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PRIMARY STAR:Gamma
Leporis A
Aka: 13 Lep, Gliese 216, Hip 27072
| Distance from Sol: 29.3 ly | Sector: Rana (Delta Eridani) |
| Spectral Type: F6 V | Absolute Magnitude: +3.83 |
| Mass: 1.2 of Sol |
Metallicity: c. 80% of Sol |
| Age: 2.7 billion years |
Main
Sequence life expectancy: 5 billion years |
| Start of MS lifespan | Present (2.7 Gyr) | End of MS lifespan (5 Gyr) | |
| Inner radius (AU) | 1.24 | 1.45 | 2.00 |
| Outer radius (AU) | 1.79 | 2.09 | 2.89 |
Companions: 5 terrestrial planets, 3 Jovian planets,
one K2 V star (Gamma Lep B) at >800 AU
CYBELE
| Orbital semi-major axis: | 1.5346 AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.026 |
| Year length: | 1.735 Earth years |
| Rotation period: | 1.34 Earth days (32 hr, 10 min, 28 sec) |
| Local days/year: | 472.804 |
| ----------------- | -------------- |
| Radius: | 5697 km (0.893 Earth radii) |
| Gravity: | 0.784 g (7.68 m/s^2) |
| Mass (Earth): | 0.625 |
| Density (Earth): | 0.877 |
Cybele has a relatively thin atmosphere due to its low gravity. The atmosphere contains about 22% oxygen, 76% nitrogen, 2% carbon dioxide and trace gases. The sky is generally an indigo color slightly darker than Earth's. The climate is temperate, slightly cooler than Earth's, though with a lower axial tilt giving milder seasons.
In fact, Cybele is currently close to the inner radius of Gamma Leporis' continuously habitable zone. The planet's thin atmosphere reduces its greenhouse heating and its relatively high land-to-water ratio increases its albedo, compensating for this. However, the climate is expected to become increasingly warmer over the next few hundred million years and become uninhabitable in less than a billion.
The primary photosynthetic pigment is phytorhodopsin, a purple-red compound. The dominant plant forms include treelike organisms combining attributes of bamboo and ferns. The two main classes of large animal life are arthropods and vertebrates. The vertebrates possess only two limbs, a head and a tail, although some have prehensile tails and mouth parts or have adapted rib extensions into useful appendages. There are several vertebrate orders on land, some resembling reptiles or amphibians while others possess mammal-like traits. The arthropods often resemble Terran crustaceans or insects, but have more advanced internal organs and stronger limbs to support their greater size, and lens-based rather than compound eyes. Since the vertebrates' lack of limbs keeps them grounded, so far only the arthropods have evolved flight. Many migratory arthropod fliers have evolved magnetic navigational abilities, based on iron-containing magnetolith cells which align with magnetic fields, analogous to the statoliths in the human inner ear which orient with gravity and provide a sense of up and down. This magnetic field sense has been adapted for other uses, including the detection of prey. Many arthropod forms are sedentary, and have evolved elaborate chitin camouflage or defenses.
Cybeline Calendar
There are 472.804 days in a Cybeline year. The calendar is thus 473
days long, consisting of 15 months with 32 days in odd-numbered and 31 days
in even-numbered months. The final day of the year is omitted every five
years, except in years which are multiples of 250. (Of course, as of
"Wild Cybers," the colony has not yet reached its first "anti-leap day.")
First human planetfall was in October 2242, and the calendar is dated from
the preceding winter solstice, or June 25, 2242. Oddly, this first
year was retroactively counted as "Year 0." This was to reflect the
fact that the permanent planetary government was not inaugurated until the
first day of the first full planetside year (the first winter solstice post-planetfall),
on which day a huge celebration was mounted to commemorate the successful
establishment of the colony and the overcoming of initial settlement difficulties.
Everything before that date was considered preliminary, a "trial run" for
the real thing -- even though Anansi captain/provisional governor
Richard Berdahl and most of his administration retained their posts in the
formal election.
Auxons
Auxons are robots capable of reproducing themselves from available raw materials.
They are ideal for interstellar probes, since the mass of the initial probe
package is greatly reduced. Planetary survey auxons are able to evolve,
redesigning themselves in response to local conditions. There are safeguards
to prevent uncontrolled evolution, including a command to enter a dormant
state between the completion of a specific mission and the receipt of new
orders. However, circumstances on Cybele, including the excessive time
lapse between auxon arrival and human arrival due to the loss of the initial
expedition and a high rate of attrition due to the magnetic-sensitive arthropod
predators' "taste" for auxon magnetic fields, led its auxon probes to evolve
beyond their programmed limits and undergo adaptive radiation.
From
the Journals of Safira Kimenye
To offer insight on Cybele's life forms, both native and auxonic, we offer
these excerpts from the journals of naturalist Safira Kimenye, recorded and
uploaded during her legendary sojourn among the wild cybers of Cybele.
(Actually this is mostly leftover
material from my first draft of the story, but it lets me mention a few species
that didn't make the final cut.)
The planet graphic above is based on a fractal image generated by the Terranova Screensaver, edited in Photoimpression 2000, and superimposed on a Celestia starscape showing the sky as seen from Gamma Leporis' habitable zone on the date that "Among the Wild Cybers of Cybele" begins.