Planets: Difference between revisions

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!Image

!Rarity

!In game description

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|Very Rare

|Water giant. Worlds like this have a large atmosphere made mainly of water vapour. It most likely formed when a large icy body warmed up enough to evaporate a large amount of its surface ice, this would in turn trigger a runaway greenhouse effect leading to a very thick atmosphere made of the evaporated ices.

!Image

!Class

!Rarity 

!In game description

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|I

|Rare

|Class I or Jovian gas giants have primarily hydrogen and helium atmospheres. Colouration comes from clouds in the upper atmosphere of ammonia, water vapour, hydrogen sulphide, phosphine and sulphur. The temperature at the top of their upper cloud layers is typically less than 150 K.

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|II

|Very rare

|Class II gas giants have primarily hydrogen and helium atmospheres. Water vapour in the upper cloud layers gives them a much higher albedo. Their surface temperature is typically up to or around 250 K.

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|III

|Rare

|Class III gas giants have primarily hydrogen and helium atmospheres without distinctive cloud layers. Their surface temperature typically ranges between 350 K and 800 K. They are primarily blue in colour because of optical scattering in the atmosphere - with the chance of wispy cloud layers from sulphides and chlorides.

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|IV

|Rare

|Class IV gas giants have primarily hydrogen and helium atmospheres with carbon monoxide and upper clouds of alkali metals above lower cloud layers of silicates and iron compounds, hence he brighter colours. The temperature of their upper cloud layers is typically above 900 K.

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|V

|Very Rare

|Class V gas giants have primarily hydrogen and helium atmospheres, with thick clouds of silicates and iron compounds, even metallic iron.They are the hottest type of gas giants with temperatures at their upper cloud decks above 1400 K, and much hotter in the lower layers, often emitting a dull glow from the internal heat within.

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|Helium-rich

|Very Rare

|Helium-rich gas giants have a greatly inflated percentage of helium compared to the hydrogen in their atmosphere. Much of their hydrogen has been lost over time because they have insufficient mass to hold on to it. It may also be because temperatures in their past were much higher, driving off the hydrogen at a greater rate.

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|Gas giant with ammonia-based life

|Very rare

|Gas giant with ammonia-based life. This is primarily a hydrogen and helium-based atmospheric gas giant, but a little below the surface cloud layers,life exists based in the ammonia-cloud layer. The chemistry of this gaseous region is far from equilibrium, with a surprising excess of oxygen and many carbon-based compounds giving it some vivid colours. As with many such gaseous living systems, it is underpinned by vast quantities of free-floating radioplankton - tiny carbon-based algae, each retaining small quantity of liquid ammonia, extracting their energy from the intense radiation flux.

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|Gas giant with water-based life

|Very rare

|Gas giant with water-based life. This is primarily a hydrogen and helium based atmospheric gas giant, but not far below the surface exists life based in the water-cloud layer just below the atmospheric surface. The chemistry of this gaseous region is far from equilibrium, with a surprising excess of oxygen and many carbon-based compounds giving it some vivid colours. As with many such gaseous living systems, it is underpinned by vast quantities of free-floating radioplankton - tiny carbon-based algae, each retaining small quantity of liquid water, extracting their energy from the intense radiation flux.