Aidus (star)

  

Aidus

Aidus as seen in visible light, revealing its sunspots and condensate metal clouds.
Names	Aidus, Eidus, Aydó, Ayd, Sun
Adjectives	Aidusal
Observation data
Mean distance from Orbalia	1 OO ≈ 4.375 billion km ≈ 14.596 seconds at speed of light
Visual brightness (v)	−26.74
Absolute magnitude	18.1
Spectral classification	M8v
Metallicity	Z = 0.04
Orbital characteristics
Mean distance from Milky Way core	≈ 26,700 light-years
Galactic period	56.449 billion uecs
Velocity	≈ 54 km/s (orbit around the center of the Milky Way)
Physical characteristics
Equatorial radius	≈ 82,927 km
Equatorial circumference	≈ 521,046 km
Flattening	9×10−6
Surface area	8.64 × 1010 km2
Volume	2.39 x 1015 km3
Mass	1.786 x 1029 kg
Average density	74.728 g/cm3
Equatorial surface gravity	5.2396 cgs
Temperature	2566 Kelvin
Luminosity	1.39875 x 1023 Lumens
Color index	2.15
Age	≈ 551.606 billion uecs
Rotation characteristics
Sidereal rotation period (at equator)	79.08 hr
Rotation velocity (at equator)	6 km/s

For the planetary system orbiting Aidus, see Aidus system

Aidus (Volsh: Aidus; Langin: Aydó; Podchin: Ayd) is the star at the center of the Aidus system. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma heated to incandescence by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium at its core. It emits this fusion energy mainly as visible light, ultraviolet light, and infrared radiation. Aidus is considered the most important source of energy for life on three of its seven planets.

Aidus' mass is 35,300 times that of Orbalia's and accounts for about 98% of the Aidus system's total mass. Roughly three fourths of the mass of Aidus is hydrogen, with the remainder being mostly helium. As a late red dwarf, Aidus has a comparatively high percentage of metallicity, at around 4% of the star's mass (metals referring generally to anything heavier than hydrogen and helium). Oxygen, carbon, iron, neon, nitrogen, silicon, magnesium, and sulphur are all substantially present in Aidus' photosphere. Due to the star's comparatively low effective temperature of 2566 K, condensates and dust form in the star's photosphere, along with a general proclivity for sunspots.

The hydrogen fusion at the core of the star is the source of its light and heat. Due to its comparatively low density and temperature, Aidus' rate of hydrogen-to-helium fusion is expected to continue for hundreds of trillions of uecs. This means that Aidus will likely be one of the last stars with fusion occurring in the entire Universe, should the process continue unhindered. At an age of about 551.606 billion uecs, it is a comparatively old star in the Milky Way galaxy, having been formed around the same time as the thin disk in which it lies.

Aidus has long been of biological and cultural significant to Human life in the planetary system. In Drevnian mythology, it is believed to have been considered a deity. The orbit of tidally locked Orbalia around Aidus is used as the basis for the Orbalian calendar, which continues in widepsread usage in the contemporary period.

Name and etymology

According to the Zemaian migration theory, the Anglatin word Aidus is believed to derive from the name of a God in Zemaian mythology. Deducing from the external application of the name Aidus to a star outside of the theorized home system of humanity, the god Aidus is regarded then to have been a central figure in Zemaian mythology which shared importance with at least one other god. Whereas the polytheistic Starveryanism native to Velesa often dichotomizes between its own gods, some scholars believe that Aidus was likely held in such a dichotomy to the sun god of Zemais as well. This argument holds that the persons undergoing the migration to Aidus from Zamais would have been undergoing a voyage similar to dying; from the perspective of their relatives on Zemais, it may well have resembled as much. Hence, in this manner, Aidus is believed to have been a god of the underworld or death. Alternatively, some scholars suggest that the name Aidus was simply another name for the same sun god of Zemais, who from etymological studies of Anglatin would have been regularly known as either Sun or Sol.

Those who do no believe in the Zemaian migration theory otherwise posit that the word Aidus merely descends from the Anglatin word aether or the supposedly adjectival form aetherous, meaning heaven or sky and heavenly or of the sky respectively. These scholars suggest that over the course of the Forgotten and First Ages, as the contemporary languages of the Aidus system shifted into their present form, the "th" of aether was slowly morphed into a d, while the suffixal -us was added from the Anglatin singular suffixal ending. This theory, however, does not account for the vocabulary presence of the words Sun or Sol in the etymologies of the Anglatin-descendent languages of the contemporary day, which are considered by supporters of the aether theory to be merely insignificant synonyms.

The adjectival form of the star Aidus is Aidusal. This is not to be confused with Aidusian, which is commonly used to describe characteristic relation to the Aidus system as a whole, as is implied in the Anglatin suffix -ia, meaning territory or country, present in that adjectival form.

