#this is most confirmed w jupiter and saturn

[morgenlich]

would encourage ppl to take a basic astronomy class if only so they can fully appreciate exactly what massive influence the sun has on the solar system

[etherealino]

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐈𝐓

synopsis: five months into the relationship and still, you were too shy (and scared that chan wouldn’t say it back) to say the three words. until one time, you did.

genre: idolverse, pure ol’ fluff

warning(s): cursing as always. i’m sorry

word count: 1.4k

note: last fic for 2020 !! hopefully i’m more active next year than i was this year. anyway, 2020 was a very harsh year for all of us, buuuuut don’t forget that in some little ways, we became happy this year. i wish everyone nothing but the very best for the upcoming year !! i love you guys uwu. anyway,,, JDSBJHDS credits to my friend on the last i love you

one.

First hug? Done. First kiss? Done. First cuddle? Way before dating, done. First fight? Ugly, but done. First time to sleep in each others arms? Done. But never, and I mean never have you ever said the three words you’ve been dying to say. You just always felt like it was never the right time to say it or you get scared that Chan would say that he doesn’t feel the same way. So, yes, you are an idiot. 

“Hey, Chan,” you greeted with a smile through the other line as you played with the ends of your blanket that was draped over your lap. 

“Hey, beautiful. You okay?” Chan asks and to be quite honest, you could hear the smile through his voice.

“Yeah, yeah. I just..” you trail off, smiling. “Are you busy?”

“Nope. I just finished a song and I’m just fixing my things. Do you need something?” The boy on the other line says and you hum. 

“Nothing, baby. I just called to check on you.” You said and Chan felt his heart do flips against his ribcage. Yours immediately sped up the moment you heard Chan’s giggles.

“Are you flirting with me, ma’am?” Chan teases and you groan, but a smile is still on your face. “I’m sorry, but I have a girlfriend, you know.”

“Hey! I am your girlfriend.” You said with laugh. “Wait, you are referring to me, right?”

“Who else would it be?” Chan says and you laugh. With a moment of silence, you pulled the phone away from your ear and looked at the time. When you saw it was getting late, you pressed the phone back to your ear and said, “Hey, you should go sleep. It’s getting late. You still have a music show to go to tomorrow, right?”

Chan hums, “Yeah.” He mumbles. “You should sleep too, bub.”

“Promise that you would actually sleep?” You tease him and there goes those boyish giggles that makes you want to hug him and never let him go.

“I promise.” Chan says, a wide grin on his face. “Thanks for checking on me, baby.”

“Of course.” You said and Chan hummed. You were supposed to pull the phone away from your ear and hang the call up, but instead— “Chan!”

“Yeah, baby?”

I love you. You wanted to say, but instead, “I— G-Good night.”

“Good night, baby. Sweet dreams.”

two.

Chan doesn’t like coffee, everyone knows that. He announced that loud and clear. So there he is, right in front of you sipping on his pineapple juice as he scrolls through his phone, playing God knows what. And there you are right across him, staring at him—simping as one would say. With a palm supporting your cheek as your elbow rests on the table, you take in Chan’s features. Chan is beautiful with his makeup, highlighting his beauty, but fuck when he’s not wearing any makeup? You just want to pepper kisses all over his face and do it all over and over again.

“Are you aware of how much you mean to me?” 

Chan takes his gaze off of his phone and to you, innocent wide eyes staring into yours. “W-What?” Chan stammers and you shrug.

“I just.. I don’t know,” you giggle, shyly smiling as you move your head, moving it to where your cheek was resting. “I just.. you know,” I love you. “You mean a lot to me.”

Chan softly smiles and stands up, bending over the table to kiss your lips. “You mean a lot to me, too.” Chan whispers and you grab his hand, pressing a gentle kiss against his knuckles.

three.

Four days. Four days since you’ve seen Chan and have a proper conversation with him. It’s not like you were clingy, but yeah, doll, you are. So you prepared food for him and made your way down to his studio, ready to baby him as he keeps working. That’s if it’s alright with him, of course.

“Channie?” You call, knocking on his door and opening it lightly, poking your head into the studio. There he sat in his swivel chair, upper body turned to you with his wide eyes and mouth lightly open in the cutest way possible.

“Baby! What are you doing here?” Chan asks as he stands up, walking towards you. You open your free arm to take him in a hug and Chan immediately did, kissing your forehead as he smiles at you.

“I brought you food!” You said with enthusiasm.

“Thanks, but you really didn’t have to bother.” Chan says with a light frown which you kissed away, causing it to be replaced by a smile.

“Let me take care of you, alright?” You said and Chan lightly laughed, kissing your lips as he took you in a hug once again. “I’ll be on the side feeding you your food or I could clean the studio for you. Whichever you feel comfortable with while working, okay?”

“Okay, cuddle with me while working.”

“What—”

Chan cuts you off, pulling you to the swivel chair. He sits on it and pulls you to sit in between his lap. With an arm around your wait, free hand on the mouse of his computer, Chan kisses your cheek and smiles as he continues to work.

four.

“I just realized,” Chan speaks up and you turn your head, looking at him with a wide smile. “Everyone likes Saturn, don’t they?” Humming lightly, you turn back to the view of the night sky right in front of you.

“Yeah, they do.” You said with a light laugh. “Mostly everyone draws it.”

“Even you do.” Chan says and you look at him. “I saw your notes. They got a lot of Saturns on the side.” You chuckle, shaking your head. A sigh escapes your lips and you look at the stars that littered across Earth’s sky with the moon on that one side, lighting up brightly.

“I wonder what’s it like in Saturn.” You said randomly and Chan looks at you. “How would it look like to stand at the very center of Saturn and look up, see moons scatter all over the nicght sky instead of stars.”

Chan hums. “I bet it’s very pretty.” He mumbles with a smile.

“Yeah,” you agree with a smile, turning back to the night sky.

“But Jupiter has the most moons, right?” Chan asks. “Imagine how that would look like.”

“Saturn surpassed Jupiter, Chan.” You said with a smile. “Saturn has 82 moons now.” You said with sigh, smiling as you look at the only moon of the Earth. 

“Hm? I thought 53?” Chan says.

“Yeah, 29 are to be confirmed.” You said with a smile. Chan lightly giggles, leaning in, to kiss your cheek. When Chan stands up straight, going back to observe the stars, you started to observe him. God, how did you get so lucky? Chan thinks he’s the lucky one but to be quite frank both of you really did hit jackpot on finding each other. You were happy. You’re home. “Hey, Chan?”

“Yeah, baby?

“I love you to Saturn and to its 82 moons and back, my love.”

Chan turns his head to you, looking at you with an expression that was difficult to decipher. You finally said it. Oh my God, you finally said it. After months of holding it back and trying to be careful, you slipped. When you realized you said it out loud, you put a hand over your lips and looked at Chan with wide eyes.

“Chan, I-”

“I love you, too.” Chan says and slowly, his smile grows back. “I mean, I know you do. You just show it in a different way, saying it without actually saying it. But that was so.. I.. I’m so happy that you finally said it.”

You chuckle, pulling your lips into a thin line. Then, you opened your arms wide with Chan immediately wrapping his arms around your waist and embracing you. You hug back, grinning widely as you sigh, turning your head to kiss the man’s jaw to which he giggles.

“I’m sorry it took long. I was just scared you won’t feel the same.” You say, tightening your hold on to him. Much to your dismay, Chan pulls away and pushes your hair behind your ear with his fingertips with a touch of light feather, looking into your eyes with a smile.

“Believe me,” Chan mumbles. “I really do love you.”

You smile, pushing your lips against his and Chan kissing back immediately. Just like Saturn’s rings, your love for Chan goes around for endless rounds of loops.

[plutoswrath]

Heyy! I was catching up on your NCT rising sign posts and firstly it was sooo cool to see how in-depth u and other go that’s my fav like if u wanna guess risings u can’t just go off of looks! U gotta think any house and planet placements lol the whole thing. I wanted to come here to share my thoughts on Chenle and Heachan specifically bc I recently put a lot of thought into it for some reason lol

For Chenle I know he’s a sag/Scorpio cusp but I rlly think he’s a sag and I was running the numbers and for him to be a sag he would have had to been born after 3pm! I used to be rlly confident he was a cap rising bc he has intense bone structure and eyes but not in a Scorpio way, more in a strict saturn way. But to be a sag puts him past a lot of potential rising signs so the only ones left that have him at sag sun were Aries to Libra. I played around w some of them and I feel like he could be a Gemini rising! It makes sense cuz he’s known for being sooo friendly, bright, curious, and playfully witty and snarky. Here’s the selling point tho, depending on the time it could put his Gemini Saturn in first! Which explains why he looks like a cap rising to me lol

I’m bringing Haechan into this too bc I know a lot of ppl think he could be a Gemini rising and tbh I’d still buy it but I wanted to propose another idea. I think he could def be an Aries rising! And that would put all the sign in their natural house which I think makes sense w his Leo moon in 5th and the Gemini in 3rd etc. and when I try to compare him and Chenle in regards to whose more of a Gemini rising, it makes haechan seem less like one. He does act b Gemini cuz I mean he has 3 Gemini placements lmao..,, but Aries rising are loud, opinionated, independent, but also has that bored or distracted easy Aries thing. Quick temper, very like what I see is what I want. they’re not a curious as Gemini and they can be outgoing but their focus isn’t rlly on like inquiring about people like Gemini?

Anyways that’s my theory lol I just wanted to bounce ideas off someone who gets it! I love theorizing

Hello! Ohh, I love theorizing as well, so this is the place for you haha x

So,I hope it's okay but I think with the recent info that Haechan allegedly confirmed his birth time (which I personally take with a grain of salt because I've read that he apparently talked about his birth time before and said it was around 12 pm so....we gotta take his word here but I think we all generally know one has to be critical with all casual mentioned birth times from celebrities, but guessing peoples rising sign is for fun so in the end it's not that serious and let's have our fun disecting the chart with the info we have now!!) I want to talk about Haechan's rising sign first!

So one thing that always stood out for me when it came to Haechan was that he seemed very sensitive to me. It's almost like it's kinda written on his face when he speaks (or doesn't) and I think by the way he acts (very animated and reactive) it just underlines this sensitivity and just emotional receptivness. So I wasn't really suprised to see that he has a Cancer Mercury. Being a Gemini sun already places a huge empathize on his Mercury sign, and Gemini with the influence of water really makes for some pretty reactive people, because they can be highly sensitive to the words, moods and hidden intentions of others. Makes one really moody as well, especially if it's a Gemini with water influence but that's just a random fun fact I wanted to add on asdfghkl. If we take his alleged birth time into consideration, he'd have not only a Scorpio rising, but also a Pluto in the 1st. I think the look of his eyes can be pretty droopey at times and yet very focused/piercing at the same time, kind of like he challenges you in that sense, and this is certainly a theme I noticed in a lot of Scorpio risings, especially if they have Pluto in the 1st as well (which a lot of second/third decade Scorpio risings have). Also, having his Chart ruler in the 1st and in the opposite of his Sun and Venus would explain why he is kind of 'on and off' in that sense with his energy and moods (when you watch him in interviews with 127 especially, behind the scenes, at vlives, etc), especially him asserting his presence in the room with a Sun opposite Pluto would make a lot of sense (btw, this is all written in a neutral perspective and no critique, this is just me explaining his behaviour with astrology here). Haechan also is extremely 'scheming', even when he just sits and doesn't talk in an interview he seems to think ahead and I think this os something that comes really naturally to him, just connecting the dots and adding his own twists and turns to a conversation and story. Also, his Mercury in the 8th adds to the sensitivity I got from him, and that with his Scorpio rising and Pluto in the 1st really add to his driness at times, just really flat with his responses and reactions (which come pretty quick and surprising as well). And let's not forget his Uranus and Neptune in the 3rd: very distinguished and unique voice, as well as having Uranus in the 3rd would contribute to his 'on and off' switch but generally very high energy he has, especially when having a conversation. Despite that having Sun and Mercury in the 7th in a conjunction makes one really sociable in the sense you could feel the need to communicate and interact with others (especially when the Sun in 7th is involved, outs great empathise on being with others, lack of social connections can result in strong lonliness at worst). Oh and not to forget he'd have a Virgo MC with a Scorpio Ascendant. For me at least, it only adds to the fact that Haechan is really a jack of all traits, Virgo MC people usually come across as pretty capable and are pretty self composed (also can come across as quiet judgy and they don't even notice it).

OKAY I WILL STOP NOW ITH HAECHAN WOWIE LET'S MOVE ON TO CHENLE okay so I think I've mentioned before that I think Chenle's face has strong Cancerian/Jupiterian vibes for me - his bone structure is phenomenal ofc, but I think his face seems kind of 'stretched' (same with Taeil) which is btw not (!) meant in any negative way because that doesn't exclude being pretty ofc. I know an anon before mentioned that they believe he is a Sagittarius rising but with him being a possible Sagittarius Sun that would explain the effect of his Cancer Jupiter! I think I once talked about him reminding me of young Leonardo DiCaprio so much that I just wished for him to be a Libra rising, but to be fair I think an Air Ascendant would make sense for his nature in general. Ex: to have a Libra rising he'd have to be born around 2am, which ofc would make him still a Scorpio but would put his Cancer Jupiter in the 10th house, also in a possible exact conjunction to his MC (and even if not it's still the closest planet to his MC). He'd have his Moon, Mars and Uranus both in the 5th house which would generally explain his extremely friendly nature (if we can believe Johnny's rising and I sadly kinda doubt it tbh because I can see him just trolling us with his birthtime I'm seeing the parallels here) and why it's so easy and probabl also important to him to conenct with others and be on good terms. Generally speaking I find him pretty jolly in nature and I think if he'd have his Jupiter in the 10th, possibly conjunct his MC and an Aqurius stellium in the 5th (+ possible Libra rising) that could be it. He'd have a Scorpio stellium in the 2nd house with his Sun in the 29th degree, and even if this is said to make people closed off, part of Scorpio in the 2nd house is a) maintaing close and intimate relationships is key for them, they really need that and b) they trive on being liked and admired. Not to say that he is fake in that sense (all people are to an extent but that's beside the point) but this can definitely add to a general charisma! But idk if Chenle is actually 'edgy' enough for this potential birth chart, probably not I believe

Another possible rising sign I thought for him was actually Taurus rising, putting his Sun, Mercury and Venus (exactly on the Descendant here if it would be in the 2nd decan) in the 7th house and his Aqaurius stellium in the 10th, Jupiter in the 3rd. With his Sun being already in Sagittarius I think it would add to a natural 'want to feel good' attitude and searching for pleasure and good times in every situation and Aquarius in the 10th can make for very sociable people, even if they feel more introverted in that sense they have an easier time making connections with others, or others feel drawn to their friendly and understanding nature. Also, his Jupiter in the 3rd would be in a trine woth his Venus in 7th (especially if it's on the Descnedant) which can grand him an easy hand with social groups and settings to begin with!

And I really like your idea behind the Gemini rising, depending on the decan, his MC could still be in Aquarius with his Aquarius Mars in the 9th conjunct his MC and his Uranus in the 10th conjunct his MC as well, and again, putting his Moon in the 10th. Idk but his Aquarius stellium being possibly in the 10th just really seems to resonate for me 🤠🤠 Also, having a Sagittarius Sun in the 6th would make him most likely someone who's easier to work with, because these people value having a good and rather lighthearded atmosphere around them. Very enjoyable and loyal as friends and extremely passionate in their work place/when they pursue something their heart is in.

[elsanna-shenanigans]

December Contest Submission #8: Scintillating

words: ca. 4500 setting: mAU lemon: yes cw: alcohol consumption, nipple play, some swearing, not vegan-friendly decor

Condensation coiled past her lips, fogging her vision and drawing her eyes up to the spattering of stars above them. For a moment, Elsa forgot all about the reason that had brought them here in the first place, stopping in her tracks to gaze up in wonderment. A smile drew itself slowly across her lips as she fell into the beauty of the cold, distant lights cast down on the frozen, snow-shrouded wilderness around them. She tilted her head and the whitish grey faux-fur trim of her midnight blue winter jacket brushed softly against her cheek as she tried recognizing the constellations above her.

“Anna.” 

Her voice was barely above a whisper, yet it had been so quiet around them but for the shuffling of their boots through snow that Elsa knew her younger sister wouldn’t have had to strain to hear her name. She tore her gaze away from the firmament to find Anna had already cued into the night’s glory overhead, and her heart swelled at the awestruck delight on the freckled face she held so dear. Freckles she couldn’t help but note had the same chaotic harmony as the stars they admired. They were rivalled only by the twinkle of mirth in Anna’s eyes and Elsa’s breath hitched as her eyes ran over the soft, beautiful lines of her cheekbones, her jawline, her throat, her nose, her mouth… Elsa averted her eyes from the delicately pink lips, exhaling shakily. Virtue of habit.

“I hope we get enough clear skies while we’re here, I could be out every night.”

Anna’s eyes went wide with apprehension and it was all Elsa could do to bite back a smirk, thinking of how expressive her sister was. ‘Don’t you dare make me choose between stargazing and standing around in -32°C weather’

“Yeah well, I’m not sure I could be, if it’s as cold as it is now.”

Elsa chuckled, her words having simply confirmed what her eyes had already communicated.

“Aw c’mon,” she teased gently. “I’ll keep you warm.”

“At this rate you’re going to have to light me on fire if you don’t want me to freeze before we make it to the chalet. Besides, you’re going to like the master bedroom.”

She shook her head wordlessly at the hyperbole, considering that while granted, the snow was knee deep, they were only a couple of footfalls away from the front steps. The house loomed darkly, melding into the thicket of pine trees behind it, but for the fairy lights that caused the snow beneath them to scintillate with prismatic pastels, each individual snowflake detaching itself from the rest this way. It was the sort of small wonders that gave Elsa reason to look forward to winter each year. 

Readjusting her backpack, Elsa gave one last effort hoisting herself out of the snow to climb up the front porch and immediately began digging for the key that’d sunk to the bottom of her pocket. After a moment of struggling, feeling for it through her gloves, she pulled it out triumphantly and unlocked the front door. She bared her hands and dropped her backpack, blindly feeling for a light switch. When she finally did, her eyes fluttered in adjusting to the brightness. The interior was shockingly well-curated, the very definition of rustic chic between the wood, the stone, the plaid, the sheepskin, furs etc. A touch of charm and magic came by the way of understated yet elegant seasonal decorations. Mistletoe, cedar wreaths, holly, pine garlands accented by silver, red and blue ornaments. Logs and kindling were set up in the fireplace, ready to be set alight. 

It was nothing short of a miracle that they’d even been able to book this on such short notice. Honestly, she had no idea where and how Anna had managed to find this rental, but it was proving to blow up her expectations at every turn. Granted, when her sister had announced that they would need to drive roughly 7 and a half hours to get here, Elsa’s excitement had been mitigated, at best. Yet she also knew that its remoteness was likely what made the destination so affordable. And more importantly, now that they were here she understood there was a great deal of comfort in putting that much distance between them and their apartment in Ottawa, along with their roommates and friends. For the first time in years, it was just the two of them. 

The thought brought back into focus the main reason they’d even decided to get away for the winter holidays to spend them with each other.

They had a lot to talk about. 

Elsa glanced back, checking up on Anna who was pulling the toboggan they’d cleverly brought along to more easily transport all of their things from the car. She noted the unsteady grip and sought to deliver her from the icy wind.

“Why don’t you go get the fire started? I’ll get the rest of the stuff inside.” 

The younger woman didn’t need to be asked twice, dropping the toboggan’s cord and hurriedly shuffling through the snow, running up towards the warmth of the house. Elsa half expected her to immediately disappear inside, but that was something Anna had no intentions of doing without first stopping to throw her arms around her older sister. Caught off guard, Elsa did not immediately respond, but after a few moments had passed, she hesitantly brought her hands up to embrace her waist. 

“Thank you,” Anna whispered, her lips tickling against her ear.

Elsa shuddered, and it wasn’t from the cold. 

✧✧✧

It had taken some time for the chalet to warm up properly after Anna had gotten the fire going, but that had suited them just fine. Elsa had fixed them up some hot chocolate, with a healthy splash of Bailey’s and a hint of peppermint, crowned with marshmallows. She’d glanced down, gaze softened by tender affection as Anna had curled up against her on the couch, strands of red tickling Elsa’s collarbone as their beverages had heated them up from the inside out. The cold outside was soon forgotten as the flames had roared up, hot air cradling their faces in conjunction with the heavy blanket they’d drawn up over themselves. 

Elsa’s mind had soon grown restless however, the initial serenity engineered by the enchantment of their new setting dissipating as her thoughts had raced back to the conversation they’d kept on hold for exactly eighteen days (she’d kept count). Shackled by habit she’d wanted to slide her hand down to rest on Anna’s waist, fingertips seeking the hem of her sweater, but she’d taken forever before actually deciding to make a move. 

At the time she’d found it easier to simply talk about the future than the present, telling Anna that they would need to set a reminder for the following day to try and witness the Great Conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, which would this year occur on the Winter Solstice. She’d blushed sheepishly when Anna had pointed out that lack of light pollution was yet another reason she’d wanted to venture so far from what most people would commonly regard as civilization, knowing and understanding how beautifully rare it was to be alive for such a celestial event. 

The as of yet unspoken words had continued to tighten her throat, preventing her from bringing up the subject she was so anxious to broach, but was terrifyingly paralyzed by. It hadn’t been until their drinks were close to done (without counting the occasional topping off with more coffee liqueur) that Elsa’s tongue finally decided to cooperate with her brain. Eighteen days had been far too long to chew on their last exchange about the matter at hand, overthinking, overanalyzing, second guessing everything that had been said. 

By now, she felt pretty warm and she allowed the blanket to slide off her a little more, unzipping her hoodie, skin gently glowing with the flickering, crackling of the fire. 

“Anna, I…”

She felt her sister shift slightly, likely looking up at her. Elsa wetted her lips nervously, knowing she had her  full attention.

“We…”

The struggle was real, but she was glad there wasn’t any interjection coming. She made a mental note to thank Anna for her patience later. 

“Firstly I’m sorry I cut you off so abruptly when we talked about… this, a few weeks ago.” 

Perhaps it was a calculated nonchalance on her part but on the other hand she figured it would just sound strange to actually say ‘eighteen days ago’ out loud. 

“And I hope,” she continued. “That you understand what I meant when I said that we needed to talk this out some more, I wouldn’t want you to think I didn’t feel the same way.” 

There was a slight loss of body heat as Anna sat up a little straighter. It was brief, however, as she felt a hand gently grasp the side of her face, tilting her head down towards her sister.

“Elsa. It’s okay.”

“No it’s not, you deserve clarity, I-“

“Elsa.” 

Her lips fell heavy and she stopped talking, looking down at the dark intensity in Anna’s gaze. 

“You think too much. And gods, I’m Twenty-five, not Fifteen. I know I’ll always be your ‘baby sis’ - oh yeah, I’ve seen your caller ID listing - but I’m not a naive, innocent little girl anymore. I understand.” 

Elsa dared to lean slightly into the touch on her face, her gaze softening. She felt a thumb brush gently against the edge of her cheekbone and managed a smile.

“What do you understand?” 

“I understand that you’re scared. Hell, I am fucking terrified. I understand that I want you in ways I shouldn’t, love you in ways beyond my mandate as your little sister. I understood with every kiss, every lingering touch we shared that night that you felt the same way. I also understand why you pulled away after I kissed your neck, because I know you, Elsa. I know you don’t trust yourself, I know you have so carefully crafted an armour and delicately cultivated a self-possessed facade to protect yourself from the world. And I also understand what it would mean for us, for our lives if one of our roommates or friends were to discover the truth.  And I know it must have felt like torture for you to be so hyper vigilant about the way you spoke to me, the way you looked at me, the way you touched me and the restraint you exerted. I could feel the fucking fire coming off of you. So I understand why you said what you said - you were buying time, and I understand why you acted the way you did - you were protecting us both.”

Her eyebrows had risen and she stared at Anna, completely bewildered at what she was hearing. Though she was ordinarily loquacious, her sister was seldom ever so brutally to the point. More than that, she realized this meant Anna somehow knew about the feelings Elsa had harboured for her for quite some time. She wondered how long, worried that if Anna had noticed, others might have seen the crack in her tower of ice. 

“You knew?” 

That’s all she could manage and she felt ridiculous, knowing she was normally well-spoken and articulate, though one might have noted it was only when the situation pertained to matters impersonal, relative to herself. Her mouth felt dry and her gaze wandered briefly away from Anna’s eyes, to the crown of dampness forming at her temples from the heat that now enveloped them both, inside out. As much as Elsa appreciated the crisp, unforgiving sharpness of cold winter air, she knew Anna was likely very happy to be sweating indoors instead.

“I didn’t say anything because I knew being the big gay lesbian you are, you needed some time to process and a safe space to say your piece… but do you really think I begged you to drive 8 hours north into the sticks just so we could talk?” 

Elsa’s mind went into overdrive as she tried to comprehend what Anna was saying. It seemed as though her brain was yet again trying to overanalyze, overthink what she was being told. 

“What do you mean?”

She tensed up a little as she heard Anna’s exasperated sigh. Any doubts she had previously held however, were dissipated the moment she felt a thumb trace the curve of her lower lip, followed by a soft, delicate mouth pressing against hers in its wake.

Oh.

Her heart was now beating so hard she could feel it in her throat. The kiss electrified her body, lighting it up with a fire she’d never quite felt before and the sparks lingered on her lips. Even if her head had been clear and focused in the moment, she wouldn’t have been able to recall any previous incidence of the single act of kissing, sending heat and lightning in the pit of her lower belly. She’d had chemistry, good chemistry with other people even but nothing like this. There was no way the Bailey’s alone could be blamed for it and that thought both enthralled and terrified her. The hand she’d kept at Anna’s waist slid up the sweater, under her shirt, finding the velvety dew of her skin pleasant to her fingertips. How long had it been since she’d first realized she craved and longed to touch her sister in this way? How long had it been since fear had guided and controlled her every movement, shackling her most human needs and impulses to touch, to hug, to nuzzle the person she held dearest in this world? How long had it been since the guilt began to gnaw at her? How long had it been now since the constant mental self-flagellation, driven by self-loathing had overtaken her identity and so twisted and tainted her self-perception? How long had it been since she’d completely choked out any trace of spontaneity within her, for fear it might one day betray the repulsive, repugnant truth she’d come to believe represented her? How long had she allowed it to take over her life until it tainted every one of her interactions? Too long. Far too long. She didn’t know that the damage would ever be undone. But, here under the cast of the fire’s warm glow, for the first time in forever, her mind flirted with the idea of self-forgiveness.

For the first time in forever, she could allow herself to be free.

On some level it hadn’t fully sunk in yet, and even as she finally allowed this sort of contact, the habit of caution kept her gestures on a tight, controlled reign, not quite ready yet to forget herself. Fear and guilt were, after all, powerful enemies, bridling her every impulse even now as sharp sparks jolted through her nervous system, crackling from her lips combined to Anna’s.

It was a fortunate thing that Anna knew what she wanted though, and was determined to get it. Unbeknownst to Elsa, she too had been sitting on this obsessive craving for a fruit so forbidden she had to plan an entire holiday to finally get a taste. Elsa’s breath was shallow as she watched her lean back to tug her sweater off, discarding it to the floor hurriedly. Her nipples were visible under the fabric of her tank top and Elsa thought she might choke as she noticed them. Desire gnawed at the chains of self control. Sanity was packing its bags, ready to vacate the premises when she felt fingernails lightly scratching at her jaw line, flirting with the tender skin of her throat. Fear and guilt were beginning to lose their grip, inch by inch and by the time Anna was brushing up her thigh against Elsa’s side, they were out of sight and out of mind.

Finally, Elsa left the safe harbour of her mouth, lips kissing up the line of her jaw to her earlobe where she gently nipped, down the curve of her neck - all to the delight of Anna, who’s gentle mewling sent heated flames of need licking at the core of Elsa’s lower belly. Her timidity almost completely vanished, she pushed Anna back down on the couch, shifting so that she was now laying on top of her, and she lapped her tongue softly at the base of her throat. She felt Anna’s body arch beneath her and where the alcohol might have left them fairly tipsy, she was now tasting what it felt like to be drunk on power. 

Unfortunately, the couch was fairly narrow and their hips bumped uncomfortably. She even tried to set a foot down on the floor to steady herself as she captured Anna’s lips and ran a hand ravenously along her side, but she quickly realized that the position would only lead to cramping and disappointment. 

She looked around, one hand subconsciously pressing down on Anna’s sternum as if to ensure she would not go anywhere (as if Anna had any desire whatsoever to be anywhere else in the world at that precise moment). Her eyes lingered briefly on the fire and the lush reindeer skin rug by it, considering her options briefly. She smirked to herself but decided that they would have more opportunities and occasions for her to claim Anna by the fire.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just- what do you say we take this to the bedroom?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

✧✧✧

They’d had thrown as many more logs as they could possibly fit into the fire place, knowing the chances of either of them getting up in the night to keep it going were slim to inexistent. They’d paused only briefly once more to taste each other, touch each other in ways they’d, prior to that moment, barely dared think of, shamefully hidden in the darkest hours of the night. Hurriedly, they’d ran up the stairs, Anna having playfully lured Elsa into giving chase up to the master room, their clothes discarded erratically along the way, as they paused only to catch one another, fumbling with clasps and zippers, struggling with waistbands, insatiable in their kissing.

