Community Suggestion: Add More Astrophysical Geography Types to Locations Template

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Add More Astrophysical Geography Types to Locations Template

Content Addition · Articles & templates · Created by AuraGuard
accepted
astrophysics astronomy stars space sci-fi space-geography planets galaxies

What functionality is missing? What is unsatisfying with the current situation?

  There are a number of things missing from the Geography Template's type dropdown. As it can be quite difficult to think of every valid type all at once, I figured I'd contribute by giving a list of useful astrophysical geographic classifications that would really help people who are crafting their own galaxies.  

How does this feature request address the current situation?

  I'm giving you a list of astrophysical classifications so you don't have to hunt them down. It can be a bit like herding cats, because the information is kind of...scattered everywhere.  

What are other uses for this feature request?

  It can spark curiosity about types of planets and stars people haven't heard of before, and thereby encourage more creativity.   Now onto the request itself...   Also, pardon there not being much preamble, I haven't had much energy for things these days. (Particularly not when experience has told me I'm better off putting the limited energy elsewhere.)   Planets:  
  • Gas Giant (an important distinction from terrestrial planets.)
  • Ice Giant (yes, planets like Neptune have their own category in astrophysics.)
  • Terrestrial Planet (for people who want something more specific than just the existing "planet" in the dropdown, which can be overbroad.)
  • Ocean Planet (different from the above in the depth of oceans, with minimal landmass.)
  • Chthonian Planet (the atmosphere-stripped core of a gas giant.)
  • Ice Dwarf (a dwarf planet that formed beyond a system's frost line.)
  • Dwarf Planet (like Pluto.)
  • Brown Dwarf (a failed star, unlike a gas giant it can fuse deuterium and occasionally lithium.)
  • Proto-Planet (an 'unborn' planet still forming from the protoplanetary disc.)
    • Stars and Remnants:  
  • Red Dwarf (the longest lived of all star types.)
  • White Dwarf (a common stellar remnant.)
  • Black Dwarf (a theoretical end stage for white dwarfs.)
  • Giant Star (to cover the various stars larger than Sol, but not so large as to cover certain other groupings.)
  • Supergiant Star
  • Hypergiant Star (these have different characteristics from supergiants beyond just size.)
  • Neutron Star (a stellar remnant, not an evolved or main sequence star.)
  • Accretion Disc (vital when talking about black holes, but can also apply to any celestial object currently accreting material, including protoplanets.)
  • Proto-Star (an 'unborn' star still in its first accretion phase, and undergoing routine expansion and contraction as material collects and condenses.)
  • Stellar Remnant (a broader term for any fantastical, alternative end stages for a star's life, or for when someone isn't sure if they want a white dwarf or neutron star yet.)
    • Galaxy stuff:  
  • Galactic Nucleus (technically, these are usually divided into Active Galactic Nuclei - AGN - and inactive ones, but could group the two together for brevity, as the distinction would not require much text or explanation within an article itself. The galactic nucleus is what a galaxy's stars orbit, and could be just a single supermassive black hole [SMBH], or any number of odd arrangements [binary SMBHs are the most common].)
  • Polar Ring (or you could call it Galactic Polar Ring for clarity - this is when a bunch of stars orbit around a galaxy's poles instead of within the main galactic disc, and while it is often a temporary structure, some galaxies have it as both highly stable and astoundingly ancient.)
  • Proto-Galaxy (a very young galaxy still in the process of forming and stabilizing.)
    • The above are essential to communicate in a clear, quick way some essential facts about some astrophysical geography. There are many other astrophysical classifications that could do with being added, as they would add much flexibility and perhaps spark curiosity and inspiration, but I'll reserve those for a different suggestion. This is already plenty long enough, and I don't want it going the way my food-related Item Template upgrade suggestion went (being accepted, but nothing happening at all because "too many things" - and is the entire reason I'm not putting the same level of effort into this one).

    Follow up


    Pardon the broken formatting. The textbox I wrote in made it look like it was going to space properly. Sorry for the mess.
    Re: Adding notes in sidebars: I already do this, but when you edit the sidebars in the Section tab, it oft forces you to decide if you want to use only custom sidebar content or the auto-fill sidebar content. This is because you can't add anything into the middle of a sidebar - just top and bottom (and within or outside of the content panel). Which...can create an absolute visual mess, depending on how your articles are organized, and not everyone is very confident in making long, long series of Key::Value pairs.

    The Team's Response

    Thanks for the suggestion! We'll take a look at the International Astronomical Union's list and expand the location types list based on that.
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    Current score

    16/300 Votes · +3601 points

    Votes Cast

    • +100

      by Feline_Jedi
      on 2025-04-03 23:53

    • +300

      by A Lusty T-Rex
      on 2025-03-29 04:48

    • +300

      by Goldkeeper777
      on 2025-03-28 02:16

    • +300

      by LisaGrimm
      on 2025-03-24 07:05
      The more precise, the better

    • +300

      by AJLehererin
      on 2025-03-20 15:22

    • +300

      by Simeonovvv
      on 2025-03-16 19:58

    • +100

      by yatenari
      on 2025-03-15 10:29

    • +1

      by Michael Chandra
      on 2025-03-15 07:52

    • +300

      by ss2020
      on 2025-03-14 15:06
      There are just so many having us define a list field would be even better.

    • +100

      by A Revolutionary Velociraptor
      on 2025-03-14 10:52

    • +100

      by TerminusV
      on 2025-03-14 05:12

    • +300

      by Vazdimet
      on 2025-03-13 23:26
      I would love these options for my space fantasy universe.

    • +300

      by Mochimanoban
      on 2025-03-13 23:10
      I would use these all the time!

    • +300

      by Ratha
      on 2025-03-13 19:43

    • +100

      by DMFW
      on 2025-03-13 15:23
      Good list and it could also have included, Emission Nebula, Reflection Nebula, Dust Cloud, Planetary Nebula, Stellar Nursery, Globular Cluster, Galactic Cluster, Galactic Supercluster, Supervoid and I'm sure even more. It's difficult to strike a balance between trying to be completely comprehensive and including loads of things that will rarely or never be used and having the categories too broad. You are always free to add your own notes into the sidebar and therefore have custom sub-categories. I kind of doubt we'll see this much astronomical weighting in the list but have some votes from me as someone who has at least one science fiction world on WA and would use some of these.

    • +100

      by kaixabu
      on 2025-03-13 13:22

    • +300

      by AuraGuard
      on 2025-03-13 12:38
    Hello! <3 I hope you are having a nice day!

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