Ernes

**Ernes** is a moon of Mesmo . Being one of the most peculiar moons known to kerbals because of it's habitability outside the goldilocks zone of its star.

## In-Game Description

*"When scientists looked for habitable worlds, they searched only within the habitable zones around stars, hoping they would find something. Strangely enough, a world named Ernes has managed to develop life well outside of the zone, and is instead heated up by the tidal warmth of Mesmo. Nobody knows how the life got there, but what they do know is that it makes a great place to set up camp, as the view is stunning!"*

## Discovery

Ernes is one of the first few exomoons discovered, due to its massive size. Although Nisc was the first moon discovered around Mesmo, Ernes was found after observing perturbations in Nisc's orbit. Its habitability wasn't realized until years later, when a research team found that tidal forces from Mesmo could have warmed it.

## Physical Characteristics

Ernes is a world very similar to Kerbin. Despite its lower density, Ernes has similar gravity and atmospheric composition. The only issue with it is that it is a little cold, being just below freezing point. Because of this, it is likely that it has a lots of salts and possibly ammonia in the waters to prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of the oceans, along with geothermal activity preventing the crust from freezing.

Ernes' geologic activity is mostly a result of the moon's interactions with Mesmo. Because of Mesmo's massive size, it creates large tidal forces on Ernes, much stronger than the Mun's effect on Kerbin. As a result, Ernes experiences more tectonic activity than Kerbin, which is easily apparent if you look at a map of the moon.

## Atmosphere

Ernes has a similar atmosphere to Kerbin, sharing many characteristics. The atmosphere is primarily nitrogen (N₂) at about 80%, lower quantities of oxygen (O₂) at 15%, and larger portions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) at about 5%. This makes the atmosphere almost unbreathable for kerbals, but it helps to heat the planet up from freezing over.

## Climate

Ernes' climate is determined mostly by tidal forces from Mesmo, keeping the moon warm. The heat rising from underground warms the atmosphere, and combined with its slow rotation, causes some high speed winds to circulate the moon.

Ernes also receives large doses of radiation from Mesmo's radiation belts. Although it isn't nearly as harmful as experienced on moons like Dolis, prolonged exposure to the radiation is still enough to hurt life from Kerbin. As a result, life on Ernes evolves quickly and is radiation-resistant.

## Life

Life on Ernes is remarkably similar to life found on other habitable worlds similar to Kerbin. Scientists can't explain this, other than that it's just a coincidence, as Ernes is, in fact, mostly the same as Kerbin as far as composition and environment. The life also appears to be genetically different than it should be, having green plants than blue ones one would typically see (although that is probably due to Ernes's distance from Kerolon weakening the UV radiation, lessening the need for shielding).

Because of a slightly lower surface gravity and thinner atmosphere, land animals have developed a tetrapod body pattern, the same as animals found on Kerbin. However, due to a higher exposure to radiation than on Kerbin, most land life is extremely varied, as radiation creates mutations. Ernes is covered in cold, coniferous forests along the equator, with trees similar in shape to conifers found on Kerbin, It is dominated by large, wooly creatures which feed off of the leaves, and predated by hairy predators.

The deserts on Ernes are also surprisingly inhabited. The plant and animal life don't need to deal with heat because of the cool temperatures, but rather the lack of precipitation. To cope, all the plants in the deserts have deep roots to collect water, and the animals feed on the plants, as well as seeds released by them during pollination season.

The oceans of Ernes are populated mostly by fish-like creatures, most of which stay near the shores due to a large amount of food, but continue to stay near the shores even in the absence of food. There are also an abundance of coral reefs, especially in the crater bays which are common on the surface of Ernes.

One of the most peculiar things about Ernes is that it had mostly simple organisms, mostly along the lines of basic bacteria, up until roughly 2 million years ago, when a sharp increase in biodiversity occurred, along with a large change in the planets composition and climate. Most of the species that started appearing on fossil records still exist today. Currently, scientists have no explanation for this, but some have reason to believe this could be the result of alien interference. A few also believe life could have diversified naturally, but this is controversial due to the fact that cold climates slow down the process of evolution.

### Possibilities of Intelligent Life

One notable species on Ernes is a species of kerbal-like creatures that inhabit some of the areas on the moon. These creatures are taller, paler, and have smaller feet and heads, as well as an extra digit on their hands. They appear intelligent, but seem to lack the intelligence to do much more than create simple tools. Scientists think they may evolve into another civilization, but it seems more likely their intelligence is degrading.

## Biomes

Ernes has 11 biomes:

* Water
* Inland Water
* Coast
* Ice Caps
* Wastelands
* Highlands
* Mountains
* Steppe
* Tundra
* Temperate Regions
* Impact Basins

## Trivia

* Ernes is one of the few known Super-Kerbin moons.