tarchon said:Well, I wouldn't rule out double planet systems.
For a good look at a double-planet system, read Rocheworld by Robert L Forward. Forward's characterization isn't great, but his science is top notch.
Quip said:How about something more exotic than a gas giant or brown dwarf? Like, say, a superdense chunk of neutronium, blasted off a neutron star eons past, that has somehow fallen into orbit around a normal star and aquired a life bearing moon? The orbit around such a thing could be very short, since it takes up far less space than a gas giant. It may even be shaped irregularly.
Okay...
This is unlikely to happen. Neutronium exists in gravitational fields strong enough to mash electrons into protons to make neutrons. There's very little binding those neutrons together in that dense configuration except the gravity. Take it out of that very strong gravity field, and you will quickly cease having so many neutrons packed in a small space, as there's now nothing to hold them there. Poof, no more solid object. Sci-fi notwithstanding, there's no reason to think that neutronium can exist outside of stellar-mass objects.
For a look at having life (not humanoid life, I assure you, but life nontheless) on the surface of a neutron star, check out Dragon's Egg and Starquake by Robert L Forward.
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