Characteristics

Aidus is an M-type main sequence star that constitutes approximately 98% of the mass of the Aidus system. It has an absolute magnitude of 18.1, putting it on the lower end of luminosity when compared with other red dwarfs. Aidus is a Population I star, meaning that it is rich in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Aidus and its two closest stellar neighbors, Vecin and Efesa, are believed to have originated from a common nebula, which would have been one of the first in the Milky Way galaxy at the time of its formation. The formation of Aidus and its neighboring stars are believed to have been triggered by the shockwaves from one or more nearby supernovae, due to the high abundance of heavy elements like gold and uranium in the system.

Aidus is the brightest object in the sky of Orbalia, with an apparent magnitude of -26.74, although only one side of the planet ever experiences direct light from the star. One Orbalian Orbit (approximately 4.338 million km) is defined as the mean distance of Aidus' center to Orbalia's center; the exact distance varies as Orbalia moves from perihelion to aphelion during one uec around the star. At this average distance, light travels from Aidus' horizon to Orbalia's horizon in 14.596 seconds. The energy of this light supports almost all terrestrial life on the planet, driving its climate and weather cycles, as well as some life and the climate cycles on the respectively inward and outward planets of Pechlus and Velesa.

Aidus does not have a definite boundary, but its density exponentially decreases with increasing height above the photosphere. For the purposes of measurement, Aidus' radius is considered to be the distance from its center to the edge of the photosphere. By this measure, Aidus is a near-perfect sphere, with an oblateness estimated at 9 millionths, meaning that its polar diameter differs from its equatorial diameter by only about 10 kilometers. The tidal effect of the planets is comparatively week, and does not alter the shape of Aidus. The star makes a complete rotation on its axis every 79.08 hours, a little more than twice per Orbalian uec. Viewed from a hypothetical vantage point above its north pole, Aidus rotates counterclockwise around its axis of spin.

Composition and structure

Aidus is composed primarily of the chemical elements hydrogen and helium. At the present stage of Aidus' life, its photosphere is composed of about 78.5% hydrogen and 17.3% helium. All heavier elements, known as metals, account for a little over 4.2% of the photosphere, with oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron being the most abundant. The chemical composition was inherited from the nebula and supernovae of the interstellar medium that preceded Aidus' existence in the first hundreds of billions of uecs of the Milky Way galaxy. While the rate of hydrogen-to-helium fusion in the core of Aidus is comparatively among the slowest, when the hydrogen of the core is eventually depleted, the core itself will contract under its own gravity. As the core retracts, the outer layers of the star will expand greatly, causing Aidus to become a red giant which would encompass most if not all of its planetary system.

The structure of Aidus contains the following layers:

• Core: the innermost 20% to 25% of the star's radius, where temperature and pressure are sufficient for nuclear fusion to occur. The fusion process released energy, and the core gradually becomes enriched in helium.
• Radiative zone: convection cannot occur until much nearer to the surface of the star, and so lysing between 20% to 70% of the radius, this zone is where energy transfer is facilitated through the radiation of photons rather than convection.
• Tachocline: the boundary between the radiative and convective zones.
• Convective zone: between 70% of the radius and the visible surface, the star is cool and diffuse enough for convection to occur, and this becomes the primary means of outward heat transfer.
• Photosphere: the deepest part of the star that can be observed directly within the spectrum of visible light.
• Atmosphere: the gaseous halo surrounding Aidus, comprising the chromosphere, the transition region, the corona, and the aidosphere.

Motion and location

Aidus is moved very slightly by the gravitational pull of its planets. If the barycenter of the Aidus system is thought of as stationary, then Aidus remains within 1.5 Aidusal radii of that barycenter. The movement of Aidus around the barycenter generally has a sextifoil shape, moving in a circular motion towards the alignment of two or more planets due to the high level of synchronicity in the planets' orbital ratios. After roughly 9.3 uecs, three times the synodic period of the planet Mora, the pattern more or less repeats, but rotated by a slight angle. The orbits of the planets are similarly displaced by the same gravitational forces, so the movement of Aidus has little effect on the relative positions of any one planet in the system.

Aidus orbits the center of the Milky Way. With an average orbital distance of roughly 26,700 light-years from the Galactic Center, and an orbital speed of approximately 54 km/s, it takes Aidus roughly 56.449 billion uecs to complete a full galactic uec. The star is thought to have completed only 10 full orbits during its lifetime, and it is presently on its 11th. At this speed, it takes Aidus a little under one sextent to travel one Orbalian distance through the interstellar medium. Curiously, Aidus, along with its Local Bubble neighbours Vecin and Efesa, are moving in the opposite direction of most other stars in the stellar neighborhood. Given the age of Aidus and its neighboring stars, the cause of this could be a vast number of factors, and no one reason can be singled out conclusively.

