Helios System

2. Hermes

* 4 moons

3. Eos

* 27 moons

4. Terra Nova

* Selene
* Pandia
* Endymion

5. Cronus

* Hestia
* Chiron
* Demeter

6. Athena

* Ericthonius

7. Chione

* 2 moons

8. Boreas

* Oreithyia
* Zetes
* Calais
* 11 minor moons

Helios, also known as Pi3 Orionis or Tabit, is an F-type star 26 lightyears from Earth and is the center of the Helios System.

## Overview

Helios is a bright F-type main sequence star, only marginally larger than Sol and experiences a 12 hour rotation, making it slightly oblate. The star's intense brightness can come as a bit of shock newcomers and because of this, Terra Novans are much more active during the night than they are during the day. On the other hand, this has also made solar energy widely used throughout the system.

It was first visited in 2235 by the ISEP-5 probe as part of the Interstellar Exploration Program due to its fairly close distance to Sol along with the discovery of a promising planet around it. After Terra Nova was properly terraformed and fully colonised in 2496, the whole system began to be explored and catalogued. As of today, the entire system has been explored for the most part, and several mining colonies have been established throughout.

## History

The system formed rougly 1.4 billion years ago in an interstellar disk of gas and dust. Overtime, planetary bodies began to take shape around the juvenile star.

Countless asteroids and comets left-over from the formation are still widespread across the system.

## System

A total of 8 planets circle around Helios (2 being dwarf planets)

### Minos

Minos is the first world from Helios. It is a small S-class dwarf planet. An airless, rocky world, it is devoid of any geological activity and doesn't possess any moons. Minos only takes 37 days to make a full orbit around Helios and has a slow, 112 day-long rotation.

#### Climate

As it lacks an atmosphere, Minos has no weather whatsoever, only enduring blistering radiation on the daytime side from Helios. Temperatures reach up to a scorching 383 °C.

#### Geography

The surface is heavily cratered with many hills and mountains taking up most of it. Because of this, it has not been colonised as there is nothing of interest there, plus its lack of atmosphere and close orbit to Helios in general would make it a dangerous, albeit worthless endeavor.

### Hermes

A hot, S-class planet in second orbit. It lacks an atmosphere much like its smaller brother, Minos and is absent of any geological activity. It is orbited by 4 small moons, Evander, Eudoros, Autolycus and Myrtilus, that are presumed to be captured asteroids. Hermes takes 93 days to orbit around Helios and has a 31 hour rotation period.

#### Climate

As with Minos, it holds no atmosphere and the anytime side is subject to intense heat from the star. Temperatures reach up to 220 °C.

#### Geography

The surface of Hermes consists of craters, canyons and intersecting grooves. Mountains, hills and large flat desert areas are also plentiful, which has made it better to colonise. Several mining outposts have been established across the dwarf planet due to being rich in minerals such as iron and copper, along with other valuable metals.

These mining outposts are mostly automated as the lack of atmosphere and intense heat make it dangerous for people to stay on. Luckily, these are very self-sufficient and require minimal human supervision to make sure things are in balance. Some of these outposts are connected by underground train networks, transporting resources to spaceports to be shipped off world for other uses.

Currently, Hermes is also being use to construct a dyson swarm which began in 2976 and is expected to be completed by 3026. Despite its small size, there are no signs of depletions so operations can continue for a long time to come. There are plans to mine its moons although they are too minor to warrant attention at this point in time.

### Eos

A warm gas giant slightly smaller than Saturn, orbiting Helios at a distance of 2.1 AU. Its has a standard Hydrogen-Helium atmosphere with small amounts of Methane and has a distinctive greyish-blue colour from space. 27 moons orbit Eos, all of which are minor asteroids and only one, Astraea, has been properly named. Eos rotates every 12 hours, making it quite oblate, and takes 215 days to make a full orbit around Helios.

The planet has a significant presence in Terra Nova's sky, appearing as a very bright star, fully visible in the daytime, even more so during twilight hours. It is often nicknamed, the "Daytime Star" and "Twilight Star" by the Terra Novans. It was for this reason that the planet was named after the greek goddess of dawn.

