Yalrosi
Yalrosi
Orbital
| Orbital Period | 20 days |
|---|---|
| Parent Body | Lizard-414 |
| Semimajor Axis | 363,334 "km" |
| Solar Day | ∞ |
Physical
| Class | Terrestrial Exomoon |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 11,447 "km" |
| Gravity | 0.8 "g" (7.84532 m/s²) |
| Mass | 0.72 "Earths" |
| Temperature | 90°F |
Environment
| Atmospheric Composition |
|
|---|---|
| Pressure | |
| Sea Composition | H₂O |
| Suns | 2 |
Yarosi, also known as Yals Child by the Lizards (Lizard name: Yalevengaan), is an Earth-like habitable extrasolar moon from the Lizard-414 System, the closest star system to the Thrilxots own Solar System. It is the second moon of the terrestrial planet Lizard-414, which orbits Lizard-4140. It is located 4.423 light-years (26 trillion miles) from Lizard-755.
Despite being almost as large as Earth, Yalrosi is only a moon of a planet that has one other moon. However, due to the smaller mass, Yalrosis gravity is 20% less than Earth's, although its atmosphere is much denser than Earths due to the presence of heavier gases. Depending on the position of the various moons, none or even one moon can be seen at once in the sky of Yalrosi. This causes solar eclipses to happen on almost a daily basis. Yalrosi and its sister moon Juphris also cast large black shadows on Lizard-414.
Atmosphere
Yalrosi's atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide (>20%), xenon (>5.5%), methane, and hydrogen sulfide (>3%) and is about 20% denser than the atmosphere on Earth primarily due to the high percentage of Xenon; a heavy, colourless, odourless, and generally unreactive noble gas. The high concentration of carbon dioxide in the Yalrosian atmosphere makes it extremely poisonous and unbreathable to humans, rendering them unconscious in about 20 seconds and causing death in about 4 minutes when they venture out unprotected by specialized breathing masks. The hydrogen sulfide present is also quite hazardous; concentrations over 1000 ppm (0.1 %) can cause immediate collapse with subsequent loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.
The increased air resistance within this denser atmosphere has a number of effects: *Lower terminal velocity. Combined with Yalrosis twenty-percent lower gravity, a freely falling objects maximum speed is significantly less than on earth. A person who happens to fall from a mountain has a good chance of surviving uninjured if they are over a forested area. Even over water, falling spread-eagled can reduce their speed sufficiently to allow an impact with the surface that will not knock them unconscious. *The increased mass of the denser air means that more force is required to accelerate it as it is moved out of the path of a moving object. Humans on Yalrosi experience this when they try to run – it feels like there is a wind blowing against them, even though the air is still. They are further hampered by the fact that the reduced gravity causes their boots to slip more readily on paved or smooth surfaces, giving them less traction to force their bodies forward. The Yalrosian six-legged animals use their many feet to gain a purchase on protruding rocks or small crevices. *Flying animals can take advantage of both the lower gravity, which reduces the weight of their body, and the increased air density, which requires more force to displace with the downward/rearward stroke of their wings, and thus gives the animals body more impetus with each flap. The downside is that the denser air is harder to move through, and requires highly-efficient streamlining to achieve high flight speeds. *Plants are subject to greater wind force, as the greater air density means that the moving air carries more kinetic energy and more momentum, and the plants, leaves, stems, branches, and trunks must all have a greater strength and/or flexibility to resist it.
Day-Night Cycle
Yalrosi receives significant light from Lizard-4140 (L4140). As a result, Yalrosian nights are never dark during half of the Lizard-414 year, but instead are more like Earthly dusk. At the closest point in its orbit, L4140 is about 2,300 times as bright as Earths full moon; at its furthest point, it is still one hundred and seventy times as bright. During the other half of the year when L4140 is in the daytime sky, many Yalrosian nights are illuminated by both Lizard-414s huge disk and the reflected light from the other nearby moon. Truly dark nights are uncommon. Lizard-414 occasionally eclipses L4140 at night for about one hundred minutes, but the light reflected by the planet still keeps the night from being dark.
Because of its high axial tilt (68°), Yalrosi exhibits considerable annual variation in the day-to-night ratio. In addition, its elliptical orbit produces seasonal temperature variations and a range in daytime illumination of about ten percent.
Internal Structure
Yalrosis physical construction resembles Earths: a liquid iron core, a plastic mantle, and a semi-rigid crust. Like Earth, it has two internal heat sources: the disintegration of radioactive isotopes, and energy from the gravitational collapse of its initial formation. There is an additional and much larger energy input from tidal forces; the nearest inner moon pulls on Yalrosi on it in contest with Lizard-414. This excess of energy drives continental drift at a much faster rate than Earth, causing the tectonic plates to fracture more extensively because of the increased stress. This explains the lack of large continents on Yalrosi, as well as its volcanism and geothermal activity.
Surface Features
Yalrosis land-to-water ratio is greater than Earth's, but because the land area is broken up into a larger number of smaller continents, no land area is as far from the ocean as on Earth, and there are still frequent rivers and bays. The moderating influence of oceans reduces extremes in temperature. Polar ice caps that are smaller than Earth's exist. However, due to the exponentially higher greenhouse composition in the moons atmosphere, which then causes a much higher global average temperature than Earth, there are no land masses in the polar areas, the Yalrosian ice caps are currently free-floating.
Yalrosi is more volcanically active than Earth. There are vents both on the land and under the oceans. Many of the mountains and other surface features are of recent volcanic origin. Numerous hot springs and geysers dot the landscape, and there are several rivers that are almost boiling at the place where they erupt from underground aquifers. All of these serve to maintain the local concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas deadly to humans. Landforms are shaped extensively by the higher density atmosphere - dust grains carried by the wind are larger, and strike objects with greater energy. Exposed rock weathers more rapidly, creating more sedimentary material to be carried away by rivers.