Aidus lies close to the middle of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. Aidus, along with the stars Vecin and Efesa, lie in what is known as the Local Bubble, a space of rarefied hot gas believed to have been produced by a nearby supernova, possibly in the Septoiles moving group. Aidus and the stars of the Local Bubble move relatively slowly compared to other stars within a 5 parsec radius around Aidus. While most of these other stars have orbital speeds between 200 to 300 km/s, stars in the Local Bubble move only at speeds around roughly 50 km/s. Additionally, no other star outside of the Local Bubble and within a 5 parsec radius of Aidus moves in the same direction. Due to this discrepancy, there are some who theorize that the originative nebular star from which the stars of the Local Bubble are derived was actually deposited into the Milky Way during a galaxy merger which took place 660 billion uecs before present, but the similarities between the Local Bubble stars and other Population I stars in the galaxy make this theory inconclusive.

Planetary system

Aidus and its seven planets, with sizes to scale and distances not to scale.

Main article: Aidus system

Aidus has seven known planets, all of which are terrestrial planets of relatively similar size; in order from closest to furthest they are Svarus, Achlisa, Pechlus, Orbalia, Velesa, Chaius, and Mora. All seven of the planets are coplanar; their orbits are aligned on the same plane of revolution. Additionally, all seven planets have highly circular, nonirregular orbits with minimal eccentricities. Considered relative to exoplanetary systems, the planets of Aidus share tight orbits around the star, making the system one of the most compact in the stellar neighborhood. None of the planets have any natural satellites, a feature often attributed to their close orbits. Beyond the seven planets lies the Circumtorus, a ring of planetesimals and other protoplanetary material which extends to the farthest reaches of the system, the largest being the dwarf planets Lubof, Aloina, and Temnoa. 19 comets cross the inner threshold of the Circumtorus, with two of these believed to be of extrasolar origin.

Human history

Extraidusally, the light and heat produced by the star has long impacted human life on the planets which orbit it. It is believed that Aidusal energy was and remains the ultimate source of energy for all biological life across the planetary system. Since the Drevnian Empire of the Forgotten Age, humans have further utilized this light for a variety of economic, infrastructural, and technological purposes. Agriculture would not be possible without Aidus' light. Solsailing, in its most primitive form, relied almost entirely upon Aidus' solar wind to power outer space locomotion. Photovoltaic cells harness the energy of Aidus to generate electricity, which has had and continues to have innumerable applications across a wide swath of human activities.

Local to the star itself, it is believed that the first humans "arrived" in the Forgotten Age, possibly researchers and prospectors from a scientific or economic institution respectively of the Drevnian Empire. There is no evidence that any longstanding effort was made by the Drevnians to inhabit anywhere near the star, though this is potentially due to the impacts of the Belvisajine Inquisition, as the metal condensate clouds of the star would have made it quite appealing in any period of human history for economic exploitation.

The next phase of permanent human habitation within the vicinity of Aidus began during the early-to-middle Second Age. Designed with heat-resistant metal "sunshields" providing protection from the high-intensity light and heat, these earliest space stations were specialized mineral processing plants owned by various obmenist sofesoyi of Orbalia and Velesa. After the Coalition War, many of these sofesoyi transitioned to asteroid-based mining operations in the Circumtorus, due to the typical transit path from Aidus to anywhere else being intercepted by a number of other planetary spaces.

It would not be until the later Third Age, with the rise of the Transvelesan Empire, that condensate processing operations resumed within Aidus orbit. With the construction of Imperiya Station being a primary driver of this renewed economic activity, the completion of the station in III.24891 would resultantly lead to a general stagnation and slow decline of condensate extraction. This trend has continued into the Fourth Age, and as of the 13th millennium of the present Age, less than 10,000 people permanently inhabit the stations in Aidusal orbit.

Human impacts

As the principle source of light and heat in its planetary system, Aidus' great importance extends to all surface-dwelling biological life alongside humanity. Aidus is believed to have served an important cultural role to early human civilization, evidenced through its veneration in Drevnian mythology and even in the major religions of Drevianicism and Starveryanism in the contemporary period. The septigram, a seven-pointed star, is a major symbol of the entire Aidus system, being represented on the flag of the modern Aidusian Empire through its direct representation in those aforementioned religions.

On Orbalia, the homeworld of humanity in the system and the only planet where terrestrial habitation is possible, Aidus has even more particular significance in its defining of the Orbalian calendar through the sextents and uecs, in which the position of Aidus in the sky provides a transition by which time is measured locally. The application of the Orbalian calendar to the entire system with the spread of humanity has since meant that Aidus' time-keeping role has been extended to the whole of humanity.

In the visual and literary arts, Aidus has come to broadly represent the concepts of life, warmth, and divine light, held in contrast with the representation of the void as a source of death, freezing, and emptiness.

See also

• Aidus system
• Zemais system

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Sun, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).