Inhibitions had retained a thin veil only long enough for her to notice the glorious, star-gazing window right in perfect view of the bed. Anna had been right about her liking the master bedroom. She did not linger on the thought however, her eyes drawn back to Anna’s features illuminated by the beams of moonlight flooding through the windows, an ethereal halo now wrapping around her features, lending her another worldly beauty. Overwhelmed and overthrown, it was like seeing her for the first time, again and she thought her heart might burst open with Anna pulling her down on top of her, the warmth of her skin immediately radiating towards Elsa. 

She found herself hungrily kissing Anna, gaining in confidence with each passing second as she nipped and suckled softly at her lower lip. She smiled against her as she heard the little squeal of surprise this produced. Nails scratched over the nape of her neck, digging into her shoulders, and her sister’s smooth, bare thigh locked around her hip pressing her down against her pelvic bone, which elicited a gasp from the both of them. Elsa slid her tongue just past Anna’s lips whom promptly suckled it in, causing her to moan, and her body subconsciously rocked against hers. 

Her hand slid down the side of Anna’s body, the tremor in her fingertips belying the nervous eagerness crackling hotly in every single one of her cells. The sensation of Anna’s warm, dewy skin against her own set her nerves alight with fire and she had to pull away from the kiss momentarily to check whether she were actually still breathing.

Another jolt of arousal shot down from her spine to her loins as Anna looked up at her, skin flushed and feverish, eyes come hither as she felt her hand coming up to tease one of her breasts. Elsa’s body tensed and her breath hitched, realizing just how strained her nipples had gotten, and how sensitive they were as a result. Her lips fell open as her younger sister teased it, sending sparks of pleasure radiating throughout her body, especially between her thighs. She shifted again slightly, her hip and upper thigh now pressing firmly against Anna’s radiating core. The heated dampness she felt against her skin was enough to cause a rush of wetness between Elsa’s own legs and she reached down again, her mouth seeking Anna’s neck. She kissed her at first gently, then intermingled with nips until she couldn’t resist the temptation anymore, following the thrumming of her pulse against her lips, and began to suckle at the skin, growling as she left her mark. It was something a little possessive, a little territorial, and on a primal level Elsa liked the thought of having visibly claimed what she deemed to be hers and if the way Anna mewled and gasped were any indication it seem she enjoyed it too. Given the nature of their relationship, they had to take full advantage now then, before any trace of it lingered and remained visible upon returning to their lives back in Ottawa. 

Anna arched her body beneath her, causing friction in between their legs, as she began to subconsciously rock up against her. The hand she had been using to tease her nipple cupped the breast more fully, squeezing and massaging ever so gently. Elsa let out a little growl in response to this, and left a trail of love bites on her way down to a pert, rosy breast. She ghosted feathery kisses around the taut nipple, enjoying the feel of the divinely soft skin against her lips, spurred on by the sweet little mewls her younger sister echoed in answer. 

By now, Elsa was humping softly against Anna’s thigh, feeling a blush creep up her neck at the realization of her own arousal. It was further compounded by the feeling of Anna’s wetness against her own thigh, as well as the nails now scratching up her shoulders, leaving scarlet trails on the nape of her neck. She hissed in a mixture of pain and pleasure flexing her thigh and rolling her hips a little more firmly. It was enough to coax her into giving a flick of her tongue over Anna’s nipple who inhaled sharply, and tangled her dainty fingers into the base of Elsa’s messy, platinum braid. Encouraged by this, she glanced up past the trail of darkly, well defined love bites she’d left, to find Anna’s head tossed invitingly to the side, eyes tightly shut in pleasure. It was enough to convince her to capture the aching nipple between her lips giving it an experimental suck. 

Again, she shuddered and rolled her hips as she felt Anna arch her back up against her, and grip in her hair tightening further, which in turn provided a swell of confidence for her. Her lower belly clenched and she suckled a little harder, moaning as she felt the hard peak against the flat of her tongue. Hunger raged and she pressed more fully into any in every way she possibly could. Fire coursed through her when Anna briefly glanced back at her, eyes feverish and glassy, dark with desire, panting with her lips parted as she whispered her name. 

“Elsa…” 

Fuck - how was she so gloriously, ravishingly beautiful? How was this woman here with her, like this, offering the toned, perfect lines and curves of her body and the exquisitely harmonious features of her face? Elsa feasted her eyes, her senses, her fingertips, her skin, her touch. Her ears, her taste and even right down to her scent, as if she were afraid any moment now, this might all slip away. As if, she were afraid Anna would realize her mistake, realize that Elsa weren’t deserving of her. And in turn, it pushed her to be a more attentive, devoted partner in the discovery and exploration of her body, with the sole, fixed goal of bringing Anna to heights yet undiscovered. 

Her hand reached down to caress the curve of Anna’s ass, squeezing and massaging it for a moment before lightly scratching up her hip, her waist, the side of her rib cage, then trailing along her arm, seeking out her hand. She laced her fingers into her sister’s gently, yet firmly pinning back down against the mattress, as her mouth switched from suckling, to worrying the nipple between her teeth. Anna’s breathing turned ragged as the hand still entangled in Elsa’s hair gripped tighter, nails digging into her scalp, and her heated, dripping pussy now humped up desperately against Elsa’s tensed, flexed thigh. 

“More,” Anna whimpered desperately, which promptly caused Elsa’s free hand to find her other breast, fingers rolling the nipple between them. She felt her buck, which gave a pleasantly firm rub against her own, swollen, eager sex and her thigh twitched involuntarily, and squeezed Anna’s hand even as she kept it pinned against the bed.

They were close, she could feel it as much in Anna’s body as in her own. The buildup was coming to a head, and she gave one last heated lick before kissing and nipping her way back up the trail of love bites, up her throat, to the curve of her neck, to her earlobe which she kissed almost reverently, before nipping as she whispered in a husky, breathless voice. “I love you Anna.” 

This seemed to do it for Anna, whom she could feel now desperately humping her leg, likely guided by reflex and instinct more than intent. She moaned loudly and turned her head seeking Elsa’s mouth blindly, wanting to feel all of her, give herself to her entirely, as her orgasm set her whole body alight, like fire raging through her blood, heat blooming from her belly and pooling wetly against her older sister’s skin. 

With their breasts now pressed together, nipples brushing against nipples, digging into skin, and the intoxicating sensation of the power she’d just had over Anna, Elsa finally lost the battle with her self-restraint, her inhibitions discarded with no regard for dignity. She squeezed Anna’s thigh between her own, her belly painfully taut as she built up to her own perfect storm. It was her turn to moan in pleasure as Anna whimpered and mewled through her after shocks, looking up at her in earnest adoration.

“I love you too, Elsa so much.”

Light and heat blinded her for a moment as her body went still, her climax thrashing through her with an intensity she never guessed possible. Her heart raced and her pulse deafened her before she finally dropped her face into the nook of Anna’s neck, kissing it tenderly through ragged breaths. 

The hand previously at Anna’s breast reached up to stroke her ember-coloured hair tenderly, smiling as she heard her giggle. As she recovered slowly, body still lightly trembling, she finally lifted her head up to share tender, lingering kisses, basking in their afterglow. She could’ve sworn she heard her younger sister purring but perhaps the stars in her head hadn’t cleared yet. Anna’s lips briefly left hers to kiss the corner of her mouth, up to her ear, whispering:

“I can’t wait for you to taste me.”

A surge of heat, and suddenly Elsa knew there was beauty in warmth too.

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Summary: The evolution of our universe according to the Big Bang theory

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution. The model describes how the universe expanded from a very high-density and high-temperature state, and offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure and Hubble's law. If the known laws of physics are extrapolated to the highest density regime, the result is a singularity which is typically associated with the Big Bang. Physicists are undecided whether this means the universe began from a singularity, or that current knowledge is insufficient to describe the universe at that time. Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the universe place the Big Bang at around 13.8 billion years ago, which is thus considered the age of the universe. After the initial expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow the formation of subatomic particles, and later simple atoms. Giant clouds of these primordial elements later coalesced through gravity in halos of dark matter, eventually forming the stars and galaxies visible today.

1° Planck epoch <10−43 seconds

0 seconds: Planck Epoch begins: earliest meaningful time. The Big Bang occurs in which ordinary space and time develop out of a primeval state (possibly a virtual particle or false vacuum) described by a quantum theory of gravity or "Theory of Everything". All matter and energy of the entire visible universe is contained in an unimaginably hot, dense point (gravitational singularity), a billionth the size of a nuclear particle. This state has been described as a particle desert. Other than a few scant details, conjecture dominates discussion about the earliest moments of the universe's history since no effective means of testing this far back in space-time is presently available. WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles) or dark matter and dark energy may have appeared and been the catalyst for the expansion of the singularity. The infant universe cools as it begins expanding outward. It is almost completely smooth, with quantum variations beginning to cause slight variations in density.

2° Grand unification epoch 10−43 seconds

Grand unification epoch begins: While still at an infinitesimal size, the universe cools down to 1032 kelvin. Gravity separates and begins operating on the universe—the remaining fundamental forces stabilize into the electronuclear force, also known as the Grand Unified Force or Grand Unified Theory (GUT), mediated by (the hypothetical) X and Y bosons which allow early matter at this stage to fluctuate between baryon and lepton states.

3° Electroweak epoch

10−36 seconds: Electroweak epoch begins: The Universe cools down to 1028 kelvin. As a result, the Strong Nuclear Force becomes distinct from the Electroweak Force perhaps fuelling the inflation of the universe. A wide array of exotic elementary particles result from decay of X and Y bosons which include W and Z bosons and Higgs bosons.

10−33 seconds: Space is subjected to inflation, expanding by a factor of the order of 1026 over a time of the order of 10−33 to 10−32 seconds. The universe is supercooled from about 1027 down to 1022 kelvin.

