Vesta

Vesta, a.k.a Vesta Prime (to avoid confusion with the Sol System asteroid of the same name) is a major interstellar colony of Humanity, orbiting the star 61 Cygni B.

Overview

It is the second world orbiting 61 Cygni B, 11 lightyears from Earth and is one of the nearest major colonies. Vesta has a perfectly circular orbit around its parent star and sits around 2.5 AU from it, allowing for comfortable temperatures of 12 °C.

Vesta is also one of the most populated colonies within the Local Sphere, having up to 3.7 billion people and one of the first extra solar locations terraformed as well. One of the most popular features are its double sunrises and sunsets.

Climate

Vesta’s tilt isn’t as extreme as Earth’s, making seasonal changes fairly minimal. During daytime, temperatures range from a mild 12 °C to a warmer 17 °C, whereas nighttime drops to a -5°C . The smaller axis is somewhat of an oddity since the planet lacks any large moons.

Weatherwise, it is calm and predictable in most regions, however cyclones are prone to forming over seas, although they tend to die out shortly before reaching any major landmass. Whirlwinds are quite common on land as well, though they’re usually too weak to cause any damage and are somewhat of a natural attraction for locals.

A cyclonic storm forming at the planet’s northern region.

Its worth noting that snow doesn’t occur at all on the planet, even during colder seasons, the worse that’ll happen are rainstorms or high speed winds.

Geography

Vesta has two main continents, Concordia and Fortuna, along with a much smaller one between them, Medius. Uninhabited oceans of liquid water permeate much of the planet too, giving it rich water supply.

Concordia

The smaller of the two continents, serving as the main inhabited area for the planet's population. As mentioned before, most of the colonies, including the capital, Hearth are located in Concordia, giving it a population of 2.1 billion individuals.

Its landscape consists of immense, rocky deserts with mystifying mountains, hills, rolling sandy plains, dunes, canyons and the odd volcano here and there. Its ground is currently too infertile to grow crops so it still remains barren, for now, massive greenhouses are just built.

Medius

The smaller continent between Concordia and Fortuna.

Fortuna

The largest of the two major continents, so much so, that it is divided into 2 regions, Northern and Southern Fortuna.

History

Vesta was discovered by the ISEP-2 probe in 2231. The world was found to have a comfortable temperature of 12 °C and had an easy to terraform atmosphere. Because of this, Later on, in the year 2302, the colony ship, Piazzi, arrived at planet and colonists soon set up shop after waking from cryo-sleep, living in domes while the outside world underwent terraformation.

By 2428, the atmosphere was now breathable and the domes were finally taken down, construction of cities soon began. As of 2985, Vesta is currently the most populated colony near the Sol System, with its capital, Hearth, housing a staggering 5 million people.

Although not as popular as the more distant Terra Nova, Vesta sure has it's own charm such as Hearth, its capital which is notable being one of the largest cities on any colony, comparable to Tokyo in size. Due to this size, many trains and sky trams have been built around the city, traversing to different areas of Vestal, even the surrounding extensive suburbs.

Culture

Like all worlds, Vesta has its fair share of unique and interesting cultures that have popped up around the planet, leaving a mark with the most famous being the Neo-Romans in the city of Nova Roma. Many also describe Vesta as a business and real estate paradise, having some of the best oppurtunities in the entire Local Sphere even, with some building their own homes on the unclaimed areas of the main continent. The more darilous have formed their own "micro-states/nations", although these aren't actually recognised by the planet's government.

Places of interest

Concordia:

Hearth

A populous megacity, its skyline riddled with stylish skyscrapers that seem to be continuously evolving as new additions are added even now. Hearth is famous for its huge size, rivalling Tokyo on Earth and housing 5 million people with the help of arcologies strewn between. Along with the dotted arcologies, most buildings within Hearth are required to have plants on them which is common for most cities on colony worlds. Extensive metro and sky-tram networks connect most of the city's buildings, allowing for easy an quick transportation to each of them. There are many attractions in and around Hearth such as:

The Viridi Way: A road network running through the city with a stretch of woodland between its two lanes. Driving along here is often described as being therapeutic as the greenery adds a calming feeling to the route.

Vestal Suburbia

A massive, idyllic suburb surrounding Hearth. Vestal Suburbia resembles your traditional suburb, with many countless houses and interwoven streets. Across the suburb there are small wooded areas and parks for recreational activities.

Nova Roma

Otherwise known as "Little Rome", since Vesta's name comes from a Roman Goddess, a little re-creation of Rome was built on the outskirts of Hearth, having the same architecture and even a full scale replica of the Colosseum from the original on Earth. Holographic depictions of ancient gladiator fights are sometimes shown within the Colosseum, usually for entertainment or even educational purposes.

Another unique feature of Nova Roma is how its combined ancient Roman architecture with modern architecture, making it a popular tourist destination with thousands flocking each year to experience or even join the Neo-Roman culture. Sport, Leisure, Hedonism and Astronomy are popular pastimes in Nova Roma, especially when Romulus and Remus are visible on a clear night.

Mons Bellona

A small mountain range, 55 miles from Hearth. It is a popular destination for hiking, camping and stargazing because of its distance from major settlements and lack of light pollution. A small village with the same name is also located near it, though most people there are tourists rather than actual residents. Several urban myths/folktales have circled around regarding Mons Bellona, the most famous being that of strange lights around the mountain at night. Most see this as nothing more than a silly exaggeration as lights can easily be explained by surveillance drones or hikers with flashlights.

Gallery

First image from the surface, prior to terraformation.
The first sunset experienced on the planet
61 Cygni A setting, creating a "second sunset"
Interstellar freighter arriving at the planet. 61 Cygni A can be seen on the right