#contact binary

The first few chapters of Troublesome Engines is now up on AO3.

It's 2383, and Beckett Mariner and Eaurp Guz are tasked with repairing the infrastructure of a crucial Federation-Ferengi Dilithium Mine on a binary planet. To Eaurp's elation and Beckett's bafflement, the damaged infrastructure are automated steam locomotives! Can they and the rest of the crew get to the bottom of the sudden failure… or is there something deeper going on?

Archive of our Own Link

Chapter 1: Contact Binary

Chapter 2: Runaway

Chapter 3: We Need To Talk

Chapter 4: 28,627 People

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The image is an artist rendering of VFTS-352 – the hottest and most massive double star system to date where the two stars are in contact.

Near my birthday he taught me there are some binary stars who remain in a "kiss" for millions of years. This happens when they are similar in mass and join to share what they contain instead of stealing energy from one another. What I wouldn't give to see two stars kiss like this up close. I'm glad to kiss him though. That's just as lovely 😉 💕

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He also painted for me an image of 2 lovers ..one the dawn and one the night being touched by her love.

Contact Binary Stars

Binary Systems contain 2 or more stars that circle each other, and whilst our own star is a singleton, it is estimated that upto 85% of star systems contain more than 1 star. 

But, not normally so close together that they are touching ! 

A Contact Binary set of stars have moved so close together that their atmospheres are now interacting. The important thing to note here is that the actual action in a star, in terms of the fusion, is in the core, so both core’s are independent of each other and fusing the atoms inside, while the outer shell tends to be mostly hydrogen. Gravity from the stars will begin to pull and push matter from one another, with the dominant partner being the one with the greatest mass (not always the largest in size or brightness) slowly winning over time and accumulating matter for itself. 

This process can take millions of year, even billions (depending on size and distance, and difference in mass), but the upshot is, one of the stars will be gaining in mass. As the mass increases, so does the pressure inside and so the core will begin to increase and fuse more, bringing the star to an artificially early end. Another mass, and a supernova will occur. 

Dumbell Asteroid This image is a compilation of radar images of asteroid 1999 JD6, a near-earth asteroid discovered in 1999. This asteroid is an Aten asteroid, a class of asteroids that have a perihelion inside the orbit of Earth and an aphelion outside the Earth’s orbit; thus it must cross the orbit of Earth twice every time it goes around the sun. These asteroids are therefore considered potentially hazardous asteroids.

Shuttlecraft Train Chase

TROUBLESOME ENGINES a Star Trek: Lower Decks fic

The USS Cerritos comes to the aid of a Federation-Ferengi dilithium mine on a contact binary planet, which reported the loss of their transportation infrastructure. Their trains--powered by automated steam locomotives--have stopped running altogether. Can Beckett Mariner, Eaurp Guz, T'lyn, Brad Boimler, Sam Rutherford, and Tendi figure out the source of the mechanical error? Or is there something deeper going on here?