The Chronicles of Local Space

Epsilon Indi

Star charts

Epsilon Indi as seen from Sol.	Sol as seen from Epsilon Indi.

Epsilon Indi is an orange dwarf star of spectral type K5V that is located 11.82 light years from Sol.

From Epsilon Indi, Sol appears near the Big Dipper and shines with a similar brightness to the other seven stars in that asterism.

Local Space

The system was explored with probes from the Dandelion Project in 2593. The probes found a system of seven planets and two brown dwarf companions. Two of the planets, Cyania and Azuria, are a binary pair of gas giants that are tidally locked to each other, and were the first such binary gas giants discovered.

The planet Aridia was originally a desert world without any water or life. It was terraformed and colonised and is home to the colony of the Aridia Corporation.

Epsilon Indi A

Celeria

Celeria is a small, dense world, typical of the Hermian type. Like many worlds of its type it is heavily cratered and lacks an appreciable atmosphere. What little atmosphere it possesses is a very attenuated, temporary atmosphere consisting primarily of hydrogen and helium that is constantly replenished and blown away by the stellar wind.

Aridia

When it was first discovered, Aridia was an Earth-size desert world in the habitable zone of its star with an atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The world had only the barest trace of water in its atmosphere, and none on the surface. This surprising discovery was not predicted by the then-current theories of planetary formation, and many theories were proposed to explain this unusual world.

• The “Dry Formation Theory” proposed that the world had simply formed with a lack of water. This was refuted when an isotopic study of the remaining water showed an elevated deuterium content. This suggested that the world had originally possessed substantial quantities of water, but had then lost it.
• The “Lost Atmosphere Theory” suggested that the world was originally a Cytherean world that had lost much of its atmosphere. The theory was supported by the high deuterium content in the remaining water, but not supported by the lack of a viable mechanism by which the world could lose substantial amounts of atmosphere.
• The “Climate Change Theory” proposed that the atmosphere was similar to the current atmosphere, but the world was originally Cytherean, and the climate changed to the current climate. This was refuted by atmospheric modelling.

The reason for the lack of water on Aridia is still a matter of some debate among scientists.

A more important issue was whether the world should be terraformed. Proponents argued that the world was ideal for terraforming because it lacked life. Opponents argued that the reason for the lack of water was still unknown, and therefore represented a potential hazard to future colonists. Eventually the world was approved for terraforming, and terraforming commenced in 2619. Most of the terraforming involved the controlled deflection of comets into Aridia, which provided water and organic compounds for the formation of the future biosphere. The terraforming was completed by 2755, and the world was settled in 2760. Aridia has been transformed from a dessicated desert into a pleasant Earthlike world.

Aridia has a slight axial tilt of about 1.6 degrees, or about seven per cent that of Earth. The slight axial tilt causes the seasons on Aridia to be almost nonexistent, with the greatest seasonal temperature variation being only a few degrees Celsius. The seasons also cause the main rainfall belts to be mostly stationary and this causes the desert regions on Aridia to be relatively large compared to the deserts of Earth. The axial tilt also causes the day length to vary relatively little over the course of a year. At a high latitude of 72 degrees, the day length on Aridia varies by the equivalent of one Earth hour over the course of a year, whereas a similar latitude on Earth experiences the midnight sun for about ten weeks a year.

Flavus

Flavus is a small Erebian world. Such worlds have more geological history than Selenian worlds, but like the Selenian world all geological activity has ceased. Flavus has a very thin atmosphere.

Rubicunda

Rubicunda.

Rubicunda is an EuJovian gas giant with a mass larger than that of Saturn. Its dynamic weather systems give it belts and zones similar to those of Jupiter and other similar large planets with active weather. It has a very faint ring and a large retinue of satellites.

Cyania and Azuria

Cyania and Azuria are a binary gas giant.

Cyania and Azuria orbit around their centre of mass.

Cyania and Azura are the first binary gas giant discovered. Both worlds are CryoJovian worlds. They orbit each other in a tight orbit, revolving around their common centre of mass in about 23 hours. The worlds have six known satellites.

The larger world, Cyania, has prominent bands near its equator. Azuria also has bands but these bands are less prominent.

Tardia

Tardia.

Tardia is another CryoJovian world in the Epsilon Indi system. It has a somewhat eccentric orbit, a large axial tilt, a prominent dusty ring and eleven known satellites.

Further reading

Fictional depictions of the Epsilon Indi system

• Epsilon Indi in Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki).
• Epsilon Indi in Wikipedia: Stars and planetary systems in fiction.

Nonfictional links

• Epsilon Indi in the ARI Database for Nearby Stars.
• Epsilon Indi in the Bright Star Catalogue.
• is in the Encyclopedia of Suns.
• Epsilon Indi in the Internet Stellar Database.
• Epsilon Indi in the SIMBAD Astronomical Database.
• Epsilon Indi in Solstation.
• Epsilon Indi in Stars.
• Epsilon Indi in Wikipedia.

This document was last modified 2011-01-12 01:26:43 UTC.
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