Interstellar Terrain
Basic Information
This page is a list of Stellar Phenomena, Solar Phenomena, and Celestial Bodies. Some links are general categories of interstellar phenomena, other links are to specific stars or planets. There's also several links to planetary-scale (or larger) Megastructures. This page is a catch-all list of interesting places and objects in the cosmos.
- 2 Pallas
- 3753 Cruithne - a quasi-satellite of earth, an asteroid that orbits the sun in time with the earth.
- 90377 Sedna
- 90482 Orcus
- 99942 Apophis - a near-earth asteroid that may kill millions in 2029 or 2036
- Accretion Disk - a spiral of matter feeding into a young star or black hole
- Active Galaxy - a galaxy with an active nucleus
- Active Galactic Nucleus - a galaxy with a supermassive black hole in the center, which emits extremely bright energy and radiation
- Alderson Disk - a megastructure shaped like a giant CD, with a star in the central hole
- Algol - the "Demon Star", a variable star in the constellation Pegasus
- Algol Variables - eclipsing binary stars, named for the most famous pair of its class
- Alindas
- Alpha Cygni variables
- Alpha2 CVn stars
- Amor Asteroid
- Apoheles
- Apollo Asteroid
- Arjuna Asteroid
- Asterisms
- Asteroid - small rocky body, larger than a meteoroid but smaller than a planet
- Asteroid belt - a large group of asteroids orbiting our Sun between Mars and Jupiter (or, generically, similar belts around other stars)
- Astrochicken - a genetically engineered self-replicating cyborg explorer
- Asteroseismology
- Astrometric binaries
- Atens
- Babcock Model
- Barium stars
- Barred spiral galaxies
- Beta Cephei variables
- Beta Lyrae stars
- Binary stars
- Black dwarf - a white dwarf that has cooled and no longer emits heat or light
- Black hole - a collapsed star with gravity so strong not even light can escape it
- Black String
- Blazars
- Blue Dwarf (Red Dwarf Stage)
- Blue star
- Blue stragglers
- Blue supergiant star
- Blue-white stars
- Bok globules - cold, dense, opaque clouds of gas that sometimes give birth to stars
- Bow Shock
- Bright giant star
- Brightest Cluster Galaxy
- Brown Dwarf - larger than a planet, smaller than a star. No hydrogen fusion
- Bubbleworld - an artificial hollow world made by inflating an asteroid
- Carbon Detonation
- Carbon Planet - a planet made mostly of carbon instead of silicon-oxygen compounds
- Carbon star
- Cataclysmic variable star
- Centaur (minor planet)
- Cepheid variables
- Ceres (dwarf planet)
- Chiron (hypothetical moon)
- Chthonian planets - the rocky core left when a Gas Giant loses its gas
- Circumstellar matter
- Circumbinary Planet
- Class B Star
- Class F Star - a star a little hotter, larger, and whiter than our Sun
- Class G Star - a star with similar temperature and chemistry to our Sun
- Class K Star - an orange star a little colder than our Sun
- Class M Star - 76% of the main sequence stars in our region of the galaxy
- Class O Star - huge hot ultraviolet stars that burn out fairly quickly
- Close binaries
- Closed Timelike Loop
- Co-Orbital Moons - two moons in the same orbital path. In some cases, they swap positions
- Collapsars or Hypernovae
- Comet - similar to an asteroid, but with a temporary atmosphere and gassy tail
- Compact star
- Constellation
- Contact binaries
- Coronal mass ejection - a fast- and far- traveling blast of energy and plasma released from a star.
- Cosmic background radiation
- Cosmic microwave background radiation
- Cosmic Ray
- Cosmic string
- Cosmos
- Counter-Earth
- Cthonian Planet - the rocky core left when a Gas Giant loses its gas
- Cubewanos
- Cybele asteroid
- Cygnus X-3
- Damocloid asteroid
- Daemons In Astrophysics - subatomic black holes, a form of dark matter
- Dark Energy Star
- Dark Energy - invisible and hypothetical energy speeding our universe towards heat death
- Dark Fluid
- Dark Galaxy
- Dark Matter - this invisible matter exists in the universe at 5 times the frequency of normal matter
- Dark Matter Halo - a large collection of dark matter outside and ringing a galaxy
- Dark nebulae
- Debris disks
- Delta Scuti variables
- Detached binaries
- Diamond Planet
- Domain wall
- Double Planet - two very close planets (or one planet and a large moon) that have gravitational affects on each other
- Dwarf (Main sequence) stars
- Dwarf Galaxy
- Dwarf nova
- Dwarf planet - a small irregular planet that has not cleared other debris from its orbital path
- Dysnomia (moon)
- Dyson Sphere - a class of stellar engine
- Dyson Bubble - a collection of statites around a star to collect most of it's energy
- Dyson Net - a net connecting the solar collectors of one of the other forms of Dyson Sphere
- Dyson Ring - a single "equator" of a Dyson Swarm, one row of satellites
- Dyson Shell - the most popular concept, yet the least stable one. A solid shell all around a star.
- Dyson Swarm - a collection of orbiting solar power satellites and space habitats
- Earth - a very familiar planet, you've probably heard of it
- Earth's second moon
- Eccentric Jupiter
- Eclipsing binaries
- Ellerman Bombs - a type of small solar flare
- Elliptical galaxies
- Emission nebulae
- Eos
- Ergosphere
- Eris (dwarf planet)
- Eruptive variables
- Event Horizon
- Exoplanet
- Extrinsic variables
- exomoon
- Facula
- Fermi Glow
- Filaments
- Flare stars
- FU Orionis variables
- Fuzzball (string theory)
- G V star - a star with similar size, temperature and chemistry to our sun
- Galactic bars
- Galactic bulges
- Galactic coronae
- Galactic cosmic ray
- Galactic halos
- Galactic rings
- Galaxy clusters
- Galaxy components
- Galaxy groups
- Galaxy - a collection of millions to hundreds of trillions of stars and all that goes with them
- Gamma-ray burst emission mechanisms
- Gamma-ray burst progenitors
- Gamma-ray burst
- Gas Giant - a huge planet made mostly of gases, with no surface to land on
- Giant ellipticals
- Giant stars
- Gliese 591g
- Globular clusters
- Globus Cassus - a proposal to turn our planet itself into a stellar megastructure
- Goldilocks Planet - not too hot, not too cold, just right for sustaining earth-like water, atmosphere, and life
- Gravastar
- Gravitational Collapse
- Gravitational Radiation
- Gravitational Singularity
- Gravitational Wave
- Gravity Darkening
- Gravity
- Griquas
- H I regions
- H II regions
- HabStar - the category of stars most likely to promote or support life as we know it
- Halo stars
- Haumea (dwarf planet)
- Hawking Radiation
- Helioseismology
- Helium White Dwarf - a former star whose mass was stolen away by a larger star
- Hercules X-1
- Hildas
- Hot Comet - a comet with a radioactive clay core, the perfect spawning bed for Panspermia
- Hot Dark Matter - neutrinos and other non-baryonic subatomic particles moving near the speed of light
- Hot Jupiters - a Jovian planet orbiting its star very closely, and thus extremely hot and bright
- Hot Neptunes - an Ice Giant (planet) that's been superheated and is on the cusp of boiling
- Hungarias
- Hypergiant - the largest of the stars; huge and unstable
- Hypernova - a supernova on an even larger scale; caused by the death of a hypergiant
- Hypothetical Fifth Gas Giant
- Hypothetical planet types
- Hypothetical stars
- Ice Giant (Planet) - a gas giant made of water, ammonia and methane
- Intergalactic medium
- Intermediate Polar
- Intermediate-Mass Black Hole
- Intermediate-mass black holes
- Interplanetary medium
- Interstellar medium - the handful of molecules that exist in the vacuum of space
- Interstellar Planet
- Intrinsic variables
- Irregular galaxies
- Irregular variables
- Jovian Planet - a gas giant made of hydrogen and helium
- Jupiter trojans
- Jupiter - the largest planet in our solar system
- K V Star - a little smaller and colder than our sun, but with a longer expected life-span
- Koronis
- Krasnikov tube - a one-way wormhole / time machine created in the wake of a space ship going the other way
- Kugelblitz (astrophysics)
- Kuiper Belt
- L-type star
- Lenticular galaxies
- Lilith (hypothetical moon)
- Limb Darkening
- Luminous blue variables
- Luminous Red Nova
- MACHOs - a category of dark matter consisting of collapsed and dim stars, black holes, etc.
- Magnetar - a tiny neutron star or pulsar with a devastating magnetic field, it emits gamma rays and x-rays
- Magnetic cloud
- Magnetic reconnection
- Magnetospheric eternally collapsing object
- Main sequence stars
- Makemake (dwarf planet)
- Marias
- Mars trojans
- Mars-crossers
- Mars - fourth planet from our sun, with a very thin atmosphere and ice-capped poles
- Massive Compact Halo Object - a dim dwarf star, rogue planetoid, or other form of baryonic dark matter
- Matrioshka Brain - a stellar megastructure that uses the local sun to power a giant hypercomputer
- Mercury - a planet within our solar system, closest one to the sun
- Mercury's moon
- Metallic A-type stars
- Meteor shower
- Meteor
- Meteoroids - space rocks less than 10 meters in diameter
- Micro Black Hole
- Mira variable - a pulsating Red Giant that is preparing to turn into a White Dwarf Star
- Mirror Matter - a hypothetical form of matter that we can't see or touch, but can feel its gravity
- Mirror Matter Star - an entire star made from mirror matter
- Molecular clouds
- Moon
- Moreton wave
- Multiple star system
- Naked Singularity
- Near-Earth asteroids - asteroids that pass within or near the earth's orbital route, and may one day crash in to us
- Nebulae
- Neith (hypothetical moon)
- Nemesis (star) - a hypothetical dark binary twin to our own sun, and possible cause of mass extinctions
- Neptune trojans
- Neptune - 8th planet from our sun, an ice giant planet
- Neutron Star
- Nibiru
- Niven Ring
- Nova
- Nysas
- Ocean planet - a planet covered by oceans hundreds of kilometers deep, with no surface land at all
- Oort cloud - the swarm of comets in extremely far orbit of our sun
- Open clusters
- Optical binaries
- Orange stars
- Orbital
- Orphan Planet
- Other Moons of Earth
- Outer planet crossers
- P Cygni stars
- Pallas
- Peculiar A-type stars
- Peculiar stars
- Phaeton (hypothetical planet)
- Phocaeas
- Photon Sphere
- Plage (astronomy)
- Planet - a rounded body orbiting a star
- Planet V
- Planet X
- Planets beyond Neptune
- Planetary nebulae
- Planetary system
- Plerions
- Plutinos
- Pluto - a ball of rock and ice that we used to call the ninth planet
- Polar (cataclysmic variable)
- Population I stars
- Population II stars
- Population III stars
- Preon stars
- Primordial Black Hole
- Proplyds
- Protoplanetary disks
- Protostars
- Pulsar Planet
- Pulsar
- Pulse Planet
- Rogue Planet - a planet that is not orbiting a star, but instead floating free in the void
- Pulsating variables
- Quark stars
- Quasar
- R Coronae Borealis variables
- Radio galaxies
- Rama (Spacecraft)
- RAMBOs - a star cluster comprised of brown dwarf and white dwarf stars
- Random Planetary System - let us build an entire star system for you instantly!
- Red Dwarf - a dim red star half the size (or less) of our Sun
- Red giant stars
- Red stars
- Red supergiant stars
- Reflection nebulae
- Ring galaxies
- Rogue Planet
- Rotating Black Hole - a black hole with a ring-like shape and wormhole properties
- Rotating ellipsoidal variables
- Rotating variables
- RR Lyrae variables
- RV Tauri variables
- S/2000 J 11
- S-type stars
- satellites
- Saturn - sixth planet from our sun, a Jovian Gas Giant
- Scattered Disk Objects
- Sedna
- Semidetached binaries
- Semiregular variables
- Seyfert galaxies
- Shell stars
- Shkadov Thruster - a stellar megastructure that literally moves a star or solar system
- Single star systems
- Soft X-Ray Transient
- Solar Analog - a solitary star that is photometrically similar to our Sun
- Solar Cycle
- Solar Flare
- Solar Maximum
- Solar Proton Event
- Solar System - the planetary system containing our Earth, Sun and other nearby celestial bodies
- Solar Twin - a star very similar to our Sun - a G2V yellow dwarf 3.5 to 5.6 billion years old, with similar chemistry
- Solar-Type - a star superficially similar to our Sun
- Solar Wind
- Space Weather
- Spaghettification
- Spectroscopic binaries
- Spicule (solar physics)
- Spiral arm
- Spiral galaxy
- Star cluster
- Star system
- Star - a large, spherical body, experiencing nuclear fusion at its core
- Starburst galaxy
- Starspot
- Stellar associations
- Stellar black hole
- Stellar Engine - a megastructure that moves a star or monopolizes the energy from a star
- Stellar groupings
- Stellar mass loss
- Stellar Megastructure - a megastructure at least the size of a planet, or a group of megastructures collectively as large
- Sub-brown dwarfs
- Subdwarf stars
- Subgiant stars
- Sun - the star the earth orbits
- Sunspot
- Super-Earths - a planet larger than the earth, but not as big as a Gas Giant
- Superclusters
- Supergiant stars
- Supergiant
- Supermassive black hole
- Supernova remnants
- Supernova - a devastating natural explosion that rips an old Star apart
- Symbiotic variables
- T Tauri variables
- T-type star
- Telescope Array Project
- Terrestrial Planet - a planet with a rocky crust
- Theia (planet)
- Themis (hypothetical moon)
- Thick disk stars
- Thick disks
- Thin disks
- Thule
- Tipler Cylinder - a gigantic time machine shaped like a cylinder
- Topopolis - a megastructure shaped like spaghetti or a celtic knot wrapped around a star
- Trans-Neptunian objects
- Transiting planets
- Triple star systems
- Trojan asteroid
- Trojan planet
- Twotinos
- Tyche (hypothetical planet)
- Type I supernova
- Type II supernova
- Unidentified Flying Object
- Universe
- Unresolved binaries
- Uranus - 7th planet from our sun, an "ice giant" planet
- Variable stars
- Venus - second closest planet to our sun, scorchingly hot and smothered by a thick atmosphere
- Vesta - the only asteroid visible from earth with the naked eye
- Visual binaries
- Voids
- Von Neumann Probe - unmanned robotic self-replicating spacecraft
- Vulcan (hypothetical planet)
- Vulcanoid
- W Ursae Majoris stars
- W Virginis variables
- Weakly Interacting Massive Particle
- White Dwarf Star - a former star that cooled down to sub-fusion temperatures and shed most of its mass
- White Hole
- White stars
- WIMPs - slow and cold dark matter particles that pass right through you without you noticing
- Wolf number
- Wolf-Rayet stars
- WormHole - a shortcut through space, connecting two distant points at FTL speeds
- X-ray binaries
- X-ray burster
- Yellow hypergiant
- Yellow stars
- Yellow-white stars
- Young stellar objects
- Yuggoth
- Zodiacal Cloud
See also Space Exposure for the main terrain hazard of space.
See also Stellar Classification for an explanation of how the Stars are classified and rated.
See also Random Planetary System for a randomly-generated star system or planetary system of your very own.
Interstellar Terrain Tropes
Where familiarity or the rule of cool triumphs over science. Most are a case of Space Does Not Work That Way
- Asteroid Thicket
- Death World
- Gravity Sucks
- Lost Technology of the Precursors
- Negative Space Wedgie
- Planet of Hats
- Single Biome Planet
- Swirly Energy Thingy
- Unknown Phenomenon
- Unrealistic Black Hole
- Weird Moon
Sources
Bibliography
3. NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day - Features pictures of much of this interstellar terrain.
Game and Story Use
- The links on this page should prove useful if you need a hazard, destination, or scenery for a game involving spacecraft.
- Most of the things on this list may be encountered by space-faring PCs.
- However, some (such as the various theorized black hole variants and some dark matter candidates) may conflict with each other. Unless you really know what you're doing, it's probably best to stick to just one black hole theory, and just one dark matter theory, per campaign.
- To avoid the most common mistakes that players might call you on, see Space Does Not Work That Way.
- Remember, what space has the most of, more than anything else, is empty space. No need to make your universe too crowded. See Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale for the big picture.
page revision: 44, last edited: 30 Nov 2012 22:04
