4 ms·
Wondering about the calculation for stability, whether solar radiation pressure was factored in. Surely something of that scale would behave partly like a solar
by greenbit 4y ago
Wondering about the calculation for stability, whether solar radiation pressure was factored in. Surely something of that scale would behave partly like a solar sail. If the center was off the sun by, say, half an AU it'd seem like gravitational effects would have to dominate, but what about if the center were off by only some small amount? There could be a threshold under which radiation pressure would dominate and tend to stabilize the ring.
But then I suppose even if that were the case, it'd only take a well aimed flare to put a wrench in that.
- sliken 4y agoSure, it might stay centered on the star if it started centered. Any mild disturbances would cause the closer parts of the ring to receive more solar wind and light pressure while the more distant parts of the ring would receive less. However I expect that the momentum in the ring is many orders of magnitude higher than the light pressure, so it might well just destabilize anyways. However it's a 3D system, what if the plane of the ring didn't perfectly bisect the center of gravity of the star? The feedback loop would cause things to get worse, since there's no counter pressure.