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Simurgh (Garden World)

Superterrestrial world with indigenous life

Pentapod
Image from Steve Bowers
Pentapods are land animals on Simurgh, about the size of a small cow; some species of pentapods have recently been provolved

Star YTS-11315-10014III
Type K5V
Luminosity 0.17 x Sol
Distance from Sol 3084 ly
Constellation Circinus
Planet Simurgh
Type SuperGaian Garden World.
Mass 5.86x Earth
Diameter 21330km
Surface Gravity 2.1 gees
Rotational period 54.1 standard hours
Semimajor axis 0.58 AU
Orbital Period 0.53 standard years
Obliquity 16.8
Survey Commenced 7309 AT

Simurgh is a Superterrestrial Garden World with a 40 bar nitrogen/carbon dioxide/oxygen/helium atmosphere. The planet does not have active plate tectonics, but has a moderate level of volcanic activity. Oceans and seas are numerous but cover less than 50% of the surface; low mountain ranges associated with vulcanism cover much of the land.
Simurgh
Image from Steve Bowers
Simurgh is a supergaian world, with a surface gravity more than twice as great as Earth's
The seas are filled with diverse lifeforms, including many autotrophs and heterotrophs, often in symbiotic relationships or as part of colonial organisms. Since the seas are largely discontinuous, evolution has taken many paths. Land organisms are present, but are adapted to the relatively high gravity on this world in various ways.

Most land animals have at least five limbs, with at least one ventral proleg between the mainleg pairs. A common bodyplan is the pentapod, with four mainlegs and one central proleg; other species also have a foreleg or hindleg (or both) and often several more pairs of mainlegs. The largest land animals are the dinopillars, twenty metres long with twenty-two legs.

All animals have very fast reflexes because of the high gravity. Falling objects accelerate to terminal velocity very quickly on this world, and release a significant amount of energy when they hit the ground.


Dinopillar
Image from Steve Bowers
A Dinopillar on the surface of Simurgh
This world has been under continuous observation since 7309 when a team of Negentropist xenologists reached the system.

 
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Appears in Topics
Middle Regions/Hinter-regionsSystems & Worlds S - T
 
Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 15 December 2011.

 
 
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