Zarenutha

Zarenutha
Astrography
Star	Szon
Type	Crystal planet
Satellites	None
Gravity	0.09 G
Orbital distance	3.1 AU
Day length	9.1 hours
Year length	1819.84 standard days
Diameter	4,732 km
Axial tilt	Zero
Temperature
Average	-170°F
Minimum	-256°F
Maximum	-45°F
Atmosphere
Composition	Trace hydroxide, krypton, neon
Surface pressure	0.01 atm
Demographics
Population	68,098
Imports	Helium-3
Exports	Iridium

Zarenutha is an unusually large asteroid in Szon's asteroid belt. Scientists still debate whether it should even be called a planet.

Naming

Zarenutha was not known by ancient Vaikan. It was discovered during the early Third Age and was originally classified as an asteroid. It was named after Zarenutha, the Lacadian goddess of agriculture. After several more generations, scientists eventually determined that it was not an asteroid, though they still debated whether it would be classified as either a dwarf planet or an ordinary planet.

Formation

Zarenutha is part of an asteroid belt, leftover debris from Szon's time as an accretion disk. Some of the material of the asteroid belt began to coalesce, but as Enkladius migrated inward, the debris had scattered and Zarenutha's formation as a full-sized planet was interrupted. The scattered debris would later be sent careening towards the inner planets providing water and organic molecules.

Physical characteristics

Zarenutha sustains a trace atmosphere of hydroxide, krypton and neon. Most of the surface is covered in carbonate minerals formed from hydroxide in the atmosphere reacting with carbonic acid that was formerly present. This has resulted in a surprisingly colorful landscape of azurite, malachite, calcite, and rhodochrosite. As a result, Zarenutha has been referred to as a crystal planet.

Impact craters from rogue asteroids and comets have brought large deposits of iridium, a commonly sought resource by many spacefaring civilizations. Just underneath the crust is a layer of water ice followed by the planet's rocky inner core. Fossils of primitive archaebacteria have been discovered while excavating iridium mining sites, though it is not believed that life still exists on Zarenutha. However, parts of the crust composition match those on Ucharpli implying that some organic molecules had travelled from here to Ucharpli.

Colonization

Zarenutha became a major source of iridium along with the other asteroids in the belt. The single settlement on the planet consists of a drilled hole that extends all the way to the water-ice layer. Aqueducts pump this water to the settlement allowing Zarenutha to be self-sufficient.

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