CNS - Troubling Signs in Omega 11

[Croft]

Colony News Service - 825 AS

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Red Giant Threatens Collapse

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Omega 11 is facing potential catastrophe as a recently conducted survey has discovered evidence that its star is nearing the end of it degenerate cycle three decades sooner than anticipated. The results of a previous survey performed before construction of Solarius Station lead astrophysicists of the time to estimate that the star would not enter its next phase until 864 AS. However advances in both computing and sensor technologies over the last four hundred years have granted scientists far greater clarity in their findings, whose most recent analyses now indicate the giant could collapse within the next six to eight months.

Red giants such as the one at the core of Omega 11 begin their lives as main sequence stars similar to New York’s star and many others that dot the Sirius Sector. Eventually these stars consume all of the hydrogen within their cores, causing them to contract until climbing pressure within in the shell surrounding the core becomes so great as to start fusing hydrogen. This causes the outer layer of the star to expand tens to hundreds of times larger than its original size, creating a red giant. After roughly a billion years, the core collapses once more, ejecting the entire outer layer of the star which then forms a planetary nebula and leaves only the remnant core of the star, known as a white dwarf.

While the system itself will remain largely intact, the layer ejection and resulting radiation will cause devastation to anything caught within the blast. This has prompted Daumann Heavy Construction to begin automating the processes aboard Solarius while rumours of Red Hessians evacuating their own shrouded base continue to circulate.

News of Omega 11’s fate has triggered a new wave of exploration into frontier space as eager companies and hopeful pioneers seek new, unexploited resources far beyond the grasp of colony law■

Omega Correspondent Francine Maclode

Tags: Omega 11, Astronomy, DHC, Red Hessians.

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