#stellar classifications

[cosmic-web-constellation]

True Masterpost

This is the full, longer version of the master-post than the one Hazel has. If you want to look at a certain person's introduction, then I would suggest checking out our pinned post where each person has a link to their specific introduction from them. Thank you for reading. -Kane

Order: Name, pronouns, typing quirk (if any), role, signoff. (Signoff can/will be just their name too) Fury, [He/It/hx], only uses periods for punctuation, Trauma Holder,💥💢 Ivy, [She/they], Innocence Holder/syskid, 🌿🍀 Algo, [Xe/they/bolt/tech/code/h3], starts and ends sentences with ellipses (...), Co-Host, 🎵⭐ Indigo, [It/hx/gem/crystal], capitalizes each first letter in a word, Mood Booster, 💎🩵 Kaida, [Claw/Blast], replaces 'i's with ones, Protector, ⚡🌩️ Nite, [They/Dragon], bolded text, Artist, 🐲🔥 Clover, [She/They/Fae/Flower], Bunnykid/Psuedolittle, 🌱🎭 Rex, [It/Fire/Roar], Trauma Capturer, Destressor, 🪽👑 Max, [He/It/Magic], Motivator, 🎩🪄 Mocha, [bug/sun/ash], Social Pleaser, ☀️🪽 Kane, [he/they/hx/moss], Co-Host, 💚⭐ Roto, [they/rofl/text/at/copter], ???, 🚁🩶 K.Wing, [she/them/key/wing/flight], ???, 🗝️🪽

Notes! We're pro-endo! (No asks about syscourse will be answered.) We're a Traumagenic system. Asks will always be open.

[karensglimmers]

Made this for my solar zine.

[ratsinspaces-blog]

Just a silly filler post based off of the stellar classification system! :D

[ragnar0c]

more on this part of the note:

Rory is one of the zodiacs who had the paint removed from her generator. However, she did this for the reverse reason. Her generator is a high level model, an F7I. White/Yellow, energy absorption is higher and more unstable, and it’s part of the rarest hyper edition.

Rory is a big fan of not letting anyone know anything about herself though 🤩 So. She peeled the paint off herself and hardly ever wears it! She uses different excuses each time. “I don’t really need it, it hurts my leg.” Is the only one that’s valid, but it’s definitely not the first reason why she stopped wearing it.

Other exceptions!

Maia should have a white or blue generator, but had hers recolored to purple bc she likes purple :] There will be a lot of non traditional colors.

Vega has a main sequence model that is white. It has not been repainted, it’s just a powerful main sequence generator (A0V) that was painted ivory to show it.

This is probably how she was able to normalize avant etheric charge, her generator is highly effective at bringing energy to her (a condensed point) and she condenses it even further for a big explosion afterwards ough ough……

THAT OR EVEN SICKER. SHE ABSORBS STELLAR ENERGY HERSELF AND HAS THE GENERATOR EXPEL IT (hers is modified to do so)

Chapter 4 is out, and now I can finally talk about Jewels and ether generators 🥹 The zodiac wings,, ofc more about them like types, purpose, and zodiac lore in the chapter + author’s note.

I had Hana refer to hers, Jewels, with she/her pronouns despite the generator not being like... fully conscious. And ever since I've been doing it too! Jewels beloved…. She grew on me….She was always a part of the story, but I wanted to highlight her more and give her a bit of personality.

Hana named her after Saturn, the Jewel of solar system and her favorite planet. The “S” came just because saying “Jewels” is smoother than “Jewel”. Hana likes to act cool, but she loves naming things with intention. Saturn is seen as a symbol of structure, responsibility, and working toward her goals. For her, Jewels is the same. A great friend that may be hard for her to use, but will ultimately help her succeed.

[the-maddest-robot]

Photo of Pickering's triangle (also known as Fleming's triangle) and NGC 6979 / NGC 6974 (the more diffused clouds at the top center/left). This is the third part of the Cygnus loop / veil nebula, this part of the supernova remnant is fainter than the previous two parts of the loop I photographed. This explains in part why it was only discovered by in 1904 by Williamina Fleming (whereas the two writer part were discovered in 1784 by William Herschel). Williamina Fleming was a pioneer in stellar classification, she worked with other women at the Harvard college observatory. Their work in star classification resulted in the Henry Draper Catalogue, an extensive (225 300 stars in the first edition) classification of stars with their position and their spectra. Williamina is also credited with the discovery of 59 nebula (including the famous hors head nebula) more than 300 variable stars as well as (with Henry Norris Russell and Edward Charles Pickering) the discovery of white dwarfs (the remnants of dead sun-like stars).

[writers-potion]

How to pick between two academic rivals in being valedictorian

Academic Rivals - How to Pick the Winner

Rivalry is a juicy piece of character dynamic. Whether it's rivals to lovers, the setup for murder, or underlying tension within school dramatics, academic rivalry pulls the heartstrings of readers by hooking them into the universal desire to excel.

Here are some real-life processes that goes into selecting a valedictorian. Feel free to mix-and-match & alter it to fit the academic setting of your story.

A High Cumulative Grade Point

CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average), Honors Classification, WAM (Weighted Average Mark), ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), percentage system...whatever it is, your character will need to have a stellar academic record

Could be relative (e.g. top 2%) or a minimum bar (e.g. Above 95%)

Notable Awards/Scholarships

Those who earn notable awards in a particular field - National Book Awards, Olympiad Trophies, etc. will also be a huge plus

Any professional membership (e.g. Chartered Accountant), certifications are also valued.

Scholarships administered by the school, companies and the government will also be a plus.

Interview with the Faculty

The faculty from the student's college, the year's board of judges, the Dean will conduct round(s) of interviews to assess the candidate's integrity.

