Karat
Up-close view of Karat
Mass |
2.187317E30 kg (1.1 M☉) |
|---|---|
Radius |
3965.49 km (0.0056 R☉ / 0.622 R⊕) |
Luminosity |
0.001 L☉ |
Temperature |
11,730 K |
Karat is a white dwarf star located roughly half a light-year North above Valaya’s orbital plane. It is the dead core of a star that reached the end of its life long ago, and has drifted into its current position over millions of years. Due to the amount of time that has passed since its death, it has almost entirely crystalized, with at least 90% of its mass having organized into a body-centered cubic lattice. Despite its high mass, it is smaller than planet earth, as it no longer sustains any fusion reactions capable of counteracting gravity, meaning its luminosity is tiny, despite the high surface temperature.
It is estimated to take at least 5 billion years for the star to cool to where it no longer emits significant amounts of visible light. The lack of any fusion also means it does not emit much radiation, or any kind of harmful solar winds, instead being entirely innert. As a result, this dead star is, paradoxically, the most habitable place in this star cluster.
A very thin band of asteroids can be found orbiting Karat past Fern, most likely remnants of first-generation planets, or pieces of the star’s original asteroid belt that managed to hold on this long.
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This one’s also based on a real star, BPM 37093. I liked the Idea of a "crystal star", so I added Karat to the mod (although its name may be a little too on-the-nose). It is indeed very habitable, though its habitable zone will shrink as it cools, it is not impossible to assume that life can survive around it for the entire time it takes it to cool, even beyond the point where it stops emitting visible light. Although Crest will eventually outlive it, it won’t try to fuck up your day with bursts of radiation.
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Karat in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram