Tarsus

Tarsus B584620-A

Tarsus is one of three agricultural worlds which support the high-population systems of Collace and Forine. Tarsus was settled centuries ago, and has slowly developed its agricultural markets. Self-sufficient for food and basic needs, the planet sells enough agricultural exports to pay for any imported technology and equipment it needs, since it has few industries of its own.

Tarsus is most notable, however, for its extreme axial tilt, which makes night on each polar cap some 45 standard days in length, followed by equally long days. It follows that the world experiences extremes of temperature and climate. Settlements are concentrated in the less severe weather zones, of the equatorial belt, and few ever venture into the inhospitable polar regions.

The Tarsus System

The planet Tarsus orbits its primary Hote along with three other planets and Thirteen satellites.

Hote

The primary of the Tarsus system is a spectral type K9 star of approximately 0.6 solar masses. It has a diameter of 1,165,000 kilometers and radiates at approximately 3400 degrees kelvin. It is an orange-red in color and is approximately one-tenth as bright as Sol.

Because Hote is dimmer and produces less heat than does Sol, its life zone is closer than in the Sol system. In the Tarsus system the life zone ranges from 34.5 Mkm to 73.5 Mkm.

The Planetary System

The planetary system orbiting Hote consists of four planets and thirteen satellites. In addition the system has the usual array of planetoids, comets and other space debris. Except for Tarsus none of the bodies have any known value.

The planetary system roughly follows the Titius-Bode relation with planets in predicted orbits 1,2,4 and 5. There is no known reason why orbit 3 is empty except for some small planetoids.

The four planets of the system include two small worlds and two gas giants. The planets were named by computer bank for cities of the nation Turkey on Terra.

Tarsus: Tarsus is the innermost of the planets. It orbits Hote with a period of 91.25 standard days and at a distance of 50.0 million km. Its axial tilt of 61 degrees makes the planet subject to extremes of climate and weather.

Cheyhan: Hote's second planet orbits the star with a period of 276 standard days and at a distance of 104 million km. Cheyhan is 2000 km in diameter, has no atmosphere and is not inhabited. It is a dusty blue-grey and is reported to have exploitable mineral deposits. The world has no satellites.

Urfa: This is the largest gas giant in the system with a period of 954 standard days at a distance of 420 million km. It is approximately 108,000 km in diameter. The planet has two major and 6 minor satellites. Only Urfa VI has any atmosphere (methane).

Erdemli: This planet is a small gas giant which orbits Hote with a period of 2200 standard days at a distance of 780 million km. The world is 54,00 km in diameter and has three satellites.

Asteroids: The system has no noticeable belt. Six planetoids exist in orbit 3 while the other four have elongated orbits within the system. none of the planetoids are more than 100 km in diameter.