Extracurricular Contributions

Students who have participated actively in major school clubs, won awards for the school, took part in professor-led projects, etc. will have the upper hand, especially in the eyes of the faculty.

It helps to have held leadership positions in such clubs.

Other extracurriculars like starting their own business, starting community service projects, etc.

Self/Student Nomination and Voting

In some schools, you may need to self-nominate yourself to be considered for valedictorian.

There will often be a round of nominations, where students get to recommend peers (other than themselves)

Professor Nominations

Professors may nominate students that have showcased their ability to perform highly.

Hope this helps! :) Happy writing

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* . ───

💎If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! Also, join my Tumblr writing community for some more fun.

💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2 

[aspaceinthecosmos]

Happy International Women's Day!

Women are underrepresented in the fields of astronomy and physics. According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), between 20-30% of astronomers are women. While many well-known astronomers are men, there have been numerous female astronomers in history who have made incredible discoveries, but who history has forgotten. Today we'll go over some of those women and their accomplishments.

Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941)

Annie Jump Cannon is the woman responsible for our current stellar classification system, which organizes stars based on spectral types and temperature.

She worked at Harvard Observatory as a computer, working on the Henry Draper Catalogue, which attempted to map and classify all the stars in the sky. She was regarded as the best out of the computers, being able to accurately classify the stars incredibly quickly, up to three stars per minute.

Cannon's classification system (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) is still in use today, and separates stars into one of these spectral groups based on different characteristics of their absorption lines.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921)

Henrietta Leavitt is most well known for her discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of Cepheid variable stars.

Henrietta Leavitt was also a computer at Harvard Observatory in the late 1800s and early 1900s, working on cataloguing positions and luminosities of stars. In 1912, Edward Pickering published a paper with Leavitt's observations, which contained a relationship between the brightness of the Cepheid and the logarithm of the period of it.

This discovery, and the ensuing P-L relationship (sometimes known as Leavitt's Law), allowed astronomers to determine the distance to further objects. Because Cepheids are visible in nearby galaxies, astronomers were able to determine that these galaxies (or nebulae, as they were called then), were actually much further away than previously thought, leading to our current understanding of the universe and galaxies outside our own.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979)

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was the first astronomer to conclude that stars are primarily made of hydrogen and helium.

At the time her thesis was proposed in 1925, it was thought that the sun had a similar elemental composition as the Earth. Payne-Gaposchkin, however, had studied quantum physics, and recognized that the differences in absorption lines between different stars was due to ionization and temperature differences, not elemental differences, and that stars were primarily made of hydrogen and helium, with heavier elements making up less than two percent of stars' masses.

Her theory was met with resistance, and she even put a disclaimer in her thesis, saying the results were "almost certainly not real" in order to protect her career. She was, however, proven right within a few years, and her discovery shaped our knowledge of the composition of the universe.

Vera C. Rubin (1928-2016)

Vera Rubin is most well known for studying the rotation curves of galaxies, and finding a discrepancy that didn't align with the current understanding of physics. This discovery was used as evidence of dark matter, as proposed by Zwicky in the 1930s.

Rubin discovered that spiral galaxies didn't rotate as expected. When looking at our solar system, the outer planets orbit slower due to the inverse square nature of gravity. However, this decaying rotation curve wasn't what was found in spiral galaxies - rather, the outer edges of the galaxies were rotating at about the same speed as the inner areas.

According to Rubin's calculations, galaxies contained 5-10 times more mass than what was accounted for with visible matter. This supported the dark matter theory, and resulted in the current "anatomy" of galaxies, with the visible matter surrounded by a dark matter halo.

Jocelyn Bell (1943-present)

Jocelyn Bell discovered pulsars among a sea of data as a graduate student at Cambridge.

Pulsars (shortened from pulsating radio stars) are rapidly rotating neutron stars, which emit bursts of radiation at extremely short and consistent time intervals.

Bell discovered these, and published the findings in a paper with her thesis supervisor, Antony Hewish. in 1974, Hewish received the Nobel Prize in physics for this discovery, while Bell was omitted, due to her status as both a woman and a graduate student. In 2018, she was awarded the Breakthrough prize in Fundamental Physics for her discovery, and used the three million dollar reward to help minorities in physics.

[samaelzdraws]

Transmechanicus Xenologis Field Report

Study Log Entry: 961.M41

Subject: Planetary Survey of Nullius-57, Orkoid designation “Og”

By: Magos Xenologis Xanthor Vell (Excommunicated)

Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Uncharted Subsector

I. PLANETARY CLASSIFICATION

Imperial Registry: Nullius-57 (Unofficial)

Orkoid Designation: Og — interpreted as “Owned by / Property of” in local feral Ork dialect

Segmentum: Obscurus

Planetary Type: Oceanic-Terranic hybrid

Size: Approximately 108% of Terra’s equatorial diameter

Water Composition: ~80% of the planetary surface

Orbital Characteristics: One sun (G-class), two moons in stable orbit

(I gave up, I don’t know shit about how to draw ocean currents)

II. TIDAL AND CELESTIAL DYNAMICS

The gravitational interplay between Nullius-57’s two moons creates unusually complex tidal patterns across the planet’s oceanic surface. These include:

• Multi-directional tidal surges

• Semi-diurnal hyperwaves in coastal and archipelagic zones

• Periodic tidal inversions recorded every 31 standard cycles, potentially responsible for cyclic mass migrations among aquatic fauna.

The planet lies within an uncharted zone of Segmentum Obscurus, likely masked from long-range Imperial auspex by stellar anomalies and warp turbulence—an ideal breeding ground for unrecorded evolutionary branches.

III. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS

Atmospheric Density: ~1.3 atm (approx. 30% denser than Terra)

Primary Composition:

• Oxygen: 25–27%

• Carbon Dioxide: 3–4%

• Nitrogen, argon, and trace exotic gases

The thick, oxygen-rich atmosphere contributes to:

• Enhanced metabolic efficiency among local xenos species

• Higher combustion rates and volatile respiration thresholds

• Amplified fungal spore propagation due to sustained humidity and pressure

IV. PLANETARY GRAVITY AND FAUNAL ADAPTATION

Gravity: Approx. 0.38g (similar to Mars)

Despite the low gravity, native organisms have adapted in ways that defy standard models:

• Most fauna exhibit eight-limbed arthropodal symmetry, maximizing traction and momentum in low gravity

• Chitinous exoskeletons are dense and layered, likely evolved to compensate for the reduced structural strain

• Muscle fibers in larger fauna (e.g., Gargantuan Hammerfist Champignat) are hypertrophied and heavily vascularized, allowing for sudden explosive bursts of movement uncommon in similar gravity environments

The most significant observation remains the presence of Orkoid species as the only vertebrates. Whether artificially introduced or the result of a rare fungal-vertebrate divergence is still unknown, but their survival and dominance suggest a biome unusually hospitable to Ork physiognomy.

V. GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

Tectonics: Mildly active. Continental plates are fragmented but remain in proximity, indicating a prior supercontinent stage reminiscent of Terra’s Permian Pangaea.

Seismic scans reveal:

• Major fault lines still align radially around a central continental cluster

• Shallow subduction zones suggest ongoing but non-catastrophic geological drift

• Volcanic vents support a thriving thermophilic fungal biome, primarily near the equator

VI. CLIMATIC ZONES

Overall Climate: Humid and warm with minimal axial tilt, resulting in very limited seasonal fluctuation

• Equatorial Regions: Tropical with intense fungal overgrowth, average temperatures exceeding 34°C

• Polar Regions: Only moderately cooler, sustaining dense fungal tundra variants

• Rainfall: Near-constant in some biomes due to atmospheric pressure and oceanic evaporation patterns

VII. PLANGUS FLORAL BIOME (FUNGAL-PLANT EQUIVALENT)

Termed “Plangus” by my own designation—a portmanteau of planta and fungus—this fungal flora fulfills all major ecological roles of photosynthetic plant life.

Photosynthesis-analog Process:

• Utilizes green and blue pigmentation in chlorophyll-analog proteins (tentatively classified as Mycophytochrome-X)

• Plangus spore sacs open during peak solar periods to engage in gas exchange and UV absorption

• Bioluminescent varieties assist in nocturnal photosynthesis via energy storage in phosphorescent organelles

Color Morphology by Region:

• Highlands: Deep green and violet Plangus carpets, heavily mossed

• Lowlands: Amber, red, and orange fungal caps with wide lamellae for water retention

• Equatorial Swamps: Translucent white and yellow luminescent fungal towers, growing up to 40 meters

These fungal flora are crucial to nutrient cycling, oxygen production, and even psychotropic symbiosis observed in some mollusk-xenos.

VIII. LOCAL FAUNA

The dominant faunal archetypes fall into two categories:

• Arachnid/Insectoid Xenos: Eight-legged, armored, ranging from micro-scale scavengers to titanic apex predators such as the Gargantuan Hammerfist Champignat

• Molluscoid Xenos: Ambulatory, highly adaptive, semi-amphibious; many exhibit Plangus symbiosis for healing and camouflage

Orks:

The only vertebrate genus present, suggesting:

• Exogenic seeding (possibly via crashed hulk or rogue Sporeship)

• Exceptional fungal adaptation due to their own mycoid origin

Local tribes of feral Orks claim sole ownership of the planet, hence the name Og. This linguistic possessiveness hints at a deep instinctual bond between Orks and this fungal-rich environment, perhaps even more intense than typically observed on Ork-held worlds.

CONCLUSION

Nullius-57, or Og, is a world defined by a dense atmosphere, low gravity, and a unique fungal biosphere whose adaptive extremity borders on the miraculous. Its faunal and floral life appear to have evolved in tight biological concert, and the complete lack of vertebrate diversity—barring the Orks—raises fascinating evolutionary and possibly technogenic questions.

I suspect the planet may have once served as an ancient fungal cradle world, or perhaps even a lost Ork spawning ground from millennia past. In either case, Og is not merely owned by the Orks—it thrives because of them, and perhaps they because of it.

End of Entry

Magos Biologis Xanthor Vell

In Defiance of the Omnissiah, In Pursuit of the Green Truth

[witchesversuspatriarchy]

The mnemonic to remember this stellar classification (OBAFGKM) is:

[blogtaculous]

I really want to give a shout-out to the Mobile Frame Zero community for the really, really cool work they’ve done since the following work was made possible by their efforts.

So, I watched all of Evangelion and was like “wow, mechs vs monsters is so sick like for real”

So my next Lego project is going to be mechs vs monsters in a micro city, thus continuing my trend of projects that stretch my collection instead of building on it.

While Brikwars shenanigans continue I have been building the mechs.

Here they are, a handsome little collection.

I wanted to write this post to expand on the lore of each machine but also to give credit to the excellent mech and frame builders I copied from. I think I have a real talent for castles and landscapes but machines and space builds still don’t feel right, so I’m thankful for others who have paved the way.

From left to right:

—

W-024 “Ancient Ode” is one of the original War Class mechs before the expansion of their battlefield roles, and is now one of the last to operate. It owes its longevity to numerous upgrades given its stellar combat record across conflicts and operators. It keeps its original colors, an homage to the Army it used to serve.

