Freaks Fun Friday: Paralan (my next project)

I am a freak, I admit it. When I was younger, I actually enjoyed going to school (go ahead, laugh at me) — not because I wanted to meet my friends, but because I love learning new stuff. It hasn’t changed all that much. I’m still delighted if I manage to smuggle facts into my stories without anyone noticing. at this place, I’ll give you access to my twisted mind. Welcome to a Freak’s Fun Friday.

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A Brown Dwarf with a Ring of Debris
source: Wikipedia

The publication of my next project is approaching fast (announcement on Monday), and I thought I’d fill you in on some of the fascinating facts I used for the creation of this world. When I began planning, I knew that Paralan was mostly covered in ice.

After reading several books and scanning countless articles on the web about the possibility of life on other planets, an ice planet seemed out of the question. Then, I read about brown dwarfs. They sound like dull creatures of Fantasy, don’t they? Believe me, they aren’t. Brown dwarfs are planets and orbit around a sun, but they’re not like other planets, they’re glowing balls of warmth and light, just like suns. The difference is that they’re not as hot as a sun is, which means they don’t fuse hydrogen like suns do. Thus they’re not classified as suns. You could call them a sun’s little sibling.

Some brown dwarfs have rings of debris rotating around it (see picture), others have moons. A moon circling a brown dwarf would get enough light and (if it’s not too far away) enough warmth to support life. It would also be tidally locked, which means, the same area of the moon would always face the brown dwarf, leaving the dark side facing outer space where it’s dark and cold. Guess what would happen to the moon’s far side? Correct. It’d be covered in ice.

Now, if the brown dwarf and its moon would dance around a star on an elliptical trajectory, the moon’s surface would have seasons – warmer when planet and moon are close to the sun and colder when they’re far from it. Also, the moon’s far side would get some warmth, maybe just enough to allow life to adapt to its ice area as well.

When I figured all this out, I was delighted. This scenario opened so many options for my word building, my mind reeled. Can you guess what ideas crossed my mind? Leave me a comment and tell me what your imagination comes up with. Next week, we’ll compare notes, yes?