10−32 seconds: Cosmic inflation ends. The familiar elementary particles now form as a soup of hot ionized gas called quark-gluon plasma; hypothetical components of Cold dark matter (such as axions) would also have formed at this time.

4° Quarks epoch

10−12 seconds: Electroweak phase transition: the four fundamental interactions familiar from the modern universe now operate as distinct forces. The Weak nuclear force is now a short-range force as it separates from Electromagnetic force, so matter particles can acquire mass and interact with the Higgs Field. The temperature is still too high for quarks to coalesce into hadrons, and the quark-gluon plasma persists (Quark epoch). The universe cools to 1015 kelvin.

10−11 seconds: Baryogenesis may have taken place with matter gaining the upper hand over anti-matter as baryon to antibaryon constituencies are established.

5° Hadron epoch  10−6 seconds

Hadron epoch begins: As the universe cools to about 1010 kelvin, a quark-hadron transition takes place in which quarks bind to form more complex particles—hadrons. This quark confinement includes the formation of protons and neutrons (nucleons), the building blocks of atomic nuclei.

6° Lepton Epoch 1 second

Lepton epoch begins: The universe cools to 109 kelvin. At this temperature, the hadrons and antihadrons annihilate each other, leaving behind leptons and antileptons – possible disappearance of antiquarks. Gravity governs the expansion of the universe: neutrinos decouple from matter creating a cosmic neutrino background.

7° Photon epoch (Matter era )

10 seconds: Photon epoch begins: Most of the leptons and antileptons annihilate each other. As electrons and positrons annihilate, a small number of unmatched electrons are left over – disappearance of the positrons.

10 seconds: Universe dominated by photons of radiation – ordinary matter particles are coupled to light and radiation while dark matter particles start building non-linear structures as dark matter halos. Because charged electrons and protons hinder the emission of light, the universe becomes a super-hot glowing fog.

3 minutes: Primordial nucleosynthesis: nuclear fusion begins as lithium and heavy hydrogen (deuterium) and helium nuclei form from protons and neutrons.

20 minutes: Nuclear fusion ceases: normal matter consists of 75% hydrogen and 25% helium – free electrons begin scattering light.

70,000 years: Matter domination in Universe: onset of gravitational collapse as the Jeans length at which the smallest structure can form begins to fall.

8° Cosmic Dark Age 370,000 years

The "Dark Ages" is the period between decoupling, when the universe first becomes transparent, until the formation of the first stars. Recombination: 

electrons combine with nuclei to form atoms, mostly hydrogen and helium. Distributions of hydrogen and helium at this time remains constant as the electron-baryon plasma thins. The temperature falls to 3000 kelvin.

Ordinary matter particles decouple from radiation. The photons present at the time of decoupling are the same photons that we see in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation.

10 million years: With a trace of heavy elements in the Universe, the chemistry that later sparked life begins operating.

100 million years: Gravitational collapse: ordinary matter particles fall into the structures created by dark matter. Reionization begins: smaller (stars) and larger non-linear structures (quasars) begin to take shape – their ultraviolet light ionizes remaining neutral gas.

200–300 million years: First stars begin to shine: Because many are Population III stars (some Population II stars are accounted for at this time) they are much bigger and hotter and their life-cycle is fairly short. Unlike later generations of stars, these stars are metal free. As reionization intensifies, photons of light scatter off free protons and electrons – Universe becomes opaque again.

600 million years: Renaissance of the Universe—end of the Dark Ages as visible light begins dominating throughout. Possible formation of the Milky Way Galaxy: although age of the Methusaleh star suggests a much older date of origin, it is highly likely that HD 140283 may have come into our galaxy via a later galaxy merger. Oldest confirmed star in Milky Way Galaxy, HE 1523-0901.

700 million years: Galaxies form. Smaller galaxies begin merging to form larger ones. Galaxy classes may have also begun forming at this time including Blazars, Seyfert galaxies, radio galaxies, normal galaxies (elliptical, Spiral galaxies, barred spiral) and dwarf galaxies.

7.8 billion years: Acceleration: dark-energy dominated era begins, following the matter-dominated era in during which cosmic expansion was slowing down

Formation of the solar system

9.2 billion years: Primal supernova, possibly triggers the formation of the Solar System.

9.2318 billion years: Sun forms - Planetary nebula begins accretion of planets.

9.23283 billion years: Four Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune ) evolve around the sun.

9.257 billion years: Solar System of Eight planets, four terrestrial (Mercury (planet), Venus, Earth, Mars) evolve around the sun.

Source (see full list)

images: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

[blogagent155]

Kepler 16b

This discovery confirms that Kepler-16b is an inhospitable, cold world about the size of Saturn and thought to be made up of about half rock and half gas. The parent stars are smaller than our sun. One is 69 percent the mass of the sun and the other only 20 percent. Kepler-16b orbits around both stars every 229 days, similar to Venus’ 225-day.

Unique Kepler 16b Posters designed and sold by artists. Shop affordable wall art to hang in dorms, bedrooms, offices, or anywhere blank walls aren't welcome.

Kepler-16b orbits the binary stars, a K-type Kepler-16A and an M-type Kepler-16B in the constellation Cygnus. Kepler-16b is the first object discovered orbiting a binary star. This means that two “suns” are visible from the surface of the planet. Its orbit is located at the outer edge of the habitable zone of the brighter star, Kepler-16A.

Kepler-16b is a gas giant that orbits the two stars in the Kepler-16 system. The planet is a third of Jupiter's mass and slightly smaller than Saturn at 0.7538 Jupiter radii, but is more dense. Kepler-16b completes a nearly circular orbit every 228.776 days.

Kepler-16b has a radius of 8.5 times that of Earth and a mass of 105 times that of Earth. It is close to the size Saturn from our solar system, and is considered a gas giant. If it has a sufficient atmosphere, there is a possibility for life to occur.

（Credit: Shione Fujita & SGH Moriyama High School）

From this imaginary satellite, if you look into the sky, you will see Kepler-16b (the Saturn-like planet with rings) and two suns (Kepler-16(AB)) shining in the distance. It is interesting to think that life could be occurring on a “habitable moon,” which is unknown in our solar system, The landscape would be completely different than on Earth.

Kepler 16b Planet

When Kepler-16b was first introduced at a research conference in the United States, the audience gave it a standing ovation. People thought that Luke Skywalker’s hometown of Tatooine, from the movie “Star Wars,” had finally been discovered! It was such a wonderful moment where science fiction caught up with reality.

Circumpolar planets have been discovered since then, and various studies are now being actively investigated, including the possibility of different ways of forming planets from single stars, and calculating more complex habitable zones. Since there are more binary stars in the universe than single stars, it is important to understand these binary planets.

（文責：藤田汐音・佐々木貴教）

（Kepler-16b in the ExoKyoto Stellar Window）

For more information about Kepler-16b, please visit: http://www.exoplanetkyoto.org/exohtml/Kepler-16_(AB)_b.html

NameKepler-16 (AB) bPlanet StatusConfirmedDiscovered in2011Mass0.333 ( -0.016+0.016 ) MJMass*sin(i)—Semi-Major Axis0.7048 (± 0.001) AUOrbital Period228.776 ( -0.037+0.037 ) dayEccentricity0.00685 ( -0.00146+0.00146 )ω318.0 ( -22.0+22.0 ) degTperi—Radius0.7538 ( -0.0023+0.0023 ) RJInclination90.0322 ( -0.0023+0.0023 ) degUpdate2013-08-30Detection MethodPrimary TransitMass Detection Method—Radius Detection Method—Primary transit2455212.12316 JDSecondary transit—λ—Impact Parameter b—Time Vr=0—Velocity Semiamplitude K—Calculated temperature—Measured temperature—Hottest point longitude—Geometric albedo—Surface gravity log(g/gH)—Alternate Names—

Star

Kepler 16b Tatooine

Kepler-16 (AB)

NameKepler-16 (AB)Distance—Spectral typeKApparent magnitude V12.0Mass0.8499 (± 0.017) MSunAge—Effective temperature4450.0 (± 150.0) KRadius0.65 (± 0.0) RSunMetallicity (Fe/H)-0.3 (± 0.2)Detected Disc—Magnetic Field—RA200019:16:18.0Dec2000+51:45:27Alternate NamesPlanetary system 1 planet

Remarks

Alias KIC 12644769

Alias 2MASS 19161817+5145267

03 May 2012: Revised parameters (Bender et al. 2012): - MA = 0.654 ± 0.017 MSun - MB = 0.1959 ± 0.0031 MSun - e = 0.15894 ± 0.00079 - ω = 263.287 ± 0.041 deg. 13 Sep 2011: Kepler 16 is an eclisping binary star with a 41.0781 day period with two K or M components (Slawson et al. 2011).