This one is based on principles from Josh's Super Chub Marines, though I've multiplied the legs and made some significant changes to the arms and shoulders. This mech was originally going to be a melee focused machine, but the super chub legs have some balance problems when posing, and I was frustrated by the lack of articulation in the ankles.

The solution came to me in a dream (Armored Core VI). I doubled the legs for a quadrupedal design, inspired by the success I had using them against Sea Spider. Now it stays upright effortlessly and I could also use more sand green (one of the best Lego colors). In general, the four legs allow for beefier body parts and the back-mounted rocket launcher.

“W-class” refers to a time when mechs were first used for warfare instead of construction or manufacturing. Today, Ancient Ode would be referred to a BL-Class (Battleline), but owing to its service record the original classification sticks. Ancient Ode is the Ma Deuce of battle mechs. I enhanced the build with stickers from the Avatar sets, though I was disappointed when the sand green on the stickers clashes with the brick color.

—

A-094 "Distant Oath" was one of the first artillery class mechs produced, as such the it was outfitted with a now-obsolete shoulder-mounted heavy cannon. While heavy cannon mounted in this manner such as the LM-15 Ultra Sonic have gone out of fashion in favor of much larger cannon or shorter range missile pods (a precursor of which is mounted on the right shoulder), it has been impractical to repurpose A-class mechs like Distant Oath.

Distant Oath is heavily based on the MF0 frame Uhlan Marine by skroberto on Flickr. I had to figure out most of it from his photos and other resources on the MF0 Facebook page. It's a great frame, but I made some internal changes to make it suitable for physical construction. Unfortunately, it is the least stable mech in the collection because the “knee” joint is a round tile using opposite anti-studs to hold the legs together.

Given the stability problems and its size I decided it would be an artillery piece. I added some stickers from a Mindstorms set, and the “A” in “A-class” was derived from the stickers. The cannon has one that says “Ultra Sonic” so that’s the name of the cannon. Distant Oath was almost a shade of blue, but I was using Orange while I designed it and decided I loved it too much to change.

—

S-62-2 “Wild Eyes” is a strike/support class mech designed for air superiority missions. These machines are among the newest frames produced, with boosted legs for softer landings and a lighter exoskeleton to let the booster engines really shine. They are useful for sustained flight and boosting directly into engagements.

This is a combination of concepts from -SuspendedAnimation-'s Rigel II and Andromeda MFO frames that use their X-11 core.

Wild Eyes is a strike/support class because I’ve decided that machines that are smaller and more mobile can have so many different roles that it would be impractical to classify them all different. The color chosen for the only soft blue that includes the chest piece and the shoulder bricks. Wild Eyes is a little lanky after I modified the arms to be more posable and it looked very “flight” to me so I gave them a real set of boost engines designed to fly around and harass.

I used more mindstorms stickers since they are transparent, but I was able to find some for the fund that say “Danger, Jet Blast” in a Marvel jet I could cut apart to fit.

—

S-973 No Survivors is a strike/support class mech designed for sustained ground operations. It's outfitted with stronger than standard armor and a booster engine for mobility to offset the additional weight. Additionally, it's equipped with a utility launcher for tactical munitions or a short range pile driver. Often, this style of S-class mechs carries a melee weapon, and No Survivors wields an RES (Rapid Energy Sword).

This one is a modified version of -SuspendedAnimation-'s Comanche core. I changed the shoulder and elbow assembly because I don't like how fragile modified tiles and taps are, something I also did for Wild Eyes and Ancient Ode. The rifle is their design as well.

Once again, the mech’s numerical designation is derived from the stickers. This one uses several unmodified from a Marvel jet. Like Distant Oath, No Survivors has last resort munitions in the chest. The RES isn’t a static blade like a lot of other mech settings, as that would be impractical when trying to fight in between buildings. It operates a little bit like a lightsaber, activating when necessary, and the energy isn’t all that stable. It explodes out from the handle and is closer to a giant lighter than a true sword.

—

I’m excited to get the city built for the mechs to romp around in. I have a few buildings mocked up already, but I don’t have space for more until I can block out the roadways. I love how AC6 cities are laid out and will be taking lots of inspiration from there. I also want to do some retractable structures like Tokyo-3.

Anyway, have a good day, thanks for checking out my work.

[cosmic-web-constellation]

Rex

Hello! I'm Rex and one of the Protectors of the Chroma Cosmic Web Collective! I'm an Introject of Koraidon from Pokémon. I'm beastkin and dragonkin!

I go by it/its, roar/roars/ and fi/fire for my pronouns.

My signoff is 🪽👑or 👑🪽

I love to be tagged in things relating to dragons or Koraidon things!

userboxes under cut! [Dragon userbox made by @/c1rcus-of-homosexuality]

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Strongest hints yet of biological activity outside the solar system

Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious.

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b, which orbits its star in the habitable zone.

On Earth, DMS and DMDS are only produced by life, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton. While an unknown chemical process may be the source of these molecules in K2-18b’s atmosphere, the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system.

The observations have reached the ‘three-sigma’ level of statistical significance – meaning there is a 0.3% probability that they occurred by chance. To reach the accepted classification for scientific discovery, the observations would have to cross the five-sigma threshold, meaning there would be below a 0.00006% probability they occurred by chance.

The researchers say between 16 and 24 hours of follow-up observation time with JWST may help them reach the all-important five-sigma significance. Their results are reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Earlier observations of K2-18b — which is 8.6 times as massive and 2.6 times as large as Earth, and lies 124 light years away in the constellation of Leo — identified methane and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. This was the first time that carbon-based molecules were discovered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the habitable zone. Those results were consistent with predictions for a ‘Hycean’ planet: a habitable ocean-covered world underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.

