Pantheus System
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Template:Star SystemThe Pantheus System, also known as EGC-13, AELNIS-1 or RS-8496-928-6-91668-45 is a .990 star system located in the fringes of the Orion Arm in the Milky Way. Pantheus is a binary system, consisting of a 1.26 M☉ F9 spectral class star, known as Pantheus A (Cthnos), and a .67 M☉ K5 spectral class star, known as Pantheus B (Klintriarch). From Sol, Pantheus appears as a magnitude 11.78 star in the constellation of Crater.
Both stars in the system have complicated planetary systems. Cthnos has 11 planets and 20 rounded moons, while Klintriarch has a system of 12 planets and 22 rounded moons. The majority of the system's mass resides in the Cthnoite system as it is orbited by five J-class planets, all of which have masses exceeding that of Jupiter. The Klintriarchian system by comparison is predominantly N-class and I-class planets.
The Pantheus System was first cataloged in early sky surveys of the 21st and 22nd centuries. Interest in the system began when famous human explorer Valentino Arsiza visited in 2345 and documented the system, adding it to his Expansion General Catalogue as EGC-13. When Arsiza later created Arsiza's List of Notable Interstellar Systems, Pantheus was classified as AELNIS-1.
Although Sylvester Arsiza would later discover more unique systems, the Pantheus System remains significant as one of his favorites, and one of the first he put considerable effort into investigating. The system is well known today among local residents of the Confederacy of Humanity. It is now administered as a historic location, offering tours of the system to visitors and drawing in a moderate attendance rate.
Names
The Pantheus (/pɑːnθiːʌs/, pahn-thee-US) System was named by Valentino Arsiza very early on during his exploration of the system. Pantheus is derived from the world Pantheon, as Arsiza believed the plentiful amount of large bodies in the system were analogous to a pantheon of deities. The demonym of Pantheus is Panthian.
The Pantheus System, before it was explored, was referred to as RS-8496-928-6-91668-45 by SCART in accordance with the Initial Naming System.
The Exploration General Catalogue denotes the Pantheus System as EGC-13, as it was the 13th celestial object that Arsiza considered interesting enough to warrant being revisited in the future. It is is considered one of the EGCs most famous and popular objects, and one of the few early EGC objects to be colonized. The Pantheus System is closer to the Solar System than most other early EGC objects, many of which are bodies outside of the Milky Way.
The ALENIS (Arsiza's List of Notable Interstellar Systems) Catalouge was created following Arsiza's initial exploration of the Pantheus System. Arsiza felt that a new list had to be created that distinguished thoroughly explored and notable star systems from the the EGC's more inclusive list of deep sky objects and interesting bodies. The Pantheus System was denoted AELNIS-1.
Discovery and Exploration
Early Exploration
The Pantheus System was first by catalogued by humanity in the Pan-STARRS sky survey during the 21st century, as did subsequent star surveys in the coming decades. By the mid 22nd century the Pantheus system is known to have been registered by at least one SCART system, but no evidence that they pursued exploring it remains.
Valentio Arsiza discovered the Pantheus System on a routine journey to find local stellar systems for his EGC catalogue. He departed the solar system in early 2345 and arrived at Pantheus after several weeks of fruitlessly searching the Orion Arm. Arsiza's interest in the system
Location
The Pantheus System is located in proximity to human home-world Earth, in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. Pantheus is below the majority of galactic plane, resulting in a significant contrast between its view of the Milky way and the rest of the sky.
The closest stars system to Pantheus is the Abbaca Proxima system, at 4.14 ly away. The next nearest star systems are the Biother system (5.21 ly away) and the Biasint System (5.63 ly away), both of which have bodies with multicellular life. The closest R-Class planet to Pantheus is Akkurath, at 3.06 ly away. It is close enough to the system where Cthnos and Klintriarch appear as distinct stars if viewed from its surface. The Solar System is 1,360.39 light years away from Pantheus.
The nearest DSO to the system is the planetary nebula Ghost of Jupiter at 514.89 ly away, which appears as a magnitude 6.42 star. Other DSOs prominent in the skies of Pantheus include the Carina Nebula and Fleming 1. Given Pantheus' position relative to the galactic plane the Milky Way's globular clusters appear clustered into a constellation around the galactic core. The brightest globular cluster from the Pantheus System is M 62.
Given the Pantheus System's proximity to the Solar System, many prominent stars in the Panthian sky are familiar to Earth natives. Examples include stars in the Carina and Orion constellations.
System Architecture
Pantheus is a binary system, with both Cthnos and Klintriarch orbiting a central Barycenter. Both orbits intersect, and Cthnos is the inner of the two orbits, having a pericenter of 139.26 AU and an apocenter of 419.39 AU. Klintriarch's orbit has a pericenter of 263.67 AU and an apocenter of 794.07 AU. The stars orbit with a 1:1 resonance, with both stars completing an orbit every 20,283 terran years. Cthnos travels at 952 mph while Klintriarch travels at 1,737 mph.
The eleven Cthonite planets are generally more vast and massive than those of Klintriarch. The system alternates between massive gas giants and modest terrestrial planets.
