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Description

Working diligently since my last post, I’ve spent about 250 hours on this new project, a so-called “eyeball planet” around a brown dwarf, which in turn orbits a sunlike star. I devoted half my time to the graphical representation that appears below; the rest, fussing over the science and mathematics of what I’ve ensured to be a highly plausible conworld.

Originally, I intended to submit only the final copy of this map once it was finished, but noticed that I was getting bogged down with the graphical details, unsure of how to proceed. Thus, I’m posting this incomplete map here to elicit some feedback and critiques related to my graphical representation, particularly the mountains and the river placement, which I consider to be the most dubious features. Please keep in mind the unconventional global circulation (see below).

The setting is a solar system in the Milky Way galaxy, consisting of one sunlike star (G0 V) and a retinue of planets, much like our own solar system. Kaunis was originally covered in oceans 15 kilometers deep, only the highest topography protruding from the water surface. Its rotation rate was less than 21 hours. Then, about 600 million years ago, a 61-jupiter-mass rogue brown dwarf, Electra, careened through the system and captured two terrestrials, Kaunis one of them. Electra’s massive tides would pulverize Kaunis’s surface and level every single mountain on the planet. In only 9 years, Electra would have tidally braked Kaunis’s rotation rate to over 44 hours and drawn a water bulge 12 kilometers deep on two sides of the planet (also ending the pulverisation of its topography). This bulge idea was my eureka moment after I devised a method in Photoshop for rendering this “12 km stationary tidal bulge.” When I applied it to my original map, my girlfriend and I loved the results. (I also hope it deters the viewer from noticing that I’ve cheated on this map by copying actual DEM data rather than hand drawing and “Wilburing” the topography.)

I’ve also worked out the meteorology of Kaunis, taking into account its slow rotation rate, which would create a very different pattern of prevailing winds and pressure zones on the planet. Having read a couple studies on this subject, I’ve assumed a 2 Hadley cell global circulation model with high pressure at the poles and low pressure at the equator, causing a wind about 50% stronger than typical earth-like winds. (Derived from the equation for geostrophic wind.) Due to a weak Coriolis force, the winds would ever so slightly be deflected towards the west. Also due to the slow rotation rate, strong sea and land breezes would develop as the continent interiors heated up and cooled down significantly during the long days and nights; this would modify the general circulation. Kaunis would experience no hurricanes and very few cyclonic storms. Rainfall would be greatest at the equator and taper off towards the poles, the topography creating many rain shadow zones.

Due to Electra’s 82-watt-per-square-meter infrared heat emission, the side of Kaunis facing Electra experiences some heating of its ocean immediately underneath the brown dwarf, making the oceans about 4 degrees hotter at that point (leading to greater rainfall!).

As you members from Finland would know, Kaunis is Finnish for “beautiful,” because I’m planning to use this name as an advertisement poster to encourage immigration to this newly discovered world.

As the original map was over 10,000 x 5,000 pixels, I had to resample it and submit the 9 M version. This is a work in progress.

Please let me know how this map could be improved. Regarding the physical data, I admit that some of my calculations could be in error; thus, if you disagree with my results, please let me know. (All physical data available on request.)

Thanks,

Peter

Description

Working diligently since my last post, I’ve spent about 250 hours on this new project, a so-called “eyeball planet” around a brown dwarf, which in turn orbits a sunlike star. I devoted half my time to the graphical representation that appears below; the rest, fussing over the science and mathematics of what I’ve ensured to be a highly plausible conworld.

Originally, I intended to submit only the final copy of this map once it was finished, but noticed that I was getting bogged down with the graphical details, unsure of how to proceed. Thus, I’m posting this incomplete map here to elicit some feedback and critiques related to my graphical representation, particularly the mountains and the river placement, which I consider to be the most dubious features. Please keep in mind the unconventional global circulation (see below).

The setting is a solar system in the Milky Way galaxy, consisting of one sunlike star (G0 V) and a retinue of planets, much like our own solar system. Kaunis was originally covered in oceans 15 kilometers deep, only the highest topography protruding from the water surface. Its rotation rate was less than 21 hours. Then, about 600 million years ago, a 61-jupiter-mass rogue brown dwarf, Electra, careened through the system and captured two terrestrials, Kaunis one of them. Electra’s massive tides would pulverize Kaunis’s surface and level every single mountain on the planet. In only 9 years, Electra would have tidally braked Kaunis’s rotation rate to over 44 hours and drawn a water bulge 12 kilometers deep on two sides of the planet (also ending the pulverisation of its topography). This bulge idea was my eureka moment after I devised a method in Photoshop for rendering this “12 km stationary tidal bulge.” When I applied it to my original map, my girlfriend and I loved the results. (I also hope it deters the viewer from noticing that I’ve cheated on this map by copying actual DEM data rather than hand drawing and “Wilburing” the topography.)

I’ve also worked out the meteorology of Kaunis, taking into account its slow rotation rate, which would create a very different pattern of prevailing winds and pressure zones on the planet. Having read a couple studies on this subject, I’ve assumed a 2 Hadley cell global circulation model with high pressure at the poles and low pressure at the equator, causing a wind about 50% stronger than typical earth-like winds. (Derived from the equation for geostrophic wind.) Due to a weak Coriolis force, the winds would ever so slightly be deflected towards the west. Also due to the slow rotation rate, strong sea and land breezes would develop as the continent interiors heated up and cooled down significantly during the long days and nights; this would modify the general circulation. Kaunis would experience no hurricanes and very few cyclonic storms. Rainfall would be greatest at the equator and taper off towards the poles, the topography creating many rain shadow zones.

Due to Electra’s 82-watt-per-square-meter infrared heat emission, the side of Kaunis facing Electra experiences some heating of its ocean immediately underneath the brown dwarf, making the oceans about 4 degrees hotter at that point (leading to greater rainfall!).

As you members from Finland would know, Kaunis is Finnish for “beautiful,” because I’m planning to use this name as an advertisement poster to encourage immigration to this newly discovered world.

As the original map was over 10,000 x 5,000 pixels, I had to resample it and submit the 9 M version. This is a work in progress.

Please let me know how this map could be improved. Regarding the physical data, I admit that some of my calculations could be in error; thus, if you disagree with my results, please let me know. (All physical data available on request.)

Thanks,

Peter