World of Erona

Nevea is a supergiant planet of the Fafnir class, with a mass almost nine times that of Jupiter, yet approximately the same diameter. It spins very rapidly on its axis and has a system of close to a thousand dark faint rings,concentric circles of particles in orbit around Nevea's equator. The rings are extremely difficult to see. The overall color of Nevea is blue. Its main feature is the system of bands parallel to its equator, always seen at an angle from Gordovia.

Nevea's surface gravity is more than 23 times that of the Earth, causing its atmosphere to diminish rapidly with altitude. In fact, a spacecraft could orbit Nevea in the near-vacuum just a few miles above the cloud tops.

In Gordovia's sky, Nevea is near the horizon, with its bands oriented at an angle. The rotation is visible, as clouds and spots race across the visible surface. Nevea's surface gravity is so great that even its rapid rotation is unable to create a noticeable equatorial bulge, so Nevea's profile is nearly circular.

In Gordovia's sky, Nevea is always in the same place in the sky, since its its stupendous tidal power long ago forced Erona, as well as its other nearer satellites, to keep the same face toward their primary. (Nevea has some very distant satellites that do not follow this rule.)

Nevea can never be seen from the West Face of Erona. Along the boundary of the East Face, Nevea is always on the horizon. Nevea eclipses Ator every day near the vernal equinox, and also every day near the autumnal equinox. During the Summer, Ator passes North of Nevea each day, during the Winter,South of Nevea. The brief interval when Ator is eclipsed by Nevea is called the Darkening,and that is the darkest time in Krythar. The duration of the Darkening varies, but is never more than about three quarters of an Erona hour, due to Nevea's apparent diameter of 11.8 degrees, roughly 23 times the apparent diameter of the Moon as seen from the Earth.

During the Darkening, Nevea's visible face is black, outlined by a thin red circle, the effect of refraction of sunlight in Nevea's thin atmosphere.The rings are seen edge on from Erona, but since Gordovia is substantially North of the equator, it looks "down" on the rings at a very small angle. To the extent that they can be seen at all, the rings look like thin spikes projecting from Nevea's equator. From Gordovia, the spikes project from the upper right and lower left limbs of Nevea, i.e., Nevea appears to be leaning to the left at an angle, which varies depending on the location ofthe observer.

In Northern Gordovia, the angle is about 45 degrees, while in the far South (near the Sea in the Middle of the World), it is around 60 degrees, that is, the bands and rings are closer to vertical than horizontal. In fact in principle, if you can see Nevea, you can determine your exact location by measuring Nevea's altitude and attitude. Nevea's attitude can be measured most easily by the cloud bands, which are clearly visible unless Nevea is in a thin crescent phase. Nevea's phases change with a period of a day.

At sunrise in Gordovia, Nevea is a thin crescent. As Ator climbs in the sky, the crescent changes direction, then grows to be almost full by sunset. Shortly after sunset, Nevea is full, and sheds so much light that the night is not really dark.As the night progresses, Nevea wanes to a thin crescent, and the night is darkest just before the dawn.

The Darkening only occurs near the equinoxes. It is the best time to observe most astronomical objects, as it is darker than night.