System Brief: Rhianna
SYSTEM NAME: Rhianna
STELLAR TYPE: G4V
STELLAR MASS: 0.92185x10^30 kg
HABITABLE PLANETS: 1, Alcazzar
Planet Brief
Planet Name: Alcazzar
Moons: 7
Climate Range: Seasonal: winter and summer both move east at 3km/hour continuously, but on opposite sides of the planet.
Diameter: 9,832 km
Atmosphere: 75% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen, 5% Inert Elements
Length of Year (One Orbit around Rhianna): 10,000 hours GST
Length of Day (summer): 4000 hours GST
Length of Night (winter): 4000 hours GST
Length of Transition (either): 1000 hours GST
Gravity: 0.81
Surface Temperature:-30 to 40 Celsius
Colonization
Unsettled. Discovered 12/21/61 by the Cassadine Development Corporation Twilight Moon Expedition. The planet's existance and mineral wealth were kept secret. A mining operation began almost immediately. Internal designation of the facility is CDC:Alcazzar:Compound Alpha
Climate and Seasonal Changes
Alcazzar's climate and seasonal changes are very unusual because the planet barely rotates as it orbits its star, Rhianna. At any one time, 40% of the planet is in summer, another 40% is in winter, and 20% is transitioning between the two seasons.
The entire summer is daytime, and the whole winter is nighttime. For approximately 200 standard GST days of the year, each hemisphere is either blessed with eternal daylight and warm, pleasant conditions, or plunged into an equally long night with frigid temperatures and snow reaching depths of several dozen metres. A 100-day GST period occurs between each extreme when each region passes through a twilight transition.
The winter are is blanketed by a heavy layer of clouds or blizzards approximately 50% fo the time. During transtion, the "beltline" region is cloudy 90% of the time, and suffers violent rain or snowstorms 33% of the time. The summer region is 90% sunney, but when clouds drift in from a transition zone, violent thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes are possible.
Terrain
Only one third of Alcazzar's surface is land, but it's covered with a wide variety of terrain. Mudflats, wet lowlands with little plant or animal life, cover 58% of the land. These areas are most noted for clouds of insects thick enough to make breathing difficult, but otherwise harmless.
Several ranges of of craggy mountains cut accross the land. While not large by most standards - the highest peak is 3,230 metres above sea level-constant glaciation, rock slides, and wind and water erosion have carved them into rugged cliffs and crags. The higer valleys in these ranges are choaked with ice fields all year around. The lower reaches are filled with rushing streams of icy water. Mountains cover 12% of the land area.
The plains and forest appear strikingly green from orbit. These fertile areas are made up of flowing grasslands and towering karakah trees. Glaciers rolled much of these areas flat, but often piled the gravelly soil into rolling moraines along the sides of common glacial paths.