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SPACE ENGINE Exploration 21: Rainbow Iceway

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Description

IRIS
System:        KSR 33137 (G3V)
Dist:             1439.9 LY
Class:           Temperate Ocean 
Radius:         8814 km (1.382 Re)
Mass:           2.153 Me
Axial Tilt        67.66°
ESI:              0.918
sma:             1.642 AU
Day Length: 14.32 hrs
Gravity:        1.130 g
atm:             2.146
T:                 293 K

Right off the bat the most alluring feature of the planet Iris is its ring system. At its current orbital position, its rings frame the blue orb like a target. Instead of the standard target set up of concentric rings, Iris' rings blend from dull, greyish reds and pinks (with thin bands of muted green) to dark purples with a sudden jump to vivid deep blues than smear into bright purples and then onto bright pinks. The rings are made up of tiny shards of glass polluted with metals like iron and chromium. Given the young age of the planet (1 Ga) it isn't hard to see how a large impactor could have thrown off glasses materials into orbit.

Most of Iris is covered in water and large cyclonic storms race across its surface. This is the major driver in stripping away any soils that form on the mini continents that dot the planet. Over time, however, plate tectonics and volcanic activity will grow these large islands into proper continents and reduce the severity of storms at the same time. While the planet has a very high ESI score (only beaten out by the water world 
Sapphire) the youthfullness of the system posses a problem: large and frequent impacts. While the planet hasn't been hit in the recent geologic past (say, 400 years) it is a guarantee that dozens if not hundreds of objects are destined to smack into Iris before things calm down. If not for the threat of total annihilation this would be an excellent target for atmospheric scrubbing and colonization. 

<<- START: Exploration Log 1: Out from Eden
<- PREVIOUS: Exploration 20: The Comets
-> NEXT: Exploration Log 22: Life Under Haze

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