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Iota Persei

Iota Persei is a solitary star within the area of the northern constellation Perseus (as seen from Earth). The European Space Agency (ESA) commissioned the starship ESAS Perseus for its 242 year trip to colonize Iota Persei. Upon arrival, the passengers noticed that the star system was rich in a substance not found in our Solar System, monopolium. It is speculated that two closed loop cosmic strings collided eons ago, generating intense gravitational waves and magnetic monopoles near this star system.

 

Iota Persei I: Ares

A "hot Mars," the iron-rich world is baked by Iota Persei. The crust of the planet is a single plate, with the core having cooled off eons ago losing its magnetosphere. As a consequence, the planet lost most of its atmosphere to stellar winds.

  • Classification: Hot Terrestrial World
  • Orbital Distance: 0.44 AU
  • Surface Temperature: +210C
  • Year: 101 days, 15 hours, 10 minutes, 12 seconds
  • Day: 21 hours, 47 minutes, 2 seconds
  • Mass: 0.8 Earths
  • Radius: 0.82 Earths
  • Surface Gravity: 1.19g
  • Escape Velocity: 11.05 km/s
  • Magnetosphere: Weak
  • Radiation: High (Ultraviolet, Solar, and Cosmic)
  • Atmosphere: Trace Gasses
  • Satellites: 1 (Athena)
  • Population:

Athena

A red companion to Ares, this moon was formed from a planetoid collision with Ares when this star system was forming. Athena is no longer geologically active and has such a weak gravitational field that it possesses no atmosphere.

  • Classification: Hot Terrestrial Moon
  • Surface Temperature: +210C
  • Orbital Distance: 0.8 light-seconds
  • Year: 15 days, 1 hour, 40 minutes, 48 seconds
  • Day: 15 days, 1 hour, 40 minutes, 48 seconds
  • Mass: 0.006 Earths
  • Radius: 0.16 Earths
  • Surface Gravity: 0.23g
  • Escape Velocity: 1.12 km/s
  • Magnetosphere: None
  • Radiation: High (Ultraviolet, Solar, and Cosmic)
  • Atmosphere: None
  • Population:
 

Iota Persei II: Poseidon

An oxygen-rich world covered by a global ocean, its greenhouse effect raises the temperature well above its equilibrium of +22C.

  • Classification: Oceanic Terrestrial World
  • Orbital Distance: 1.13 AU
  • Surface Temperature: +39C
  • Year: 418 days, 7 hours, 12 minutes
  • Day: 18 hours, 42 seconds
  • Mass: 3.08 Earths
  • Radius: 1.7 Earths
  • Surface Gravity: 1.07g
  • Escape Velocity: 15.06 km/s
  • Magnetosphere: Strong
  • Radiation: Low
  • Atmosphere: 1 atm (78 N2, 21% O2)
  • Satellites: None
  • Population:
 

Iota Persei III: Zeus

This gas giant migrated inward, likely due to the gravitational waves from the colliding cosmic strings eons ago that saturated the system with monopolium. Due to extensive water vapor clouds, the gas giant is subject to a strong greenhouse effect (offsetting its increased albedo), which in addition to heat from the core, raise the temperature some 100 degrees above its equilibrium temperature of -59C. The planet has two large moons, one of them a carbon moon (like Saturn's moon, Titan).

  • Classification: Water Jovian World
  • Orbital Distance: 1.82 AU
  • Surface Temperature: +41C
  • Year: 854 days, 22 hours, 53 minutes, 42 seconds
  • Day: 14 hours 22 minutes
  • Mass: 28 Earths
  • Radius: 4.2 Earths
  • Escape Velocity: 28.88 km/s
  • Magnetosphere: Strong
  • Radiation: High (Ultraviolet)
  • Satellites: 9 (Perseus, Apollo)
  • Population:

Perseus

A carbon moon, this body has extensive reserves of hydrocarbons, and has the same haze or smog of Saturn's moon, Titan. However, it is much warmer than Titan (thanks to its thick atmosphere of CO2) making it easier to colonize.

  • Classification: Habitable Terrestrial Moon
  • Surface Temperature: +20C
  • Orbital Distance: 1.4 light-seconds
  • Year: 5 days, 21 hours, 14 seconds
  • Day: 5 days, 21 hours, 14 seconds
  • Mass: 0.21 Earths
  • Radius: 0.59 Earths
  • Surface Gravity: 0.6g
  • Escape Velocity: 6.67 km/s
  • Magnetosphere: Weak
  • Radiation: High (Ultraviolet)
  • Atmosphere: 1 atm (92% N2, 6% CO2)
  • Population:

Apollo

Similar to Earth's moon, it is covered in anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8), excellent for aluminum mining. This moon sits just outside the planet's magnetosphere.

  • Classification: Ice Terrestrial Moon
  • Surface Temperature: -25.4C
  • Orbital Distance: 4 light-seconds
  • Year: 28 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes, 35 seconds
  • Day: 28 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes, 35 seconds
  • Mass: 0.12 Earths
  • Radius: 0.5 Earths
  • Surface Gravity: 0.5g
  • Escape Velocity: 5.48 km/s
  • Magnetosphere: None
  • Radiation: High (Ultraviolet, Solar, and Cosmic)
  • Atmosphere: Trace Gasses
  • Population:
 

Iota Persei IV: Boreas

Given the planet's relatively high density, it is conjectured that as Zeus migrated inward, this rocky world was displaced outward, occupying its position right at the "snow line" for Iota Persei. Being at the snow line and not being a gas giant demonstrates that this world formed much farther inward. The planet has an extensive greenhouse effect (+157C), which is kept in check by water vapor clouds, raining the CO2 back into the ground. Like Venus, this world's crust is very soft, having been depleted of minerals by excessive volcanism.

  • Classification: Ice Terrestrial World
  • Orbital Distance: 7.4 AU
  • Surface Temperature: +0C
  • Year: 19.2 years
  • Day: 20 hours 54 minutes
  • Mass: 1.2 Earths
  • Radius: 1.1 Earths
  • Surface Gravity: 0.99g
  • Escape Velocity: 11.68 km/s
  • Magnetosphere: Strong
  • Radiation: High (Ultraviolet)
  • Atmosphere: 7.3 atm (96% CO2, 3% N2)
  • Satellites: None
  • Population:

References

Atomic Rockets by Winchell Chung

Iota Persei

Distance: 34.5 light-years

Spectral Class: G0V

Age: 3.7 Billion years

Mass: 1.1 Suns

Radius: 1.417 Suns

Luminosity: 2.181 Suns

Surface Temperature: 5995 K

Related Articles

Monopolium
ESAS Perseus


Cover image: by Ronwald