tidal tug. [...] If Kerbals were looking for life outside Kerbin, they have got their work cut out for them.

What this guy said, pretty much. It should probably be a little colder, with more ice, but it's still somewhat likely that such a moon could exist. Although, I didn't know Satan had moons! Sure, I knew about Saturn, but the Devil? Nope!

[AHO]

I would guess laythe does have at least some internal heat given it's islands.

[Tech_Spec]

Only if that was our solar system....

Even in our system, the moon laythe is based on, Europa, is considered one of the most promising locations for life outside of earth. The theory being that as well as heat from the tidal forces exerted by Jupiter, the thick layer of Ice would bock most of the radiation from the gas giant. As this ice is absent on laythe perhaps the atmosphere has a high humidity. Water vapour is actually a very powerful greenhouse gas so a little from column A and a little from column B

[Person012345]

I'm not sure what they're made of, but I think the Kerbol isn't actually a star. According to the wiki, it's less dense than water while a small rock from Eve should have more mass than the average human.

Well, the sun (as in sol) is only as dense as water. And Kerbol being a Red Dwarf I believe we'd expect it to have lower density (although I'm not certain on that).

Edited October 4, 2012 by Person012345

[kamilDrakari]

Well, the sun (as in sol) is only as dense as water. And Kerbol being a Red Dwarf I believe we'd expect it to have lower density (although I'm not certain on that).

Hmm... I did the math and assuming Wikipedia has the right numbers our sun's average density is about 1.4 times that of water, so not as much of a difference as I thought. It turns out that only the CORE of a star is extremely dense, with some very light outer portions taking up a lot of the space classified as part of the star. Well, the more you know and all that.

I'm still suspicious about Eve's average density being over 80,000 times that of water. I think that was a typo in the wiki actually, it's gravity is less than twice that of Kerbin's.

[bitbucket]

I dunno, all those cracks, ridges, and fissures in the ocean floor on Laythe makes it seem like there's quite a bit of tectonic activity.

[r_rolo1]

In fact that doesn't look like a huge crater , RL Mimas or Miranda style ?

[AHO]

I dunno, all those cracks, ridges, and fissures in the ocean floor on Laythe makes it seem like there's quite a bit of tectonic activity.

The small icecaps also make it seem like the water is caused by internal heat too

[Astronomer]

Eve is composed of huge amounts of Iodine.

Jool is probably made up of chlorine.

For Kerbin and Laythe, my best guess is oxygen.

[Qumefox]

I dunno, all those cracks, ridges, and fissures in the ocean floor on Laythe makes it seem like there's quite a bit of tectonic activity.

The center of the top part does resemble a giant crater that covers like 1/4 the planet.. There appear to be smaller craters scattered around as well.

[JeanHavoc]

Well, the sun (as in sol) is only as dense as water. And Kerbol being a Red Dwarf I believe we'd expect it to have lower density (although I'm not certain on that).

Interestingly, a red dwarf star would be denser overall than the sun. This is because of the fact that along with lower mass goes less energetic fusion reactions in the core; so the star's gaseous envelope is, by necessity, more compact. Of course as mentioned before a star's density will vary with depth - but for very large stars in old age (like Betelgeuse) they can become so distended that their outer layers become comparable to boiling hot vacuum. It's fascinating stuff - sadly however I'm not skilled in the maths and everything behind it.

Another thing to keep in mind for a world like Laythe is that with a substantial atmosphere and temperatures approaching, say, 200 Kelvin, it would be possible for water to remain a liquid if it had a suitable antifreeze (like ammonia) mixed in. I'm actually more interested in where Eve got it's massive supply of Mercury. That element is not particularly common in our own Solar System - well at least not enough to fill up entire seas. Perhaps the solar nebula that world condensed out of had quite a different materials allotment than ours did. I wonder if all the planets, Kerbin included, are overly enriched with heavy metals?

[jfx]

I don't think real world science apoplies when the diameter and density of celestial bodies in KSP have been modelled for interesting gameplay.

Therefore I'm convinced that in the center of each sun/planet/moon there sits a deus ... er squad ex machina which models the mass of the object to our needs. Much like the Element Zero technology from mass effect.

Another thing to keep in mind for a world like Laythe is that with a substantial atmosphere and temperatures approaching, say, 200 Kelvin, it would be possible for water to remain a liquid if it had a suitable antifreeze (like ammonia) mixed in. I'm actually more interested in where Eve got it's massive supply of Mercury. That element is not particularly common in our own Solar System - well at least not enough to fill up entire seas. Perhaps the solar nebula that world condensed out of had quite a different materials allotment than ours did. I wonder if all the planets, Kerbin included, are overly enriched with heavy metals?

Maybe Kerbol is a gen0 or "gen-1" star http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity

Though I don't know if star formation is even possible with such a high metallicity.

Edited October 8, 2012 by jfx

[Accelerando]

I don't think real world science apoplies when the diameter and density of celestial bodies in KSP have been modelled for interesting gameplay.

It's not like all rocket parts in the game operate on a realistic physics model despite having been configured to make for fun gameplay, after all...

I've thought that the Kerbal universe might have some slightly different constants  the gravitational constant is the same between the game's world and our own, but perhaps some constant key to electromagnetism, the strong force, or the weak force is different? I am very ignorant regarding the actual physics and math involved, but I feel that it would be possible for the Kerbal planets to form if the required energy of nuclear fusion is lower, perhaps by virtue of a stronger strong force or a weaker electromagnetic force, or some combination of the two. The idea of the planets being made partly of superheavy elements has been thrown around a lot, and I think that a greater abundance of heavy elements would help explain the small size of both terrestrial and gaseous worlds... and perhaps to some extent the odd color of Jool's atmosphere, and Eve's oceans.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Accelerando