#### Climate

Blistering hot winds race across the planet at tremendous speeds, reaching up to temperatures of 79°C. Large lightning storms have also been observed along with cyclones and even twisters.

### Terra Nova

Often considered the "capital" of the system and thriving new home of Humanity, Terra Nova is the fourth planet from Helios, boasting a diverse climate and geography.

Terra Nova possesses 3 moons, Selene, Endymion and Pandia, the latter two being captured asteroids.

#### Climate/Atmosphere

Though the planet lacks much of an axial tilt, it still enjoys a myriad of climates and weather.

Along the equator, it is consistently temperate, ranging from 15-20°C, and in rare cases 25°C. Due to this constant warm temperature, hurricanes/cyclones can often form overseas along this region. Luckily, settlements along here are built to withstand them.

The polar regions of the planet are a lot more calmer in terms of weather although the temperature is much lower within them.

#### Geography

Across Terra Nova's continents, an assortment of different geography can be found, from majestic mountain ranges, wide open grasslands, lakes, valleys and dry deserts.

As the planet is still young, it has considerable geological activity, although it's only limited to small volcano eruptions so thankfully nothing threatening to Terra Nova's inhabitants at this point in time. It is for this reason that settlements are built away from mountainous areas.

### Cronus

The fifth and largest world in the system, boasting a prominent ring system. It is the second brightest object in Terra Nova's night sky after Selene, appearing as a very bright star. Much like Jupiter, Cronus endures a 10 hour rotation, making it slightly oblate.

Countless moons circle around it, with three being major ones, Hestia, Chiron and Demeter.

#### Climate

As with any gas giant, Cronus is plagued by immense storms, highspeed winds and enormous cyclones.

### Athena

An arid, super-terrestrial world and the sixth from Helios. Ravaged by worldwide dust storms and a crushing gravitational pull 2x that of Earth's, Athena is a harsh world, appropriately named after the greek goddess of war. Despite its large size, the planet only has one moon, Ericthonius, a small asteroid presumably captured at some point in the past.

#### Climate

As stated before, planet-wide dust storms regularly occur during its winters. Dust devils are common here, even more so than they are on Mars, although Athena's are usually larger and more deadly due to the thicker atmosphere and stronger gravity.

#### Geography

The surface is a global desert, compete with vast canyons, great dunes, wide open plains and soaring mountains. Geological activity is also present as several volcanic eruptions have been detected over the ages.

There are currently no plans for colonisation at this point in time since the conditions make it too difficult. While genetic engineering and terraformimg technology are available, colonising Athena would be much more difficult and expensive.

Although there were plans to put an automated mining operation there, the high gravity would make it difficult for ships to exit the atmosphere. As of now, Athena remains untouched by Humans with the exception of lander probes.

### Chione

An icy dwarf planet, orbited by two small moons. This minute world hasn't gained much traction thanks to its distance, small size and inactive nature.

#### Climate/atmosphere

Chione lacks an atmosphere, leaving the surface exposed to the vacuum of space. Because of this, it is easily impacted by any nearby comets or asteroids.

#### Geography

Chione has no geological activity whatsoever so the surface remains consistently smooth in most areas, aside from the craters dotted about and smaller mountainous areas. There are currently no colonies there, however it's flat surface would make construction fairly easy.

### Boreas

Named after the Greek god of ice, Boreas is the 8th and furthest world from Helios. It is quite notable for having 14 natural satellites, which is odd considering its small size and at least 3 of them (Orithyia, Zetes and Calaïs), have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium.

Another intriguing feature is its subsurface ocean, which is currently under exploration.

#### Climate/atmosphere

Boreas possess a very thin atmosphere, although it's nowhere close to thick enough for any weather to form, or even be visible.

#### Geography

Within its subsurface oceans there are a number of active hydrothermal vents, which often cause large geysers and small tremors in some areas. Thanks to the lack of a thick atmosphere, most of the water that is ejected freezes into ice crystals, creating some very pretty scenery.

Additionally, towering crystalline ice formations have been discovered, making them one of the System's natural wonders.

Although there is potential for life within its underground seas, none exists since the system is quite young. Nevertheless, there is routine exploration into this ocean in order to found it what early Europa may have been like.

To be finished.