A Visualization Depicts a Sunset With the Sun Replaced by Other Stars

[n2doc]

(yes yes I realize that the environmental conditions would vary greatly with different stars at the same distance, still an interesting visualization)

http://laughingsquid.com/a-visualization-depicts-a-sunset-with-the-sun-replaced-by-other-stars/

[pscot]

1. higly recommended

[mindwalker_i]

2. The last two are ads for SPF 4000 sunblock

[Danascot]

5. Do they even sell Arcturus sunblock?

nt

[mindwalker_i]

7. It would probably come in the form of

another planet.

[MADem]

11. That sounds like a good name for a sunblock, actually! nt

[Quasimodem]

13. American hawks would go back to worrying about ...

... the mine shaft gap.

[dhill926]

3. very cool...

love the binary...

[Adsos Letter]

4. GAH!

Kepler-35 is staring at me...

[BlueJazz]

6. Very Cool. The Alberio double star sytem would be pretty with it's blue and Yellow colors

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Albireo was once thought to be an optical double, but more recently a true double ...

and it turns out Albireo A is actually a close double, with an orbital period of ~213 years.

A planet around either A or B would see the other as a bright star, since they are separated by a very large distance (orbital period ~100,000 y). Not sure A would have any long-term stable planetary orbits. Both A & B are much more massive than the sun, so such a large orbital period indicates a really large distance (period ~ M^-1/2) -- many times the distance from Sol to Pluto (which has an orbital period of ~248 y, and from which the Sun appears as a particularly bright star).

http://freestarcharts.com/index.php/17-guides/stars/171-albireo-beta-cygni-abeta-cyg-double-star?tmpl=component

[BlueJazz]

10. Wonderful Link. Thanks much!

[DetlefK]

8. Here's a simulator for a solar-system:

http://www.stefanom.org/spc/

You have a sun and an Earth-like planet.
To get points, you add more planets, but beware that none get flung out in swing-by maneuvers.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. The two red dwarfs are probably most typical ...

According to some estimates, red dwarfs make up three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dwarf

And they seem to have their fair share of planets.

Most of our nearest neighbors turn out to be red dwarfs -- but most are not visible to the unaided eye !

This list contains all known stars and brown dwarfs at a distance of up to 5 parsecs (16.3 light-years) from the Solar System. In addition to the Solar System, there are another 54 stellar systems currently known lying within this distance. These systems contain a total of 56 hydrogen-fusing stars (of which 46 are red dwarfs), 14 brown dwarfs, and 4 white dwarfs. Despite the relative proximity of these objects to Earth, only nine of them have an apparent magnitude less than 6.5, which means only about 12% of these objects can be observed with the naked eye.[1] Besides the Sun, only three are first-magnitude stars: Alpha Centauri, Sirius, and Procyon. All of these objects are located in the Local Bubble, a region within the Orion–Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brown_dwarfs

I can't help but notice they left out Betelgeuse

[MillennialDem]

21. Pfft, Eta Carinae or bust

Especially during a supernova imposter event.

[raven mad]

14. Super great! K&R

and bookmarked for my equally science-fanatic spouse! Thanks for the post and the beauty therein!

[nikto]

15. There's a lot of great Grow-Lights out there in space, for sure

[oldandhappy]

16. Cool!l

thanks

[Hoppy]

17. Kepler-35 proves that God doesn't like us. If he wasn't so damn cheap, he would'a given us two Suns.

[dolphinsandtuna]

20. or more

[Helen Borg]

18. Kinda hot with Aldebaran in the sky!

[MatthewStLouis]

19. These are really neat!

For fun, I'd like to see similar pics for these stars in the afternoon or morning, and maybe for a planet in the Goldilocks Zone as well... (As you said, the last few stars likely wouldn't have liquid water under those conditions.)

[LW1977]

22. Aldebaran, Smaldebaran..

I wonder what UY Scuti would look like.

[alfredo]

23. Kick and recommend

[samsingh]

24. nice - thanks for posting