The Brightening of Sol

A picture of Mercury taken 4 months after the beginning of the mini-novae.

The Brightening of Sol was a natural weapon used in The Solar War. It ended the war, rendering the surface of Mercury molten, and severely disrupted the terraforming process of Venus. Many species were wiped out on Earth, and the temperature in summer on Mars rose to above 0 degrees.

## Cause

In The Final Invasion of Sol Station, the station was destabilised and sent spiralling into Sol. No-one actually meant for this to happen, but it did, severely damaging humanity. As it got closer and closer, the metal melted, and anyone and anything on board either melted or was engulfed in a flaming inferno. Finally, about a million kilometres above the photosphere, the station melted a fused under surface tension into a large droplet of molten metal. The metal collided with Sol, eventually triggering a extremely large explosion which made the star undergo a type of mini-novae, called a dwarf nova.

## Effect on Mercury

As stated above, 76% of mercury was rendered molten. If the planet had a faster rotation period, the entire planet would've been rendered a molten drop. The molten rock released many millions of megatons of gas, trapped in the rocks from its childhood in the asteroid belt. This formed it first and second-last atmosphere, as seen in the photo.

## Effect on Venus

During the war, the Venusian Confederacy was terraforming their world, creating their iconic Rings of Venus. As Sol brightened, the frozen Carbon Dioxide vaporised, and spiralled into the planet, filling the planet's atmosphere with its original gases. The Brightening of Sol resulted in the setting back of the Terraforming process by many generations.

## Effect on Earth

Earth was probably the one that was most effected by the nova. Many thousands of species went extinct, over 30% of forests became deserts, and summer temperatures on the equator exceeded 80 degrees. The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was recorder at the height of the nova, at a stunning 84 degrees, in Death Valley, USA. The temperatures there rendered the entire area uninhabitable for over a year. The air there was superheated when it got close the ground, making twigs randomly burst into flame. The effect of the nova lasted many decades later, with the average temperature of Earth rising ten degrees over the next decade.

## Effect on Mars

One of the only instances were the nova was helpful, Mars' temperature was raised consistently over 0 degrees C, enabling liquid water lakes to exist year-round at the equator. Not much happened here, with only a few geysers erupting and only a few glaciers melting.

## Effect on the Outer Planets

Surprisingly, quite a lot happened in the outer planets, as their entire existence relied upon the stable temperatures that exist out there, with only temperature changes of a few degrees from night and day. The most dramatic change was on Triton, with millions of geysers erupting and changing the surface of the moon substantially.

## Effect on the Sol System as a whole

Unlike full nova and supernova, very little changed in the Sol System. The orbits only changed by about a kilometre, and temperatures only rose a few millikelvin for a substantial period of time.