NYND 3308: Day 43
14 Feb 2022Helios Eusebio
February 14, 330805:21:44 UGT
Challenger, Plimbeau ZE-R e4-3356 B 6 A (22.0222, 120.2335)
MET: 42:11:02:34
We've started our survey of the surrounding area, looking for anything particularly interesting nearby Purple Rings. So far it seems to be more of the same from this region: either bright young stars or late main-sequence. The density is somewhat less, but that's mostly due to being located a little above the disc as opposed to right in the middle of it, like we were at the Blink of an Eye remnant.
The system we're in now is a binary one, with a Class B8VAB blue-white star and a Class K8VA yellow-orange star. The latter has several planets orbiting it but the former does not, which we find odd. There's no "rule" about which stars can have planets and which stars can't, but it is curious how all the planetary formation is concentrated around the companion star some 40,000 ls away from the main star which ended up with no planets of its own. Of course, that presumes that both of these stars formed form the same nursery. It's entirely possible that the Class K is a completely separate star system that ended up getting pulled into orbit around the Class B. This would account for the disparity.
We found another Water World around the Class K, this one very much on the chilly side. Its surface temperature is 262 Kelvin, below the freezing point for water and there's no signs of volcanism on the surface. The atmosphere however is 91% CO2 (despite being only 40% as dense as Earth's). Once again it would seem that a greenhouse effect is keeping the water just warm enough to be in a liquid state, despite the frigid temperatures. With that in mind, we can't explain the lack of polar caps like those that we've seen on other Water Worlds. Perhaps there's some sort of geological process that we can't see right now which hampers their formation?
We also found a rocky moon that had a tenuous Ammonia atmosphere and we've picked up signs of biological life on the surface. Rather remarkable considering that surface temperatures have been measured being as low as 68 Kelvin and no higher than 134. Of course this is perfectly in pattern with our observations of Ammonia worlds now. We don't yet know if the atmosphere is a result of the cold temperatures or the cause of them, but we do know they don't help with insulation; we've detected no evidence of a strong greenhouse effect on any of the Ammonia Worlds we've seen so far.
Here on the surface we have a rugged terrain and a species of Frutexa that we haven't encountered before. The codex calls this species "Flammasis" and it's easy to see why. The fronds resemble something of a flame pattern (ironic given the cold temperatures) and they have small disc-shaped growths at the end that we believe are used for reproduction, similar to what we've seen from other Frutexa species. The samples collected by Dawn and Carlton also give us an insight into how they're able to survive such extreme temperatures: apparently the small fronds are actually used for thermoregulation, acting as insulation in low temperatures and a radiator in high ones. It's an interesting method of homeostasis to be sure, but we're not certain on how that actually works. We'll need to examine the samples on Lunar Hyperlight for more info.
Speaking of which, Kiana says she just got a ping from Canonn. Apparently there's a POI nearby they want us to look into.
06:01:18
Challenger, Plimbeau DQ-G d10-1532 1 (Monde de la Vie)
MET: 42:11:42:08
So apparently Canonn's idea of a joke is to send us to a planet that we cannot explain.
At first, this world doesn't seem very much different from any other ELW we've found. It's 88% Earth's mass, has a predominantly Nitrogen atmosphere that's 4 times as dense as Earth's, gravity of 1.05 and a tidally locked orbit of about 6 Earth days. By all accounts, this is no different from any other Earth Like World that's out here in the black.
Except for one aspect: its parent star is a White Dwarf.
I couldn't believe it when I was given the report from Canonn, but I'm not one to doubt my lying eyes. The parent star of this system is, indeed, a White Dwarf and it looks to be a fairly recent one for that matter: at 8 billion years of age this is probably the remnant of a Class F-G star that has long since died. And by all accounts, this planet should've died with it.
This is, in essence, the opposite of the infamous "death world", the planet that orbits within the jet cone of a White Dwarf. What we're seeing here is a planet that should have died out as it no longer has its primary source of life. Yet, somehow, someway, it appears to be thriving. How can this be?
We have some theories. The first is the proximity of the orbit. The planet is about 30 ls away from the White Dwarf, that's closer than Mercury's orbit around Sol. If it was at this distance during the Red Giant stage the planet would've been destroyed, so perhaps it initially had an orbit much farther away from the star but it was drawn in by both tidal forces and drag due to the extension of the corona, as is predicted to happen to the planets in the inner Solar System when Sol becomes a red giant.
If that theory is correct, then maybe this planet was originally an icy world like the other two planets in the system, but as it got closer to the Red Giant it warmed up and became the terrestrial planet that it is now? Rather ironic how this planet only began to "live" when its parent star died.
Another theory is the atmosphere. As mentioned above, it's 4 times as dense as Earth. We know that the atmosphere of Venus id much denser than that of Earth's due to a runaway greenhouse effect which keeps heat trapped near the surface and results in extremely high temperatures. It could be that something similar is happening here; a greenhouse effect is trapping the small amount of light and heat radiated from the White Dwarf and is thus keeping the surface environment at a manageable level.
Either way, we have no reason to believe that such an equilibrium is a long term state of affairs. Our measurements indicate the surface temperature is 274 Kelvin, just a little warmer than the Water World we found. As time passes, the planet will eventually grow cooler as the White Dwarf gradually burns out. Over the course of millennia this world will eventually freeze over, just like its companions.
What we're seeing here is a mass extinction in slow motion. While the atmosphere may remain, it's doubtful any indigenous life forms on this world will be hardy enough to survive it's frigid future. And we've detected no signs of intelligent life, which means that the species here are doomed to die unless someone (or something) rescues them.
It's...unfair, to be sure. To be condemned to such a tragic fate with no means to prevent it. But I learned a long time ago that there's nothing fair about who lives and who dies.
We're going to take a look at a couple more systems before heading back to Lunar Hyperlight, though I doubt we're going to find anything quite like this.
They called this planet "Monde de la Vie", which roughly translated means "Lifeworld."
An ironic name for a planet that is doomed to die.