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Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

Gonggong is named after a Chinese water god, and it does indeed have it’s own ice. It’s also red, covered in thiolins like Pluto, but even moreso. There’s also likely a thin methane exosphere, leaving methane frost on windows.

Gonggong is very far out, moving between 33 and 101 AU over it’s 554 year orbit. It orbits at a 30° inclination, so telescopes would pick up some interesting shots of the other planets poles.

The 1/30 g gravity is nothing special, plenty to jump around in, but enough to not fly away easily. It’s slightly flattened by it’s rotation, which is a nice 22 hours, much slower than other trans-neptunian bodies. This slow rotation is caused by tidal forces between it and it’s moon Xiangilu.

Xiangilu is named for Gonggong’s minister, a nine headed venomous snake monster. It orbits every 25 days, nearly exactly a month like Earth’s moon, but in an eccentric orbit, changing size throut the month. Gonggong has a polar orientation like Uranus as well, leaving Xiangilu a constant half-moon in the dim sky half the year. Sadly eclipses would be very rare.

The trip out there is rather long, but once there it seems quite unique and cozy.

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