Nyss

Nyss is a moderately sized moon of Elius in the Nova Kirbani system. It's has several prominent features such as many ice dunes covering the surface, along with spidering cracks from a large impact in the past. Nyss is also known for possibly having a subsurface ocean which might contain the environment to create life.

## In-game Description

*"Nyss, although somewhat boring looking from space, is a unique moon of Elius. The planet used to be covered in a massive sheet of ice, but over time dust collected by Elius has coalesced on the surface of the moon. While the majority of Nyss looks greyish orange and dusty, there are patches of exposed ice from the subsurface that could even contain the ingredients for life."*

## Discovery

Nyss was discovered using the Transit Detection Method, where it was seen passing in front of Elius. Nyss wasn’t confirmed to have an atmosphere until years after the initial discovery. This shot it up the list of planets that could both harbor life and be a target for colonization attempts.

## Physical Characteristics

Nyss is a moderately sized moon roughly the size of the Mun. It is 166.5km in radius, and possesses a surface gravity of .082 gees. It is mostly composed of ice, with a small rocky core and a coating of dust that has accumulated over time. Nyss is known for its orange-gray look, a result of the faint red sunlight from Proksimus Kirbani reflecting off of the dark dust coating.

Nyss has several noticeable surface features, including large dust dunes, a result of the dust accumulation. These dunes are made of dust fine enough to move, similar to the sand dunes of Kerbin's deserts. These dunes are blown around by Nyss' atmospheric winds, but also move as a result of tides. The dunes can move up or down upwards of three meters at high tide, along with the winds blowing several-meter high drifts around the moon. Nyss also possesses a large crater, a result from a large impact around 750 million years ago. As Nyss is an icy world, this impact also caused large cracks to rift out from the center of the crater, creating a spiderweb or broken glass appearance.

It's possible that Nyss possesses a subsurface ocean. As it is an icy world, and is close to its parent body, its possible that tidal heating is enough to melt some of Nyss' ice into a cold ocean below the surface. If there is such a feature, it is possible that organic compounds needed for the creation of life might also be present. For that reason, Nyss is recognized as one of the most probable bodies in the Nova Kirbani system to have life.

## Atmosphere

Nyss possesses a rather thin atmosphere, only 2/3rds the thickness of Duna's atmosphere. Only reaching a measly 18km high, it's mostly composed of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, but also possesses charged helium and hydrogen captured form solar wind. While it's enough to aerobrake and cause its dunes to move, it's not near thick enough to do a soft landing with parachutes or engage in aerodynamic flight. While the atmosphere does diffuse light into a soft glow during the daytime, stars and other celestials are still fairly visible.

## Possibilities of Life

The possibilities of life in the theorized subsurface oceans are low, but not zero. Further research should be conducted to determine the existence of both possible life and subsurface oceans.

## Biomes

* Northern Ice Cap
* Southern Ice Cap
* Giant Impact Crater
* Big Impact Crater
* Impact Craters
* Canyon
* Icy Lowlands
* Icy Midlands
* Icy Highlands