The Chronicles of Local Space

A fictional exploration of nearby star systems

41 Arae

The 41 Arae System
Right Ascension	17h 19m
Declination	−46° 38'
Distance	28.57 ± 0.34 ly
Star	41 Arae A	41 Arae B
Spectral Class	G8V	K7V
Estimated Mass	0.74 × Sol	?
Luminosity	0.42 × Sol	0.022 × Sol

Star charts
41 Arae as seen from Sol.	Sol as seen from 41 Arae.

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Brightest stars as seen from 41 Arae
Includes all stars of magnitude 1.00 and brighter
Star	Magnitude	Distance
Canopus	−0.64	305.3
Arcturus	0.22	41.5
Rigel	0.22	879.7
Achernar	0.31	130.6
Beta Centauri (Hadar)	0.47	367.8
Betelgeuse	0.55	520.3
Alpha Crucis (Acrux)	0.63	301.4
Spica	0.87	236.9
Vega	0.88	37.2
Beta Trianguli Australis	0.92	16.8
Antares	0.96	527.3

Local Space

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Stargates in this system
Destination	Distance
Gliese 667 A	8.2
Gliese 783	16.4
Gliese 785	19.6

41 Arae A

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The planets of the 41 Arae A system
Planet	SMA (AU)	Orbital Period	e	Equatorial Diameter (km)	Mass (Earths)	Density (g/cm³)	Gravity (Earth g)	Atmospheric Pressure (Earth=1)	Sidereal Day	Mean Solar Day	Axial Tilt	Known Moons
Hamlet	0.2833	63.952 d	0.0284	6377	0.09985	4.39	0.3993	0.0000140	63d 22h 51.3m	Synchronous	00° 01.4'	0
Horatio	0.4398	123.73 d	0.0106	7071	0.1382	4.46	0.4496	0.00391	123d 17h 33.4m	Synchronous	00° 46.5'	0
Polonius	0.7019	249.46 d	0.0629	5946	0.07168	3.89	0.3298	0.00253	1d 23h 18.2m	1d 23h 40.8m	11° 21.4'	2
Gertrude	1.062	1.2712 y	0.0139	10270	0.4745	5.03	0.7316	0.638	16h 39.5m	16h 40.9m	32° 33.1'	0
Claudius	3.600	7.9322 y	0.0287	51580	14.66	1.32	0.8957	&mdash	09h 33.5m	09h 33.6m	25° 57.4'	7

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Natural satellites of the 41 Arae A system
Name	Diameter (km)	Period (days)	Semimajor Axis (km)	Ecc	Inc
Natural Satellites of Polonius [Hide details][Show details]
Ophelia	73	2.015	27990	0.0004	0.05
Laertes	17	3.573	41010	0.0294	1.32
Natural Satellites of Claudius [Hide details][Show details]
Barnardo	173	1.083	109000	0.0094	0.03
Francisco	1672	2.561	193500	0.0149	0.64
Marcellus	1543	5.121	307200	0.0196	1.19
Voltemand	1005	13.16	576200	0.0345	3.01
Cornelius	893	26.15	910800	0.0752	2.13
Reynaldo	80	39.55	1200000	0.0591	3.16
Osric	132	53.27	1464000	0.0735	13.30

Polonius is a small world in the habitable zone around 41 Arae A. The world has a mass of about 0.072 Earth masses and is thus too small to be terraformed. The world has a very thin, unbreathable atmosphere. The world is named after the character from Hamlet, as are the other planets in this system.

Polonius has a long day nearly twice the length of Earth’s day.

The world has two moons, Laertes and Ophelia.

Ophelia orbits just outside the radius of the synchronous orbit. It moves so slowly across the sky of Polonius that it almost seems to stand still; the time from moonrise to moonset is about six weeks. Ophelia has an apparent size that varies from about nine minutes of arc at moonrise and moonset to about 10 minutes of arc at the zenith, or about one-third of the size of Earth’s moon in apparent size. This variation in apparent size is due to the observer being one Polonian radius closer to Ophelia when that moon is at the zenith.

Laertes orbits farther out and thus moves much more quickly across the sky. Laertes appears much smaller in the sky than Ophelia, with an apparent size of about 1¹⁄₃ minutes of arc. An observer needs good eyesight to resolve the disk of Laertes with the naked eye.

Colony of Polonius

The world was colonised as a mining colony and then attracted free settlers. The world is a tax haven. It also has a significant industrial and mining base.

The long day makes it necessary for the residents to live with an artificial day half the length of the natural day. Every second “day” is actually the Polonian night. The artificial environment of the Polonian colony causes this to be less of a problem. The Polonian colony is mainly an indoor colony with an artificial environment, and any outdoor work such as mining that must be done at night uses artificial lighting during the long Polonian night.

Principal imports: Fertilisers, water, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide

Principal exports: Light ores, manufactured goods