The mass given to Kepler-16(AB) is the sum of the masses of components A and B. The parameters for the individual components are (in solar units - Doyle et al. 2011): Star A: Mass: 0.6897 ± 0.0035 Radius: 0.6489 ± 0.0013 Temp.: 4450 ± 150 K (Fe/H): -0.3 ± 0.2 Star B: Mass: 0.20255 ± 0.00065 Radius: 0.22623 ± 0.00059 Binary system: Period: 41.079 ± 0.000078 day Semi-maj. axis: 0.224 ± 0.00035 AU Inclination: 90.3401 ± 0.0019 deg. Ecc.: 0.15944 ± 0.0006

More data

Most recent references (ADS)

Remarks

13 Sep 2011: The planet Kepler-16 b was first suspected by Slawson et al. 2011.

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Placing Limits On The Transit Timing Variations Of Circumbinary Exoplanets 2013 ARMSTRONG D., MARTIN D., BROWN G., FAEDI F., GOMEZ MAQUEO CHEW Y. & 4 additional authors MNRAS, submitted arxiv

The curiously circular orbit of Kepler-16b 2013 DUNHILL A. & ALEXANDER R. MNRAS, in press paperarxiv

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Circumbinary Planet Formation in the Kepler-16 System. II. A Model for In-situ Planet Formation within a Debris Belt 2013 MESCHIARI S. ApJ, 790, 41 paperarxiv

Kepler-16b: a resonant survivor 2012 POPOVA E. & SHEVCHENKO I. arxiv

How not to build Tatooine: the difficulty of in situ formation of circumbinary planets Kepler 16b, Kepler 34b and Kepler 35b 2012 PAARDEKOOPER S.-J., LEINHARDT Z., THEBAULT Ph. & BARUTEAU C. ApJ. Letters, 754, L16 paperarxiv

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A Correlation Between the Eclipse Depths of Kepler Gas Giant Candidates and the Metallicities of their Parent Stars 2012 DODSON-ROBINSON S. ApJ., 752, Issue 1, 72, 9 pp paperarxiv

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[painebae]

I wrote a thing for my Ocs Rage and Raven- read if you wanna, I won't make you 😂

They found themselves in the middle of a clearing relatively close to where Raven first found Rage, but away from all that water and... swampiness... The sky was clear too, the stunning blue reflecting off the morning dew that dusted the deep green grass. It was a fresh morning, just before noon, and the animal life was still sleeping.  If one listened close, they could hear the gentle breathing of all sorts of wildlife

“Come on! You said you’d show me!” Raven cried, even from this far away, Rage could see the delightful, beaming smile Raven had plastered on her face. 

“Raven, I don’t know anymore. I’m dangerous, I might hurt you.” Rage admitted, a hand rubbing the back of her neck as she stared nervously to the ground. Raven huffed a laugh. 

“Oh shut up! my wings are fire-proof, remember? If I need to protect myself, I will! Don’t worry about me!” Raven confidently placed her hands on her hips, standing bravely with her massive wings spreading out behind her. As stubbornly lovable as Raven is, Rage can still try to say no to her....

Right? 

The Sun sighed, wrapping her arms around her torso, squeezing herself tightly. Admittedly, Rage could feel the magma boiling inside her, bubbling and gurgling with the urge to explode. Being here, this close to bursting, its... It’s too dangerous. She must get away, get somewhere safe so she could let her fire escape. She has too... “Raven.... I can’t. I can’t do it.” She finally replied, a shaky sob following suit. “I don’t want t-to hurt you.” Human emotions suck. 

Raven watched, her smile becoming soft and gentle. Her wings curled back in on her. “Rage, relax. I certainly won’t make you do anything but... You can do it. I promise that you can.” The dragon assured, her deep purple (and somewhat glittery) aura wisping around her fingers for a moment before pointing at Rage. “You got this, my blaze.” 

The aura shot off her finger and collided with Rage’s side, making the Sun stumble back a bit. Her eyes widened with confusion. The little shadow dancing around Rage’s shoulders, the distinct smell of lavender and ozone that was pure Raven filled her senses. Rage sighed, still hesitant “Raven... I don’t know...” 

“Just let your fire breathe, baby!” The dragon suddenly yelled, her stunning smile growing back on her face, her cheeks turning a gorgeous lilac that just enhanced the adoration in her bright purple eyes. 

“Breathe?” Rage looked up at her, confused. 

Raven nodded, pumping her fists in the air as she tried to motivate her Sun “Yeah! Like you’re stretchin’! It’ll feel good!” 

“Like I’m stretching...” The solar being repeated, moving to stand up straight, her hands dropping back to her sides. “Like I'm stretching.” She said again, confirming the thought in her mind. Maybe she’ll indulge Raven, at least for a short while. 

Raven gasped, eyes wide and her smile practically making her glow as her hands flapped and fidgeted with excitement. Her aura was buzzing around her too, making a few flowers grow around her feet. 

Rage reached her arms out to each side, raising them above her head, and in one swift spin, she brought her hands back down and pounded them against her hips. Right as they collided, a ring of pure flame launched from her core. The hot wind blasted the trees and the grass straight into the ground before the fire flew across all of it. The fire then shot right back to Rage, but with beautiful timing, she was able to hit the flame in just the right spot and rapidly send it right back out again. This time even farther than the first time. Then Rage stomped her foot hard into the dirt, and the flame changed directions, moving from horizontal, to completely vertical. A fiery hoop dancing high in the sky, flaring out on it’s own as Rage moved her hand in a vague circular motion.

The young dragon heir stared, her jaw dropping in awe as she watched the fire ring move so elegantly. Watching as the flames swirled in and out, as if they were Rage’s lungs, breathing. Raven glanced down at Rage, her awe-inspired smile faltering as a deep purple blush dusted her face.

Rage form had completely changed, forgoing the humanized appearance for a very different one. Her entire being had been engulfed by fire. Literally, Rage didn’t even have her lank silhouette anymore. It was just a shaky outline of a body shape. That is not what made Raven blush though. 

It was her eyes. 

She had eight.

On the general area of where her face should be laid eight very different eyes, forming a nice circle of shapes and colors. The first one was the most notable out of the eight, the iris being smaller than average, and having no color at all. Instead it was entirely monochrome, even the lashes were a pale white. The iris was a bright, cold grey, darker grey dots spotting around it. Yet, in the top right-ish of that iris was a bright white dot that cascaded thinner white and light grey lines around the edge of the eye.  

Raven gasped; that was Mercury in her eye.

That’s when it clicked, each eye represented one of the planets in their solar system! 

Raven subconsciously stepped closer, not even realizing that Rage had stopped the fire display in the sky until all eight of those gorgeous eyes stared back at her. Distantly she thought that she could see worry laced within the missing expression, but the thought didn’t last long. She got about two steps away before feeling the heat that Rage was continually emitting. Raven’s scales protect her from being burned. 

“Raven?” Rage asked, looking at her concerned. “Do you want me to change ba-” “God no! Just wait. I’m not done looking.” Raven replied, a soft smile on her face and a star-stuck look in her eyes.  

Rage stuttered, heat growing more intense.  

Raven moved on to the next eye, Venus. This iris was a coco brown color with a seemingly gold iridescence. White lines streaking through the center like lightning, almost making the gold shine glow.

Earth was the third, and boy it was gorgeous. A stunning blue that looked as though it moved liked the waves it represented. The bright green, the land, spotted around the middle of the iris, resembling the land masses on the actual planet.  

Rage started to get restless as Raven continued, her fire moving back in on her in an attempt to hide herself. Rage had to admit that Raven’s curiosity was absolutely delightful though. 

Raven moved on. Forth was Mars, and it was a brilliant brick red color, the top and bottom of the iris both being an icy white color that ever-so-slightly fuzzed into the red, thin and darker red lines trailing from the pupil made it look so real.

This next one though? This had to be her favorite. Jupiter. It was swirling with so much color that it was almost hypnotizing, reds, whites, yellows, and purples spiraling together so quick that the design had changed in under a second. The pupil was different too, instead of black, it was red like the giant storm that forever plows through the massive planet. Speaking off, this iris was reasonably bigger than the rest- in fact it was the biggest out of all of them. Raven will never admit that she stared just a little bit longer at this one then the rest. 

The Saturn eye had many colors as well, but unlike Jupiter, they didn’t swirl together, and they were much more muted tones. They looked more like fuzzy lines that blended together. Then she noticed the rings. Incredibly thin lines stretched from the inner corner of the eye to the outer corner, the darker ones being only a tad more noticeable.

If Raven hadn’t had a crush on the Sun before, she certainly did now.

Rage didn’t know what to do with her hands, fidgeting with them as her flame reached out towards Raven. As if on cue, she stepped closer, letting the gentle flames wrap around her waist and pull her closer to the Sun. 

The fire the other created was feared  by most, yet Raven found it comforting. The everlasting heat just felt… nice to be around, and maybe that’s because she never got burned by it. It never hurt. Wonder why that is...

Raven immediately knew that this next one was Uranus, the blindingly bright baby blue giving it away. There was a fuzzy white line on the right side of the iris, and a white dot on the upper left side. Raven silently gasped, the iris was sideways! Sideways! That couldn’t get any cooler! 

Rage giggled, Raven’s fascination being very entertaining. Normally, the Sun would never let anyone get that close to her, no one wanted too. Her very existence cast fear into every beating heart on this planet. Rage didn’t mind it, but she was unsure if she actually wanted it. Just because she's the Sun doesn’t mean that she is a bad person!

The Sun was forced out of her thoughts when Raven was suddenly grabbing her face, the fire going out where the dragon’s hands lay. 

Neptune was supposedly next, but Rage could see the look in the other’s eyes. She could see that Raven wasn’t interrogating and memorizing the details of her true face anymore.

Raven noticed as the other let the flame that covered her face disappear, taking the eight eyes with it and returning her normal features; her bright red eyes that seemed to glow against the black sclera, her dancing soul that could just barely be seen through the slight transparency of her warm, white skin. Her soft smile that ever-so-slightly revealed teeth that were so sharp, they could break steal. 

Oh that smile was so pure, like a goddess would be.

The Sun watched as that Lilac purple blush crossed over Raven’s face again, as the dragon’s stunning purple eyes went back and forth from her gaze to her lips and back again. That blush darkening as Rage laughed, her nerves spiking once again as the fire danced in whipping shapes on her head and along the grass.

“W… What is this?” The Sun asked, breaking the tense silence as she tilted her head curiously, unintentionally leaning more into the other’s comforting touch. Okay, maybe it was a little bit intentional. “I’m still new to… everything.”

