The solar system of Ayu contains six planets. The first three planets are rocky. Tekuo is the second of these. The outer three are gas giants. Most are visible from Tekuo by the naked eye. Working outwards, they are:
1. Haoni
Type of planet: Rocky
Size (in Earths): 0.6
Moons: 0
Orbit: 210 days
Visibility: Naked eye
Appearance: Yellow-white
2. Tekuo
Type of planet: Rocky
Size (in Earths): 0.8
Moons: 1
Orbit: 385.33 days
Visibility (from Suruam): Naked eye
Appearance (from Suruam): Blue-white
3. Suruam
Type of planet: Rocky
Size (in Earths): 1.2
Moons: 2
Orbit: 9 Earth years
Visibility: Naked eye
Appearance: Gold
4. Phele
Type of planet: Gas giant
Size (in Earths): 566
Moons: 5
Orbit: 28 Earth years
Visibility: Naked eye
Appearance: Dark orange with two rings
5. Zukhari
Type of planet: Gas giant
Size (in Earths): 908
Moons: 9
Orbit: 57 Earth years
Visibility: Telescope only
Appearance: Pale green
6. Uto
Type of planet: Gas giant
Size (in Earths): 421
Moons: 6
Orbit: 92 Earth years
Visibility: Telescope only
Appearance: Blue
The planets are listed above under their Lemohai names. The names of the visible planets (the first four) vary considerably between languages, but they tend to be named after deities.
The outer two planets are named after their discoverers. These names are more consistent cross-linguistically. Their names are given here in their Lemohaised form.
For ease of communication, the international scientific community sometimes refer to the planets by a solar system number. In this scheme, Haoni is Ayu 1, Tekuo is Ayu 2, and so on.
Tekuo’s moon, Sumba, is worthy of note. It is 0.011 times the size of Tekuo and orbits its host planet in 23.5 days.
The solar system also contains numerous other smaller objects such as sednoids, comets, asteroids and dwarf planets.
Like the humans of Earth, the Ike of Tekuo have ventured into space. They are a little ahead of us in this regard. They have set foot on both Haoni and Suruam, returning several times to both planets. They have established a permanent research base on Sumba.
This post was updated today to reflect a new orthography for Lemohai.
This post was updated today to the new (old) orthography and a paragraph added on space exploration.
18.08.19 – I’ve removed a planet. The system felt a bit crowded before, with seven planets so close together that the last one orbited the sun in a mere 92 Earth years.