Both planetary systems have significantly deviant orbital planes. The Cthnoite planetary system is angled 50° relative to the plane of the system, while the Klintriarchian planetary system is angled 230° relative to the plane of the system.
The Pantheus system has no circumbinary planets.
System Bodies
The Pantheus system has a total of 23 planets, 11 of which are around Cthnos and 12 of which are around Klintriarch. The majority of the Panthian planets are gas giants, most of which have moons massive enough to undergo hydrostatic equilibrium, and some large enough to sustain liquid cycles and atmospheres. There are a total of 65 planetary mass objects in the Pantheus System.
Cthnos
Cthnos (/kɪθnoʊs/, KITH-nos), otherwise known as Pantheus A, is a 1.26 M☉ F9 spectral class star and the main body of the Pantheus System. Cthnos has a planetary system consisting of 11 planets and 20 rounded moons.
Heaphance
The first planet from Cthnos, Heaphance (/hɛfæns/, HEH-fanss) is a hot J-class world over four times the mass of Jupiter. Heaphance is primarily made of water vapor and hydrogen, with a substantial mantel and traces of helium. Despite being only the second most massive of the Cthnoite gas giants, its proximity to Cthnos renders Heaphance the largest planet in the Pantheus System. Heaphance is naturally a dark lavender color, but through thermal radiation appears red and yellow. The planet is large enough to be seen as a prominent disk at the orbit of Oaven, where it can appear as large as 13 arcminutes across and as bright as the full moon. Heaphance has 23 dwarf moons, many of which are bright enough to be seen close to the planet's body from as distant as the orbit of Xua.
Due to its large size and brightness, Heaphance is one of the most distinct planets of the Panthian system, and is sometimes poetically referred to as Pantheus' Third Sun. Heaphance was the first planet found and cataloged by Sylvester Arsiza.
Oaven
The second planet from Cthnos, Oaven (/oʊeɪvɪn/, oh-AY-vin) is a torrid A-class Venus analogue almost two times the mass of Earth, and by far the hottest Panthian planet. Oaven has a substantial mantle around an iron core. The conditions on Oaven are incredibly hostile, with surface temperatures of around 2000 °F. The surface of Oaven is mostly dark igneous rock, and scarred by the planet's active geology. Oaven's many volcanoes contribute to its runaway greenhouse atmosphere of water vapor and carbon dioxide, which weighs on the planet with a crushing 373 atm. From space, Oaven appears bright, tan in color and covered in cream colored clouds of carbon dioxide. Oaven has no moons, but both Heaphance and Geltrest can be seen large in the sky from the planet's orbit.
Oaven's hot, super-Venusian conditions have led to its reputation as a "hell planet" and place of pain and banishment. Various missing person cases in the area have been attributed to tourist ships crashing into the planet and disintegrating in its stratosphere, though only one such incident has been officially confirmed.
Geltrest
The third planet from Cthnos, Geltrest (/ɡɛltrɛst/, ghelt-trest) is a warm J-class planet of twelve Jupiter masses. Geltrest is primarily composed of hydrogen, water vapor and helium, with a small core of silicate and iron. Geltrest is the fourth largest but second most massive Cthnoite gas giant. Geltrest has the fastest roation of any Panthian planet, as one day on the surface takes only 7 hours and 27 minutes. The planet's appearance is defined by bands of brown and orange gas, which are thought to be a result of the planet's internal heat left over from accretion. Geltrest is notable as its axial tilt is 64° off the Cthnoite ecliptic, leaving the planet's gas bands distinctly diagonal and its polar vortexes exposed to observation from other bodies in the plane. Gelrest has one large moon, Sauri, as well as a system of 49 small irregular moons, many of which orbit retrograde. Gelrest is large and close enough to appear as a disk around the orbits of Oaven and Xua. Given the planet's axial tilt, its lunar system is also visible as a strenuous cloud of stellar brightness bodies orbiting the planet, scattered vertically.
Geltrest is frequently cited as a Jupiter analogue, given its similarly colored bands and storms similarly placed to the Great Red Spot on Earth. As the most massive inner Cthnoite planet, minor bodies which orbit inward of the orbit of Mauru are referred to as "Gelrester bodies."
Sauri
Sauri (/saʊriː/, SOWR-ee) is the third moon of Geltrest, and the only rounded moon of the Geltrester system. Sauri is a warm, D-class, tidally locked desert moon of .06 Earth masses, with a substantial mantle around an metallic core. The moon has a thin, brown atmosphere of sulfur dioxide with trace amounts of octane and chlorine, thought to have emerged through volcanic outgassing. The surface of Sauri is split between igneous mares and rocky features on its nearside and the vast Eddenter Desert on its far side, where temperatures can rise as high as 175°F. Some volcanoes dot the Saurian surface, and then presence of canyons may indicate that the moon had liquid surface water in the distant past. Sauri's orbit on the Geltrester plane makes it a particularly easy observation for telescopes, as even minimal magnification can resolve the body distinctly from Geltrest.
Sauri, as an incredibly hot desert world with a poisonous and thin atmosphere, is neither inhabited nor a coveted tourist destination. Strictly in-spaceship tours are offered through the planet's north pole auroras, where visitors can observe the massive form of Geltrest looming above the twilight.