Skip to main content
Worldbuilding

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Required fields*

3
  • $\begingroup$ I might be on the wrong track here, but it is not obvious to me that the preferred location is having the bigger star as the planet's primary. Because of the way luminosity scales with mass, having the smaller star as primary means being much closer to it and therefore more tightly bound? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 6:28
  • $\begingroup$ @Keith Yes, there are two ways to do this. Either you can have the planet circling a sun-like star (I think that is what the OP was asking about) with the other star mainly for nice visuals (a distant star that just adds low light and is far enough not to destabilize the planet). The alternative is to have the planet circle a low mass/luminosity star and get some heat/light from that star and much more light from the more distant, bigger companion. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 8:25
  • $\begingroup$ The other way to get a second source of light is to have the world in question as the large moon of a giant planet, both orbiting a single star. The reflected light from the planet to the moon can be a significant quantity of the total insolation received - enough to make a significant difference to climate and perceived richness of the setting. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 12:42