Raven went to speak, yet she stuttered and tripped over every word, each fail making her skin darker with embarrassment. She pulled her hands away next, about to start muttering out an apology. Rage stopped her though, the Sun placed a hand on Raven's chin, curling a finger underneath it to make her look up. Raven almost squeaked at the sight above her, Rage was looking down at her with so much-

“Love. Is that what this feeling is?” The Sun asked, her flame wrapping around Raven in a way that was almost protective. “I am the Sun, a solar star that has been burning at an incredible temperature since I was born. Yet, the warmth you give me, that feeling I get when you smile or laugh, or when you praise me. Even when you fail miserably at something I just… you existing is nice on it’s own, and you chose to help me. You risked your life to teach me, to befriend me. It’s-” Rage took a deep and shaky breath, her voice cracking more times then once as she felt the urge to cry right then and there. Yet her fire made any sort of tears evaporate before that even reached her eyes.

Raven was shaking, her legs threatening to give out on her as she absorbed every word the other said, completely lost in her feelings, in her heart.

“Raven, I adore you.” She finished, removing her hand from underneath Raven’s chin and placing it on top of one of the shaking hands that rest on her face, turning her head to press a kiss into the dragon’s palm. Then, Rage laughed. “I hope that made some sense.”

Raven choked out a laugh next, sounding more like a sob as she fell forward, pulling Rage into a hug. The happiness that flooded through the dragon was so powerful, she might drown in it. It was made even worse when Rage hugged her back.

“I do have a question though.” The Sun asked, running her fingers through Raven’s dark hair.

“Mmph?” Raven responded, not wanting to pull away from any of this.

“You are crying, but you are happy. What is that called?”

The dragon laughed again, looking up at the other with a big and goofy smile. Rage blushed at the sight.

“Tears of Joy. It’s called Tears of Joy.”

[thecaraddict]

Women at NASA: The Story of JoAnn Morgan, the instrumentation controller for Apollo 11

#Women at #NASA: The Story of #JoAnnMorgan, the instrumentation controller for #Apollo11

As the Apollo 11 mission lifted off on the Saturn V rocket, propelling humanity to the surface of the Moon for the very first time, members of the launch firing team inside Launch Control Center watched through a window.

The room was crowded with men in white shirts and dark ties, observing as the rocket thrust into the sky. But among them sat one woman, seated to the left of centre in the third…

[motorblogger]

Women at NASA: The Story of JoAnn Morgan, the instrumentation controller for Apollo 11

#Women at #NASA: The Story of #JoAnnMorgan, the instrumentation controller for #Apollo11

As the Apollo 11 mission lifted off on the Saturn V rocket, propelling humanity to the surface of the Moon for the very first time, members of the launch firing team inside Launch Control Center watched through a window.

The room was crowded with men in white shirts and dark ties, observing as the rocket thrust into the sky. But among them sat one woman, seated to the left of centre in the third…

[travel-food-inspiration]

Women at NASA: The Story of JoAnn Morgan, the instrumentation controller for Apollo 11

#Women at #NASA: The Story of #JoAnnMorgan, the instrumentation controller for #Apollo11

As the Apollo 11 mission lifted off on the Saturn V rocket, propelling humanity to the surface of the Moon for the very first time, members of the launch firing team inside Launch Control Center watched through a window.

The room was crowded with men in white shirts and dark ties, observing as the rocket thrust into the sky. But among them sat one woman, seated to the left of centre in the third…

[algorabastrology]

A Note on the Current Saturn in Capricorn Transit

It’s retrograde...which means that it’s time to reflect....

It’s the time where boundaries are set. Saturn has been archetypically described as the one who freezes and creates stasis. It is responsible for matter and the material. It’s why the Earth sign of Capricorn is the sign it rules, for it takes that which disperses, binds them, puts them together and...harmonizes into concrete, understandable forms. You want understanding? Look to the Saturnian magickal bindings of all existence. But do you want to understand why we struggle and wrestle and realize how hard it is to transcend our limitations? Look no further to Saturn.

And this brings me to cults...many people see some cults and think that they are either an expression of free love (think the people in the Rajneeshpuram community depicted Netflix’s Wild Wild Country) or outright dogmatic hogwash meant to enslave through the most crafty of coercive tactics. If you read further into the lives of the denizens of the communities of such cults, you’ll find that, even if it seems like there is a sense of control there, those folks have failed to have the proper personal boundaries established; they lacked a sense of control within themselves. It is through certain psychological defects that they’ve allowed for the kind of brainwashing that infiltrates their minds in order for the leaders to have their way with them. It’s not always towards what we may call neurotypicals, but often of vulnerable minds who have yet to be mentally assessed by a therapist or to possess the requisite knowledge of their overall mental health. A brainwashing that is basically whitewashing. They use certain words and concepts in order to make sure there is no “going against” them.

Conformity breeds supposed and presumed prosperity. If it is Christian Cult, it is according to the written Word of God, and controlled by the ordained interpreter who claims to be a “living testament to Christ”. If it is a free love cult, it is to the idea that love is free, and thus having sex rampantly and never educating your children, outright neglecting them, and becoming a slave to your id and your most hedonistic and downright useless predilections are all that seem to be logical through such a proposition (It is very curious to know that those that left or escaped such cults yearn for boundaries as a means of coping with that which they lost: parental affection, etc.). Intentional results, i.e. a self-fulfilling prophecy, as a way of confirming the prosperity incepted into them by the leaders. “You felt something at Church? That’s (presumably) God.”

However, conformity does not necessarily breed prosperity. We need not look further to the famous nation cults in order to see them for their absolute atrociousness. But the cults that are questioned disseminate not unlike a bodily disease towards minds. A mind virus, if you like. These “mind viruses” are used to coerce and trap disenfranchised people. Not just disenfranchised, but those who also happen to be desperate and ignorant.

I bring this up during Saturn in Capricorn and not during Saturn in Scorpio, given the matter of psychology here, because of one Capricorn concept: personal integrity. Plus, Mars and Pluto are conjunct...and both are ruling Jupiter in Scorpio, also in retrograde. Jupiter in Scorpio is the spirituality of our psychology, and vice versa.

We have a rebellion with Saturn in the mythological archetype. The Titan defeats his father out of a need to overthrow the Old Order...in order to impose the New Order. Nowhere in the mythology does it imply a conspiracy to impose a self-destructive order. The mythologies imply the opposite: there was prosperity under the rule of Saturn/Kronos. With Rebellion comes a desire to change. A revolution then ensues. And Saturn rules cycles. But there once was, it changes, and then it once was again and this cyclical oscillation continues for eons on end.

The discrepancy that exists is as thus...is positive change the meaning of personal integrity, if change is the only constant? Core beliefs are hindrances to this positive change in that they impose limitations that deprive joy out of a person believing them. This ties into integrity since some believe that to have integrity is to hold onto and be gung-ho* where core beliefs are concerned, no matter how banal and either depraved or illogical and untruthful they are. Because to seek truth means to commit body and mind to an epistemological pilgrimage. This means seeking a moral joy, not hedonistic pleasure. It IS a chase of the virtues, in particular those that maximize and produce the desired positive goods resulting from the virtual praxis.

(*the etymology of this word is interesting since it derives from the Chinese, meaning “Work together” )

I don’t intend to slut-shame/kink shame as this does entail accepting any potential aesthetic, epistemological and moral truths that arise from the entertainment of certain sexual practices, in praxis and theory. This is to say that some sexual concepts can feature into what culminates as morally integral truth-bearing cohesion...if not, then at least to a better understanding of the incompleteness (Godel opened a can of worms in the epistemological sense) of even our moral truths. But if it fits this criteria that we then accept its praxis. A lot of sexuality is put into the morally acceptable category but not necessarily the good or the right. Further inquiries into these distinctions can be found by reading W.D. Ross’ The Right and the Good. My purpose is to invite the astrology community to venture further into moral philosophy a bit for the enlightenment purposes of these current astrological transits. I believe it is a good time to devote studies in these realms. Mercury in Aries and Jupiter in Scorpio are ruled by Mars conjunct Pluto with Saturn dominating that sign of Capricorn. This is Jupiter in Scorpio time isn’t it? Is that no more indicative of a time to explore the state of our morality behind our sexuality? And to add to the shame aspect, except in cases where people get negatively damaged, bodily and mentally, is ever okay to shame someone unnecessarily. We have some great truths to face before we can judge. And judgment is a result of shame. The moral lies, from what we know, are paramount and obvious. Necrophilia is NOT acceptable nor permissible. It must be said, however, that BDSM is considered a therapy by some. And with that, the controversy ensues and is debated on. That is not the only example of the sexual concept at hand. The question is whether sex can produce goodness of a moral kind or whether it is only for our empty aesthetic/hedonist ideals. 

For Christians, it is because of its procreation ethos that sex becomes a moral good and sometimes right act (there is a so-called gift of celibacy and castration with some Christians). “Be fruitful and multiply”. But some Christians would argue that it’s not for pleasure at all and that it is only for procreation. A kind of celibate asceticism exists among some of their kind. That is perfect to yearn for celibacy and to deprive the material enjoyment of the flesh.

But Multiplication and abundance has always been a trademark for the many concepts of goodness that exist...think about it. Sufficiency, especially of the kind that led us to survival, has always been the motivator behind what is used to justify the vanquishing of lack, which has led us and has been leading us to despair and ruin. We have to exact a certain number to eliminate any vagueness with regards to the exact amount of sufficiency required. If it’s less of something, it’s more of something else. It’s a battle of equilibrium. It’s the knobs of which we mix with at the mixing board during a live concert to get the ideal.

And it is in this search for equilibrium or the search for the right number, or the correct virtue that we immerse with the soul and spirit of Kronos, who castrated his father, Ouranus, out of the need for change...until his Son, Zeus, sought for something beyond as well. It’s why you come across some astrological texts, including some theosophical ones, suggesting all these three planets as rulers of Aquarius, the other side of the Saturn coin.

I always see Capricorn as the conceptual predecessor to Aquarius. The latter is our ideals and the former is what it entails in order to reach our ideals. It is best when these ideals are at their most truthful, elegant, and right (Jupiter in Aquarius). Since we don’t have the ability of flight (Air), our gaps must be crossed by bridges (Earth). Bridges require Hard Work, and knowledge of our virtues and faculties in order to create the bridge required for our ideals to come to fruition, under the notion that what is on the other side will bring maximum and optimal good for the community.

But it is this that becomes a deception often. It is this notion that becomes a nesting ground for depraved people to go after others and poison minds with. We see it through our advertisements, churches, and through any other medium from which our own values become distorted and featured into the con waiting to happen. 

Moral integrity and intellectual integrity...that is, change that brings about positivity. We have to take steps back and really reflect on why we do things and what we can be certain of. What is good and how can we have the courage to pursue it so that we survive and hold on to our prized universal values?

What’s going on? What are you confident in bringing out? Is it good? Will it help others? Does it need to help others? Is this the change we’ve been needing? Why don’t we just help each other? Why are we hindered? What’s not allowing for Love to flow? Why is Love....not free? What does it mean for love to be free?

I invite you all to allow yourselves to wallow in abstraction and to interrogate. Mercury and Saturn are in difficulty with each other. Saturn puts a tall order into who we’ve yet to become. Mercury is in Aries and it is about trying to understand and process our wills, so that they may align with Will. Notice that South Node is in Aquarius (community but also cults), and the focus is on the North Node of Leo (we are best when we love and shine via the heart)...how are we shining? In Taurus, with Venus in Gemini, disposited to Mercury, Mars, and lastly Saturn. And now that Saturn is retrograde we work backwards, Mars (our actions) conjunct Pluto (transformation), Jupiter (our truths), and how they can conflict with our Neptunian deceptions, by dispositing Neptune in Pisces to Jupiter, but also Mercury (intellect) and Jupiter(Truth) in quincunx with one another soon. Bad cleverness (Mercury and Jupiter out of wack with each other) instead of good wisdom (Mercury and Jupiter working together...or “gung ho”).

In this veil of Maya, we do a lot but we often don’t do enough considering how much we do. Bad is always a lingering effect and we squabble and kill each other still over what is good and right. Moral crusades, religious crusades, etc. How willing are we to push for these needed revelations so that we may align ourselves with what’s good? So that we don’t kill each other or harm psychically? So that conscious entity is disturbed?

What do we value and how does it feature into our process of integrity?

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Proposed exomoon defies formation theories

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/proposed-exomoon-defies-formation-theories/

Proposed exomoon defies formation theories

An artist’s image of an Earth-like exomoon orbiting a gas giant planet
.

 (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Last summer, scientists announced that they had found what could be the first moon to be spotted outside of the solar system. But new research on the supposed moon’s evolution calls its existence into question. 

If it does exist, the moon is most likely a large, Neptune-size object orbiting an even larger gas-giant planet. But the unwieldy system strains understanding of how it may have formed, researchers have said.

In July 2017, scientists reluctantly announced the possible discovery of an exomoon. A candidate planet identified by NASA’s Kepler telescope revealed lopsided dips in the light streaming from the planet’s star, suggesting the possibility of a moon. After exomoon hunter David Kipping, of Columbia University in New York, requested time on the Hubble Space Telescope to follow up on the unusual activity, various media outlets probed the research. This led Kipping and Columbia’s Alex Teachey, the lead scientist on the potential discovery, to announce the possibility of the first sighting of an exomoon.

René Heller, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, took the opportunity to independently analyze the Kepler data. In addition to teasing out a size range for the potential moon, Kepler 1625 b-i, he also explored its possible formation methods. [The Most Intriguing Alien Planet Discoveries of 2017]

More From Space.com

“It turns out that Kepler 1625 b-i is, in fact, not a good candidate for an exomoon,” Heller told Space.com by email, pointing out that the original research team said that the Kepler data alone was ambiguous. (That’s why they planned to follow up using the Hubble Space Telescope.) A large part of the problem stems from the fact that the parent star is so far from Earth that it appears dim, resulting in poor data quality, Heller said.

“The bottom line is that Kepler 1625 b-i is one of the best exomoon candidates so far, but it’s still not a good candidate,” Heller said.

“A tiny solar system”

In Earth’s solar system, moons are fairly common; only Mercury and Venus have no rocky or icy satellites. While most of our solar system’s moons are inhospitable to life as we know it, three are potentially habitable. Jupiter’s Europa contains a liquid ocean beneath the moon’s icy crust. Around Saturn, the icy moon Enceladus also hosts an ocean, while smoggy Titan has lakes of methane and ethane that could have allowed a type of life different from that on Earth to form. So, the solar system’s only habitable planet (Earth) is outnumbered by the system’s potentially habitable moons.

That could mean good news for those looking for life on moons around other stars. Even if few planets are capable of hosting life as we know it, their moons could turn out to be habitable, Heller said.

“On the challenging side, moons are expected to be significantly smaller and lighter than their planets,” Heller said. “That’s simply what we learn from observations of the solar system’s moons.”

Because objects with a larger mass or radius are easier to find from afar, be they planets or moons, that makes natural satellites harder to spot, Heller said.

When Kepler hunts planets, it does so by watching the light streaming from a star in what scientists call a light curve. (Kepler didn’t study one star at a time but instead examined thousands of stars at once.) When a planet moves between its star and Earth, the star’s light dims, allowing researchers to determine the planet’s size. Researchers observe multiple passes to determine how long it takes the planet to orbit its star.

What the original researchers noticed about one object, Kepler 1625 b, was that it contained a strange secondary dip. Heller used the publicly available data set from Kepler to study three transits of a Jupiter-size object moving across the star, along with some wiggles that could have been caused by a moon orbiting the object.

“If, and only if, these additional wiggles really stem from the moon, then it is possible to derive the mass and radius of both the planet and the moon from the dynamics of the planet-moon system that can be derived from the light curve,” Heller said.

Heller determined that the massive object could be anything from a planet slightly more massive than Saturn up to a brown dwarf, an almost-star not quite massive enough to ignite fusion in its core, or even a very low-mass star (VLMS) that’s a tenth the mass of the sun. The proposed moon could range from an Earth-mass gas satellite to a rock-and-water companion with no atmosphere.

Heller concluded that a Neptune-mass exomoon around a giant planet or low-mass brown dwarf would not match up with the mass-scaling relationship found in our solar system’s moons. While Earth and Pluto both have large moons compared to the planets’ sizes, the solar system’s gas giants have moons closer to 0.01 to 0.03 percent of the planets’ sizes, according to the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico. 

Previous theories predicted that this relationship should extend to larger worlds, seeming to rule out the existence of the potential exomoon. On the other hand, a mini-Neptune around a high-mass brown dwarf or a VLMS would be more in line with that ratio, Heller said. [What Is the Moon Made Of?]

“If the primary transiting object is a very low-mass star and if its Neptune-sized companion turns out to actually exist, then we would see a tiny solar system in orbit around a sun-like star at about the Earth’s distance to the sun. This would be something on its own!” Heller said.

Even without the potential for a habitable exomoon, the tiny solar system could help scientists understand how worlds form, he said.

“If the primary [object] were either a [brown dwarf] or a VLMS with a large companion, then this would represent a fascinating bridge between planet formation around stars and moon formation around giant planets,” Heller said.

Heller posted his research on the arXiv preprint server.

The birth of moons

With estimates of the moon and planet — or star — in hand, Heller decided to look at how the moon could have formed.

“The moons in the solar system serve as tracers of their host planets’ formation and evolution,” he said in the new paper. “It can thus be expected that the discovery of moons around extrasolar planets could give fundamentally new insights into the formation and evolution of exoplanets that cannot be obtained by exoplanet observations alone.”

With this in mind, Heller applied the three different models of moon formation in the solar system to the new potential exomoon.

First up was the impact model, which describes how scientists think the Earth’s moon formed. When a large body slammed into Earth billions of years ago, the debris carved from the planet created a new companion. According to Heller, one peculiar characteristic of this model is the high size ratio of satellites to the planets. While the large size of the proposed moon compared to its host would be consistent with an impact, he expressed concern that the mass of the host planet or star was far higher than that of any planet in Earth’s solar system.

In the second model of moon formation, they develop from the gas and dust left over after the planet is born, and this is how most of the gas giants’ moons are thought to have formed. The mass-scaling ratio that keeps the moons so much smaller than their planets is a natural outcome of moon formation occurring in the gas-starved environment around a completed planet, Heller wrote in the paper. That same relationship makes this formation method unlikely, he said.

“If the companion around Kepler 1625 b can be confirmed and both objects can be validated as gas-giant objects, then it would be hard to understand how these two gas planets could possibly have formed through either a giant impact or in-situ accretion at their current orbits around the star,” Heller wrote.

The remaining possibility is that the distant world captured a Neptune-size object. Neptune’s moon, Triton, and both Martian moons are thought to have formed this way. The exomoon could have originally formed with an Earth-size companion, before being pulled away from it by the gravity of the larger object, Heller said. He determined that the capture of a Neptune-mass object by Kepler 1625 b is possible at the planet’s current location.

Still, while such a capture is possible in principle, Heller told Space.com he thinks the scenario is “very unlikely.” 

And though scientists currently hold to those three different moon-formation scenarios for planets around Earth’s sun, that doesn’t mean that natural satellites couldn’t form another way, Heller said.

“It is possible that this system actually formed through a mechanism that we haven’t seen in the solar system,” Heller said.

He suggested an alternate theory, similar to that of giant-planet formation, in which the two objects started out as a binary system of rocky planets. The pair could have drawn gas from the disk of leftover material, like the process by which giant planets form, with the future planet consuming more gas than its would-be moon. He cautioned that this was speculation and that the two objects might not be stable over long timescales. 

Still, if the Neptune-size exomoon around Kepler 1625 b is real, the new system could provide an intriguing glimpse at moon formation outside the solar system, Heller said.

The Kepler data isn’t the only available research. In October, Teachey and Kipping looked at the system using Hubble. Results from those observations should be announced soon.

Until then, however, things don’t look good for the potential exomoon.

“The extraordinary claim of an exomoon is not supported by extraordinary evidence for it,” Heller said.

Originally published on Space.com.