However, another, weaker signal hinted at the possibility of something else happening on K2-18b. “We didn’t know for sure whether the signal we saw last time was due to DMS, but just the hint of it was exciting enough for us to have another look with JWST using a different instrument,” said Professor Nikku Madhusudhan from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, who led the research.

To determine the chemical composition of the atmospheres of faraway planets, astronomers analyse the light from its parent star as the planet transits, or passes in front of the star as seen from the Earth. As K2-18b transits, JWST can detect a drop in stellar brightness, and a tiny fraction of starlight passes through the planet’s atmosphere before reaching Earth. The absorption of some of the starlight in the planet’s atmosphere leaves imprints in the stellar spectrum that astronomers can piece together to determine the constituent gases of the exoplanet’s atmosphere.

The earlier, tentative, inference of DMS was made using JWST’s NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) and NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instruments, which together cover the near-infrared (0.8-5 micron) range of wavelengths. The new, independent observation used JWST’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) in the mid-infrared (6-12 micron) range.

“This is an independent line of evidence, using a different instrument than we did before and a different wavelength range of light, where there is no overlap with the previous observations,” said Madhusudhan. “The signal came through strong and clear.”

“It was an incredible realisation seeing the results emerge and remain consistent throughout the extensive independent analyses and robustness tests,” said co-author Måns Holmberg, a researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, USA. 

DMS and DMDS are molecules from the same chemical family, and both are predicted to be biosignatures. Both molecules have overlapping spectral features in the observed wavelength range, although further observations will help differentiate between the two molecules.

However, the concentrations of DMS and DMDS in K2-18b’s atmosphere are very different than on Earth, where they are generally below one part per billion by volume. On K2-18b, they are estimated to be thousands of times stronger - over ten parts per million.

“Earlier theoretical work had predicted that high levels of sulfur-based gases like DMS and DMDS are possible on Hycean worlds,” said Madhusudhan. “And now we’ve observed it, in line with what was predicted. Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.”

Madhusudhan says that while the results are exciting, it’s vital to obtain more data before claiming that life has been found on another world. He says that while he is cautiously optimistic, there could be previously unknown chemical processes at work on K2-18b that may account for the observations. Working with colleagues, he is hoping to conduct further theoretical and experimental work to determine whether DMS and DMDS can be produced non-biologically at the level currently inferred.

“The inference of these biosignature molecules poses profound questions concerning the processes that might be producing them” said co-author Subhajit Sarkar of Cardiff University.

“Our work is the starting point for all the investigations that are now needed to confirm and understand the implications of these exciting findings,” said co-author Savvas Constantinou, also from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy.

“It’s important that we’re deeply sceptical of our own results, because it’s only by testing and testing again that we will be able to reach the point where we’re confident in them,” Madhusudhan said. “That’s how science has to work.”

While he is not yet claiming a definitive discovery, Madhusudhan says that with powerful tools like JWST and future planned telescopes, humanity is taking new steps toward answering that most essential of questions: are we alone?

“Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach,” said Madhusudhan. “This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”

TOP IMAGE: Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious. Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b, which orbits its star in the habitable zone. Credit A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan (University of Cambridge)

LOWER IMAGE: The graph shows the observed transmission spectrum of the habitable zone exoplanet K2-18 b using the JWST MIRI spectrograph. The vertical shows the fraction of star light absorbed in the planet's atmosphere due to molecules in the planet's atmosphere. The data are shown in the yellow circles with the 1-sigma uncertainties. The curves show the model fits to the data, with the black  curve showing the median fit and the cyan curves outlining the 1-sigma intervals of the model fits. The absorption features attributed to dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide are indicated by the horizontal lines and text. The image behind the graph is an illustration of a hycean planet orbiting a red dwarf star. Credit A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan (University of Cambridge)

[talonabraxas]

Stars of Orion Talon Abraxas

Orion’s Belt consists of three exceptionally hot and massive blue stars, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. The stars are evenly spaced and form a more or less straight line, which makes them easy to identify. Two of the three stars are supergiants.

The stars formed in the same molecular cloud and are roughly the same age. Alnitak and Mintaka, the leftmost and rightmost stars of Orion’s Belt, lie at a similar distance, about 1,200 light-years from the Sun, while Alnilam, the central star of the Belt, is much more distant. It lies approximately 2,000 light-years away. This means that, even though Alnitak and Mintaka appear closer to Alnilam in the sky, they are in fact closer to each other.

The three stars are part of the Orion OB1b subgroup of the Orion OB1 association. They were formed in the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, the nearest massive star-forming region to Earth.

alnilam,alnitak and mintaka

Alnitak

Alnitak, Zeta Orionis (ζ Ori), is the leftmost star of Orion’s Belt. It is the primary star in a triple star system located approximately 1,260 light-years away.

The three components of the Zeta Orionis system are hot, luminous blue O- and B-type stars. They have a combined apparent magnitude of 1.77. The individual components shine at magnitudes 2.08, 4.28, and 4.01.

The primary component, Zeta Orionis Aa, is formally known as Alnitak. The name comes from the Arabic word an-niṭāq, meaning “girdle.” It was historically also spelled Al Nitak or Alnitah.

Alnitak is a hot blue supergiant of the spectral type O9.5Iab. It has a mass 33 times that of the Sun and a radius 20 times solar. With an effective temperature of about 29,500 K, it shines with 250,000 solar luminosities. The star’s estimated age is only 6.4 million years.

Alnitak is the fifth brightest star in Orion and the 31st brightest star in the sky. It is slightly fainter than its Orion’s Belt neighbour Alnilam, but it outshines Mintaka.

