Pandora

Pandora has a very diverse biosphere.

### Atmospheric Composition

50.8% Nitrogen, 23.7% Oxygen, 18.1% Carbon Dioxide , 5.5% Xenon , >1% Methane and Hydrogen Sulfide

### Life

Unicellular, Multicellular, Sapient (Marine, Terrestrial, Aerial)

## Colonial Info

### Population (Colonial)

42,742

**Location:** Milky Way Galaxy/Alpha Centauri System/Polyphemus

World Category: Garden World

Pandora is the fifth moon of the gas giant Polyphemus, which orbits in the habitable zone of the star Alpha Centauri A in the Alpha Centauri System, the closest star system to our own sun. Discovered by Hawking Space Telescope in 2058, Pandora is the first place that Humanity discovered life outside of the Solar System and also the first place to discover sapient alien life called the Na'vi. The people on Earth were run by both joy and fear after the discovery of sapient life on Pandora and its exotic flora and fauna.

It is also the site of the first human conflict with other sapient lifeforms.

## Planetary Properties

### Physical Characteristics

Pandora is considered a lush jungle world by Earth standards. At nights, almost all forms of life on the moon specially vegetations exhibits bioluminescent properties in various shades of blue, purple and green. The moon shows less volcanic activities compared to Earth and has a stable tectonic activity.

### Geology

The terrain on Pandora differs somewhat from place to place, but it is not as diverse as Earth. There are different ecosystems within each region, and many species such as the mountain banshee are present over a much wider range of biomes than their name would suggest. It also appears that floating land masses are not only isolated to the jungle region, but are widespread. The Pandoran surface features jungles, mountains, volcanoes, plains (savanna), and oceans.

The forests of Pandora contain a wide diversity of exotic flora and fauna. These are all part of the giant neural network that covers Pandora. The forests are full of bioluminescent life that glows in shades of blue, green, indigo and violet during the night.

### Atmosphere

Pandora atmosphere has slightly higher pressure than Earth, putting it at 1.2 atm. It has more oxygen than Earth and high amount of nitrogen in its composition just like Earth. But the moon's air is toxic to life on Earth due to its high concentration of poisonous gases like carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. The moon is also subject to greater storms compared to earth due to the higher atmospheric pressure.

### Day/Night Cycle

Pandora receives significant light from Alpha Centauri A (ACA). As a result, Pandoran nights are never as dark as Earth during half of the Polyphemian year, but instead are more like dusks on Earth. At the closest point in its orbit, ACA is about 2,300 times brighter than Earth's Moon; at its furthest point, it is still one hundred and seventy times as bright. During the other half of the year when ACB is sky, many Pandoran nights are illuminated by both Polyphemus and the reflected light from other nearby moons. Truly dark nights are rare. Polyphemus occasionally eclipses ACA at night for about one hundred minutes, but the light reflected by the planet still keeps the night from being dark.

When ACB shares the daytime sky with ACA, at its closest it adds 0.5% to the total illumination. When the 2 stars are close together in the sky, the effect of ACB's more orange light is unnoticeable. But, as they separate over the years, an orange tint may be seen in areas shadowed from ACA's direct illumination. At its most distant, ACB is about 2,700 times dimmer than ACA and does not produce noticeable lighting effects. However, it still appears as a tiny orange disk in the sky.

Because of its high axial tilt (29°), Pandora exhibits considerable annual variation in the day-to-night ratio. In addition, its elliptical orbit produces seasonal temperature variations and a range in daytime illumination of about ten percent.

### Natural Resources

Pandora is a treasure trove of both living and nonliving natural resources. It is the first celestial body discovered to host sapient life away from Earth and is also home to a of diverse and spectacular species unlike anything ever speculated by humanity. In terms of nonliving resources, several large areas of the moon's surface contain the extremely rare superconducting mineral Unobtanium. This mineral is worth twenty million USD per unrefined kilogram and twice that in its refined state. The mineral's superconductivity made it a baffling scientific discovery.

## See Also

### Footnote(s)

1. Pandora is a fictional moon from the movie AVATAR.