Crystal Planet by zxaaw

zxaaw

9 / 1

20th Jul 2018

22nd Jul 2018

This dark planet is actually a black dwarf, orbiting a new white dwarf. Carbon in its surface has crystallised into diamond, giving it its black, shiny sheen. Canyons in the surface have fresher, flatter ground, hence the increased shininess.

planet space

Comments

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  zxaaw 22nd Jul 2018
  Of course, canyons that are smaller by chance - say, forming on a smaller convection current or something - will be faint too. But in general, the newer ones are deeper and collapsed, and the older ones are vast, shallow, and flat.
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  zxaaw 22nd Jul 2018
  Because the planet's gravity is so strong, the younger, deeper canyons have collapsed - hence the dull, faint appearance. The older, shallower, wider canyons, whose floors froze as the continents were still growing, are still flat and shiny - they form the brightest grooves on the planetary surface.
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  FATALITY 21st Jul 2018
  Cool +1
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  zxaaw 20th Jul 2018
  The planetary surface is made of a mixture of graphite and diamond - hence the shiny, black color.
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  zxaaw 20th Jul 2018
  The canyons were formed like Earth's fault lines: as the planet cooled down, small solid clumps at the surface stuck together to form proto-continents. These were repeatedly broken up and re-stuck. But since the continents were getting thicker and taller, each time they collided created a deeper and deeper canyon. But since the canyons were parts of 'ocean' surface that froze, they're exceptionally flat.
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  zxaaw 20th Jul 2018
  The one on the right, in front of the galactic plane, has been recently pulled in towards the black dwarf by the other moons. Its large size has induced tidal heating, vaporising and expelling ice from its inner regions (it never fully differentiated in formation), creating a tenuous atmosphere. Of course, given its small size and the intense radiation from its star, the atmosphere is very variable, and will disappear after spending a few million years unreplenished.
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  zxaaw 20th Jul 2018
  The moons of the black dwarf are small, but numerous. Several are seen here - mainly just rocky ice-balls.
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  zxaaw 20th Jul 2018
  There's also a nearby open cluster in the top right. The cluster isn't so young as to be lacking evolved stars, and has left its star-forming region. A dwarf galaxy is visible to the far left, but it's too distant and diffuse for anything interesting.