Alnitak is the brightest O-type star in the sky. O-type stars are the hottest, bluest, and most massive types of stars, as well as the most short-lived. Because of their high mass, they burn through their supply of hydrogen faster than Sun-like stars. Even though it has only a fraction of the Sun’s age, Alnitak is already in the final stages of its life cycle. When it reaches the end, it will go out as a spectacular supernova.

Alnitak forms a close binary star system with a blue subgiant with the stellar classification B1IV. The binary star is sometimes referred to as Alnitak A.

The secondary component, Zeta Orionis Ab (Alnitak Ab), is not as evolved, but it has also come to the end of its main sequence lifetime. The star was only discovered in 1998. With a mass 14 times that of the Sun, it is also a supernova candidate. It has a radius 7.2 times solar and is 32,000 times more luminous than the Sun, with a surface temperature of 29,000 K. Alnitak Ab is a little older than its more massive companion, with an estimated age of 7.2 million years.

Alnitak Aa and Alnitak Ab orbit each other with a period of 2,687.3 days. They are separated by only 35.9 milliarcseconds, corresponding to a physical distance of only 11 astronomical units (Earth-Sun distances). The secondary component cannot be resolved visually even in the largest of telescopes. It can only be detected interferometrically and spectroscopically.

The third component, Zeta Orionis B, orbits the main pair with a period 1,508.6 years at a separation of 2.728 arcseconds. It is a blue giant star of the spectral type B0III.

There is a 9th magnitude star, sometimes called Alnitak C, that appears in the same line of sight. However, it is unclear whether it is physically related to the system or just an optical companion.

Photo taken by Rogelio Bernal Andreo in October 2010 of the Orion constellation showing the surrounding nebulae of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. Also captured is the red supergiant Betelgeuse (top left) and the famous Belt of Orion composed of the OB stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. To the bottom right is the star Rigel. The red crescent shape is Barnard’s Loop. The photograph appeared as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on October 23, 2010. Image: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Alnilam

Alnilam, Epsilon Orionis (ε Ori), is the middle star of Orion’s Belt. It is a single star located approximately 2,000 light-years away. It has the stellar classification B0 Ia, indicating a luminous blue supergiant.

Even though Alnilam is the most distant of the three stars, it appears the brightest because it is the most massive and therefore the most intrinsically luminous of the Belt stars. Shining at magnitude 1.69, Alnilam is the fourth brightest star in Orion and the 29th-brightest star in the sky. Among the 30 brightest stars, only Deneb is more distant. The luminary of Cygnus lies 2,615 light-years away.

Alnilam and Deneb (Alpha Cygni) belong to the same class of variable stars, the Alpha Cygni variables. These are A- and B-type supergiant stars that experience non-radial pulsations. Some parts of their surfaces are contracting while others simultaneously expand. The pulsations cause the brightness to vary by about 0.1 magnitudes. Alnilam’s brightness has been observed to vary from magnitude 1.64 to 1.74.

The star’s spectrum also varies, possibly because of the dramatic mass loss that it is experiencing. Alnilam is losing mass about 20 million times more rapidly than the Sun. The mass loss is caused by the strong stellar winds that may reach up to 2,000 km/s.

The name Alnilam is derived from the Arabic al-niẓām, meaning “the string (of pearls).” It was historically also spelled Alnihan and Alnitam. The name may be related to the word nilam, meaning “sapphire.”

Alnilam has between 40 and 44 times the mass of the Sun and a radius of 32.4 solar radii. With an effective temperature of 27,500 K, it is 537,000 times more luminous than the Sun. It has an estimated age of 5.7 million years.

Even though it is a young star, Alnilam is already approaching the end of its life. It may evolve into a red supergiant more luminous than Betelgeuse over the next million years and will ultimately go out as a supernova.

Mintaka

Mintaka, Delta Orionis (δ Ori), is the rightmost star of Orion’s Belt (leftmost when seen from the southern hemisphere). With an apparent magnitude of 2.23, it is the seventh brightest star in Orion and the 73rd brightest star in the sky. It is the faintest star of Orion’s Belt and the only one that is not a supergiant.

The name Mintaka is derived from the Arabic manṭaqa, meaning “belt.”

Mintaka is the primary component in a star system located approximately 1,200 light-years away. It is a hot blue bright giant of the spectral type O9.5II. The star is a supernova candidate with a mass 24 times that of the Sun. It has a radius of 16.5 solar radii and a luminosity 190,000 times that of the Sun.

The primary component (Delta Ori Aa1) is part of a triple star system that also contains a hot blue B-type main sequence star (Delta Ori Aa2) and a B-type subgiant star (Delta Ori Ab). The closer companion, Delta Orionis Aa2, has a mass of 8.4 solar masses and a radius 6.5 times that of the Sun. With an effective temperature of about 25,600 K, it shines with 16,000 solar luminosities.

Delta Orionis Ab has a mass 22.5 times that of the Sun and a radius of 10.4 solar radii. It is 63,000 times more luminous than the Sun with a surface temperature of 28,400 K. It is separated by 0.26 arcseconds from the main pair and orbits the two stars with a period of 400 years or more.

All three stars are exceptionally fast spinners, with projected rotational velocities of 130 km/s (Mintaka), 150 km/s (Delta Ori Aa2), and 220 km/s (Delta Ori Ab).

Mintaka and Delta Ori Aa2 orbit each other with a period of 5.732436 days. The system is classified as an eclipsing binary star. The two stars periodically eclipse each other as they orbit, causing the system’s brightness to decrease. When the primary component eclipses the secondary, the brightness drops from magnitude 2.23 to 2.29, and when the primary star is eclipsed by the secondary, the brightness decreases to magnitude 2.35.

