Lambda System

The Lambda system, formerly known as Λ9-3, named for the obsolete grid map sector it occupied and being the third potential target for a Kyandorian colony within that sector. The system formed at roughly the same time as Sol, and is only 85% as massive. As with all star systems, the star itself is overwhelmingly the most massive body in the vicinity, with the planets and other minor bodies making up only a very small percentage of the total mass.
== Structure of the System ==
=== Inner Planets ===
With an overall count of seven major planets, only two are considered "outer" planets. The remaining five are the inner planets.
==== Dzun ====
The body orbiting closest to Lambda is Dzun, a planet between the sizes of Earth and Mars that orbits Lambda in only a week. Its surface is molten, and it maintains a thin exosphere of various light elements.
==== Morning Belt ====
For the next several hundred thousand kilometers, there is a tenuous collection of asteroids known as the Morning Belt in common Demetian parlance. Its total mass is smaller than Ceres in the Sol system.
==== Callia ====
The second planet in the system, Callia, is an ocean planet with a high-temperature and high-pressure atmosphere rich in water vapor that blurs the line from gas to liquid as you descend. Once considered a "gas dwarf" planet, its true nature was determined through the use of Territorial impact probes, reporting the vast majority of its upper layers to be water, not light gases like hydrogen or helium, or ices such as methane and nitrogen. It has two minuscule moons in regular orbits, with the remainder taken from the outskirts of the inner system's morning belt. These temporary satellites only orbit the planet for a handful of days or months before being ejected or falling into Callia.
==== Icari ====
The third planet is a hot neptune known as Icari. It is known for its extensive triple ring system and for its arid moon of Hi, home to the species Hi-Eukaryota Gelatina, a sapient gelatinous life form. From Demet, Icari's outermost ring system has a greater visual angle than Vegran, the world's own moon.
==== Demet ====
The fourth planet of the system is Demet, home to the Demetian demihuman species of une, ald, and prifeli. It is a cool T-Class Earth analogue with an Orion Confederation Habgrid ID of 2-105-057-069. Its two moons are quite distinct from one another, with Injens being a massive icy moon with a thin atmosphere of water vapor, and Vegran being small, barren, and iron rich, much like ancient Mars.
==== Altus (Elain) ====
Altus is the last of the inner planets, the fifth planet overall, and is the third body from the star that can be considered habitable. It is home to the elania species, who have named the cold, dry planet "Elain". It and its moon Yon are mutually tidally locked to one another, and the planet has two small asteroid moons. Its fourth moon was disturbed and fell onto Yon while it was being observed. As Altus and Demet orbit only 0.06 AU from one another, it is visible in the sky quite easily for the majority of every 30 year cycle, and surface features can be seen by the naked eye for three of those years.
=== Outer Planets ===
There are only two known outer planets, though some of their moons would qualify if they orbited elsewhere.
==== Evening Belt ====
The Evening Belt is an asteroid belt between Altus and the Macuu binary planets. It is a far more massive belt of rock than the Morning Belt, with a total mass almost equal to Demet's. It is filled with small protoplanets that are too disparate to coalesce the belt into a planet all its own, though the reason for this is poorly understood.
==== Macuu Binary ====
Once thought to be a single body that changed in brightness periodically, possibly due to rotation, the reinvention of telescopes on Demet led to the discovery that it was not one body, but two. Their total mass is roughly equal to 40% that of Demet, and the ratio between the two is near 60/40. The smaller of the two was named Macuu B for the period before a name was chosen. The pair has no moons.
==== Azerah ====
Azerah is the seventh and last confirmed planet in the system at only 6.65 AU. It is a massive hydrogen-helium gas giant over seventeen times the mass of Icari, and over twelve times the mass of Jupiter. Its massive moons and striking coloration are its most prominent features. Its second regular satellite, Eufor, is the site of a failed Demetian colony and a thriving elania colony.
==== Night Belt/Twilight Sphere ====
The Night Belt is the final asteroid field at the edges of the Lambda system. A vast collection of planetoids and asteroids made of light materials, such as volatile ices and rock, that fades into the Twilight Sphere, a cloud of smaller bodies of similar materials that does not lie within the system's ecliptic plane.
=== Theoretical Bodies ===
==== Lambda VIII ====
Lambda VIII is a theoretical body on the outer edges of the system, thought to orbit between 60 and 70 astronomical units from Lambda. While its existence has not been proven, nor would it be visible due to the distance at which it orbits, a number of outer-system dwarf planets being vastly eccentric hints at the possibility. It would be a low-mass ice giant or super-earth in the range of 10 times the mass of Demet.
== Resources ==
== Old ==
The Lambda system was the first system targeted by the Human System Group as a potential expansion target. Almost the exact same mass and age of the sun not to mention its closeness to the Kyandor System, only 1.45 light years, it was a prime target.
Now the system is home to four Near-Human hybrid species living on Demet, the Une, Ald, Prifeli, and Saraph. One accidentally created species, the Hian and one native intelligent species, the Elania, who live on Altus. It is known to them as Elain.
The system houses a total of 7 planets, two of which are gaseous.
== Planets ==
=== Dzun ===
A small planet expected to evaporate within the next two centuries.
=== Icari ===
An ice giant most likely not having formed there. 9 Moons
=== Callia ===
A fairly large planet made almost entirely of water. 2 Permanent moons
=== Demet ===
The planet most like earth in the system. 2 Moons.
=== Altus ===
Another earthlike planet, very cold but still liveable. 3 Moons
=== Macuu ===
A small dwarf planet on the outer edge of the systems main asteroid belt. 1 Moon
=== Lambda Prime ===
The largest planet in the system. 5 Moons
== Possible Planets ==
=== Lambda VII ===
A planet whose existence is not confirmed. It is thought to exist between 60 and 70 AU away from the star, and is most likely a low-mass gas planet. Disturbances in orbits of asteroids add merit to claims, but no definite proof has been found.
== Asteroid belts ==
The system contains 3 asteroid belts, each named after different times of day.
=== Morn Belt ===
The belt between the orbits of Dzun and Icari. Dzun was once considered part of it until its mass was calculated. It gained planethood after this. Icari's rings are adding to the belt slowly over time and its rings have almost disappeared.
=== Eve Belt ===
The belt extends from Altus to Macuu. It is said to have a mass that could create a planet as massive, if not more massive, than Demet but it is too sparse to do that. Macuu exists on its outer fringes.
=== Nigh Belt ===
This belt exists past Lambda Prime at about 7 AU and continues exponentially thinner forever into the system's oort cloud known as the Twilight Cloud.
== Seasons and Climate ==
The main center of life in the system, Demet, maintains an average temperature of between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius or 41 and 50 Fahrenheit. Others are slightly below freezing or have summer temperatures.
== Life ==
The level of sophistication varies. The most advanced species are beginning their interplanetary colonization and the least are tribal people barely out of their stone age. Several places in this solar system can support life.
1: The furthest moon of Icari, Hi. (44 Celsius/111 Fahrenheit
2: The oceans of Callia (90 Celsius/194 Fahrenheit)
3: Demet (7 Celsius/45 Fahrenheit)
4: Altus (-12 Celsius/10 Fahrenheit)
5: The second moon of Lambda Prime, Currently unnamed. Goes by LP2. (5 Celsius/41 Fahrenheit)
Category:Solar Systems