h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was working on the Library and a question came up in my mind. Since the world (name?) is a Dyson sphere, there's nothing for the sun to hide behind like we have on earth. Does this mean there is no night on the Lightside, and that Darkside is perpetually dark? And if there is no night on the Lightside, which is perfectly acceptable, how do the inhabitants measure time--no days, months or years....hmmm. Maybe there's a Ringworld-type system of magical plates that shades the ground?

Cave update:
I'm writing the description for the Dragon's Library, but I'm still working on the history. I would ask you to include it on the page but it's about a page or two long and the Dragon hasn't even been born yet....

I'll get it when you post the link.

What I was considering for lightside, although I'm still working on it, was a grid of plates, kind of similar to a checkerboard covering the sun (or orbiting at a reasonable distance) that shade parts of the sphere and cause night. With the rotation of the sun, etc. the plates shift positions and cause seasons, variations in day length, and the like. I've been trying to figure out if it's technically possible to have something like that, or if it needs to be magical, but so far haven't had any luck. Haven't done much research yet, but still...

The Ringworld book solves this one again. The ring rotates around a central sun. Between the sun and the ring are shadow squares. These rotate around the sun and cast shadows on the ring surface giving night and day equivalents. They are joined together by superconductor wire and spin at twice the speed of the ring itself so centrapetal force keeps them taught and in place. The inside of the shadow squares is cover in solar panels and the power is beamed to the ring surface.

Pretty cool huh

You could do something like a football shape (exploded out on shadow square wire) which spins on two (or more) axes giving night and day in varying lengths all over the inside of the D Sphere.

Being a Tolkein Fantasy stylee, you probably wouldn't need the power though.

I suspect that the power could be used to run the teleport portals, because a system like that must take an immense amount to run. Probably more than the sun would provide, but that's besides the point. At least it is now.

Another point would be since the sun has Gravity and the D Sphere has gravity, what keeps the sun from crashing into the side of the D Sphere?

... and the answer is the shadow squares have solar panels on the inside which generate power from the sun. This gets beamed down for use with the teleportals and is also used to create an electromagnetic cradle which keeps the sun and the shadow squares in place.

Probably have a minimum of eight pylons which would rise up, I guess, two hundred feet or so from the surface of the D Sphere which would project the cradle. To the casual observer they would look like tall thin volcanoes.

Bingo.

That sounds a lot like something I had planned on earlier, although not for the same purpose. There were going to be six spires, one for each of the four elements, one for life, and one for mind. I'll have to think of the other two. One will almost definately be death, but the eighth...Perhaps it would be better for it to be a mystery, left to people to discover.

You can make it six if you want. The spacing won't be obvisouly symmetrical but that shouldn't be a problem.

It would probably be more fun to have eight and make the eighth an unknown.

10 10 to that. Eight it is then.

Sounds good.