A fourth component, Delta Orionis B, is a 14th-magnitude star that may be related to the system, but its properties are not understood well enough to confirm this.

Delta Orionis C, catalogued as HD 36485, is another hot B-type main sequence star. It shines at magnitude 6.85 and consists of a spectroscopic binary pair. The two components orbit each other with a period of about 30 days.

[magnetarbeam]

Star Wars Technical Worldbuilding Notes 3

At times, I've thought of "Star Defender" as a formal classification level above "star dreadnought" that was originally conceived for the reasons the term exists in canon, which is that NR politicians thought building ships of that magnitude would be less offensive if they didn't call it a dreadnought, but the Viscount ended up so huge (in my headcanon, which is based on rough volume estimates from the available images of the Viscount, it has 2.86e28 watts of peak output, which outpowers the Executor by more than an order of magnitude) that it justified new terminology.

Come to think of it, I think part of the situation might also be justifying such things to budget committees that probably aren't experts in ship design. Like, "We only ordered three Star Defenders, we promise," but said Star Defenders are literally the highest-powered conventional warships ever built.

It's similar to a common interpretation of the Allegiance-class heavy destroyer (technically something seen in Dark Empire, but most specific performance figures come from FractalSponge's model, which has 6 times the power output of an ISD in 2-3 times the overall volume) about being able to pass it off like that, although it probably doesn't work as well for the Viscount because it isn't actually particularly high-powered for its overall volume, which is a pretty big part of the production cost.

Not sure if I've mentioned this in previous posts on the matter, but the assumption in Saxton's Technical Commentaries about ship classifications is that because Star Wars is inherently a translation into our language from Galactic Basic, the terminology used for this is the same as ours. In increasing order of size: Corvette, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battlecruiser, Battleship. Clearly, I don't tend to be quite that strict about it in my own interpretations, but it's useful to mention as a point of reference here.

Most major shipyard planets have one or more orbital construction rings that encircle the planet, and ships are constructed within the interiors and on the surfaces of the rings themselves. That's an insane amount of construction space, compared to the size of the ships. Never mind Kuat's star system-diameter ring that they have, that's referenced in Iron Fist.

Said system ring is something I've headcanonically assigned the name Stellar Halo. That's mostly inspired by the Essential Guide to Warfare, which gives that name to one of the warships defending Kuat when the New Republic took it, so I can connect that the ship was named after the ring.

Even for the largest shipbuilding organization in the Star Wars galaxy, something that big would be a hell of a project. Probably the work of centuries. But on the overall timescale of galactic history, that's more than manageable, and it's plausible enough in the context of the universe's tech levels that I can totally see it as the kind of thing a giant industrial corporation does just to prove that they can.

At times, I've imagined that the system ring was destroyed by the Yuuzhan Vong, but I don't think they would have been able to do that in the time they had. Like, a cross-section of that thing is probably thousands of kilometers across. They'd essentially need a planet-killing weapon to do it.

This is the kind of thing that leads me to not try to use realistic galactic scales in my writing, because I don't want to have to use scientific notation just to write out the number of ships in a battle.

I wonder if Wedge's original Wraith concept of effectively intelligence commandos that all had pilot training was kept by the New Republic and then Galactic Alliance.

Certain older ships like the Eclipse would be retroactively reclassified as Star Defenders if it was separate. Because that thing has a peak output of 1.07e28 W in my headcanon, although it's definitely not the ultimate super-dreadnought that youtubers with no critical thinking skills like to pretend that it is. Even the RPG sourcebook asspull gun counts give the Eclipse fewer standard weapons than the Executor. Most of its resources and hull space go into the axial superlaser.

Speaking of star defenders, the Corellian Strident-class is a full-scale star defender to me. Same reactor as the Eclipse, but armed like a regular ship of the line, and also faster than a Viscount. In that, I'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit on them being part of the Corellian defense fleet at Operation Roundabout, where they're also referenced as being smaller than the Galactic-class destroyers, which are explicitly the same length as an Imperator and 1.5 times its mass.

Not currently sure how I feel about the "Corellian Dreadnaughts" from LotF: Tempest, in terms of size classification. I have them written down as Peregrine-class star defenders (named for Bel Iblis's first flagship) with 2.54e28 W of peak output, but I'm starting to doubt them being that heavy, because they were part of the assault fleet that Thrackan kept secret for ten years, and only so much money can disappear without people getting suspicious. Although of course the exact fleet numbers in the book are not the kind of thing I pay attention to when writing these kinds of headcanons, the spirit of the scene is that Bwua'tu's GA fleet, when it finally arrived, did outmatch the Corellian assault fleet, which would be a stretch if the Corellians actually had anything that heavy.

Also finding that I'm gonna have to scale up the MC90 (technically the Defiance-class of the MC90 design generation) to make it as voluminous as the Imperator that it's supposed to match.

[thryth-gaming]

Character Background, Shade Thought

So, I'm about to run a short to medium length MotW series for my family (brother, housemate, niece, and nephew) but after that my brother is going to run a superhero game where all the A-listers have vanished and it's up to the sidekicks to step up. Hence the name of the campaign being "Rearguard". He's asking us to come up with mentors to fill in his world's back-story.

And, of course, if you give me the chance to make a character... then I'm going to make a character. Now, this backstory could definitely be done in first person given it's mostly in her voice, but I think I'll leave it third person.

Two alternate versions of the character.

Hero ID: Shade Thought

Civilian ID: Lilith Waite

Classification: Genetic Engineered Being

Powers: Demon-form, telepathy, mild enhanced physicality, vitality drain.

Game System: Undetermined, Hero System, M&M, Masks, and Sentinel Comics have all been suggested.

