From: jdnicoll@panix.com   
      
   In article <10km7vt$mden$2@dont-email.me>,   
   Tony Nance   wrote:   
   >On 1/19/26 4:20 PM, James Nicoll wrote:   
   >> In article <10klvvl$k234$1@dont-email.me>,   
   >> Tony Nance   wrote:   
   >>> On 1/19/26 1:29 PM, James Nicoll wrote:   
   >>>> In article <10klpr8$hcab$2@dont-email.me>,   
   >>>> Tony Nance   wrote:   
   >>>>> On 1/19/26 12:05 PM, James Nicoll wrote:   
   >>>>>> In article <10kll0a$f468$1@dont-email.me>,   
   >>>>>> Tony Nance   wrote:   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> Have there been SF works that had life (inhabited planets/moons) in   
   >>>>>>> white dwarf systems? I'm thinking "surely there have been - probably   
   >>>>>>> several", but I can't think of any.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> Systems that _only_ have white dwarfs or systems that have in addition   
   >>>>>> to main sequence stars one or more white dwarfs?   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I was thinking the former, but would also be happy with the latter.   
   >>>>> - Tony   
   >>>>>   
   >>>> Any novel featuring either Sirius or Procyon. For example, Bova's   
   >>>> 1972 As On a Darkling Plain, where Sirius B being a white dwarf   
   >>>> (or how it became one) is relevent to the plot.   
   >>>>   
   >>> Ah, yes - thanks. Not that I've read the Bova, but the two stars you   
   >>> mention do show up in many SF works.   
   >>>   
   >>> So now I guess I'm thinking more about the former.   
   >>> Tony   
   >>>   
   >> Being in the same system as a white dwarf probably means any formerly   
   >> habitable planet had its atmosphere blow-torched off. Not an issue   
   >> for either Sirius or Procyon, as the stellar orbits preclude habitable   
   >> planets.   
   >>   
   >   
   >Re: "habitable": That's part of what inspired the question. With all the   
   >different types of life in SF, are there settings where someone put life   
   >in a white dwarf system? For example, we have seen authors write about   
   >native silicon-based life, native life in the atmospheres of gas giants,   
   >etc.   
   >   
   I said habitable planets around Sirius or Procyon can't exist for orbital   
   dynamics reasons but I should have added "A" to both. Potentially   
   habitable planets could exist around the white dwarfs without the   
   other star perturbing them out of orbit.   
      
   They'd be very young and you'd have to terraform them. Also, their   
   orbital velocities around the white dwarfs would be very high,   
   and the Ek of impactors scales as V^2.   
      
      
      
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