“Professor” (he’d long before lost his professorship) Miles Langstrom, aka Professor Gene-Storm, had once proclaimed her as the triumph of science and genetic engineering over mysticism and superstition. Per his claims, he had created her by mixing the genetic materials of purported “demon lord” Azrael and the psionic hero who went by Stellar Mind. On the one hand, she absolutely believes that the man believed all this, but it had been confirmed that Azrael doesn’t have a genetic structure and so far no one’s found any link between Stellar Mind’s powers and her gene-structure. So she was fairly certain he was talking out of his narcissism.

At the time, the only name she knew was the god-awful “Psi-cubus” and she remembers being proud of that name, her creation, and position as one of the Professor’s prize lieutenants minions among a collection of other genetically engineered super-beings with programmed loyalty. That lasted, she thinks, two years. Two years of emotional manipulation, being chipped like a pet, and regular sessions in the brainwashing chair they were told was for a physical check-up to watch for genetic decay.

Then came the battle with the Vanguard, well, two of the members of Vanguard. She and the other three “Gene-Troopers”... God that man’s naming ideas were so bad. He desperately needed to hire a PR person… but then he’d probably brainwash them into saying his ideas were great anyway. Anyway, they were doing okay for themselves. Between them and the heroes, they’d demolished about five city blocks, including a school. 

She couldn’t even remember what the plan was anymore. It probably was something multi-layered and self-aggrandizing. Langstrom wasn’t an idiot, he was just bombastic, sadistic, narcissistic, and really… something of a tick in general.

To be honest… it was mostly them. It probably would have been worse if it hadn’t been for the heroes.

And then Stellar Mind had arrived, marking the first time ever that Psi-Cubus met one of her “genetic parents”. There was a brief and spectacular confrontation full of just the most purple nonsense her addled mind of the time could produce. And then their telepathy interacted, there was feedback. Wow, was there feedback. Stellar Mind was briefly set on her heels but it was worse for Sci-Cubus because it shattered her programming. Maybe without the programming it wouldn’t have been so bad. But without the programming… she wouldn’t have been in the situation in the first place.

So, she fell out of the sky into the water, clinging to consciousness. Maybe one of the heroes would have scooped her up, but they were distracted with the other Gene-Troopers. So, she was left to be swept away on the current and wash up… elsewhere. Memories of the day are still a bit funky.

It wasn’t like she immediately transformed into a free-thinking woman. There was a lot of mental inertia to stay loyal to Langstrom. Fortunately, she couldn’t really remember how to get back to his secret lab. She also couldn’t remember how to use most of her powers… apparently all of that was in the programming. So, she was in human “disguise”, barely clothed, and a bit disoriented.

Couldn’t trust the prized pets to learn how to do their own things. Or maybe couldn’t be bothered to spend the time to teach the abilities properly. Most likely a bit of both.

She stumbled onward, experiencing brief, stabbing headaches every other hour or something like that until she was able to claw the malfunctioning tracking chip out of the back of her neck. And then it was sweet relief… and the unchanged fact that she was confused and wandering the streets alone. She waited for the Professor to come find her and lived on what she could scavenge for food here and there. Supplementing with a vitality drain when she needed to defend herself. She started to sleep, not that she needed to, but sometimes it was a respite. Then she was passing an electronics store and saw a news broadcast where Professor Gene-Storm proudly announced his newest triumph of science… and apparently she was just written off?

Anyway, there’s a long bit of space between then and now. She’d managed to get herself some under the table work, parlayed herself into an apartment and regular paycheck. First, she did a bit of construction work, managing to convince the boss that she was a low-tier super down on her luck stronger than most people but not really vigilante material. Flight would have made things so much easier, but it took her a while to learn how to bring the demon form back.. .and by then she definitely didn’t want to be pointed out as the infamous forgotten villain “Psi-Cubus.” 

She actually ended up helping rebuild a bit of the damage she caused, granted she came in on the tail-end of that effort, but she was there.

A bit after that, she took on a bartending gig. Initially, she was expecting to just drop dead from gene decay, but that never happened. She’d use her vitality drain a bit now and again, to sedate a drunk out who was insistent on going to his car or knock out a creep that was harassing some girl that just wanted a night out with her friends.

One of her patrons left her a tip and a tip in the form of a business card for a meta-doc. She remembered the faintest memory of feedback back then, so she’s pretty sure Stellar Mind had been in there in secret identity mode, giving her a leg up. But she has no proof. Anyway, the meta-doc checked her out, no questions asked, no need to report to the G-men, and pronounced her a clean bill of non-decaying health.

And that’s where she was now, Lilith Waite, a bartender just living her best life with a growing collection of phone numbers she’s too chicken to act on for fear of someone recognizing her. A small collection of metahuman theory texts in her apartment, and a couple online TTRPGs to distract her from the unanswered questions, unresolved conflicts, and incompletely integrated trauma.

Then came the day when all the big names were just gone and fuck there was still a lot of problems out there that were going to go very bad without a hero around. 

Well, two things are for certain. Whatever costume she got was going to show a lot less skin. And she absolutely wasn’t going to use the name “Psi-cubus” Fuck, who knows, maybe she’d get a chance at freeing some of Langstrom’s other Gene-Troopers before they got killed. Or, you know, she could meet her other genetic parent. She’s sure that’ll go perfectly fine. Not like Azrael had a substantially more competent and dangerous reputation than Langstrom did.

Builds

Hero System 6th Edition

Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition

Prowlers and Paragons

Marvel Multiverse RPG

Sentinel Comics

[stary-night]

I'm procrastinating my lab report so hard I'm looking up mnemonics for the spectral classification system - these are my favorites so far:

Taken from: