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Troas (planet)
Encyclopedia
Troas is a fictional planet
that serves as the setting for the science fiction
novella
s "Sucker Bait
" by Isaac Asimov
and "Question and Answer
" by Poul Anderson
as part of a proposed Twaine Triplet. It may have been created by Dr. John D. Clark
, who is known to have created the scenario for the earlier Twaine Triplet The Petrified Planet.
Troas is part of the Lagrange system, named after Joseph Louis Lagrange
, who first worked out the existence of Lagrangian points. Located within the globular cluster
Messier 13
, the Lagrange system is a binary star
system consisting of a blue-green star called Lagrange I and a red star called Lagrange II. (This is contrary to standard astronomical nomenclature. The two stars should be called Lagrange A and B.)
Troas, also known as Junior, is located in the system's L5 point, also known as a Trojan point after the Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter
's orbit in the Solar System
. It was for this reason that Troas was given its name, after the Troas region of Asia Minor
where ancient Troy
was located. The system's L4 point is occupied by a group of asteroids called Lagrange Epsilon, also known as the Puppies.
Troas is about the same diameter and mass as Earth
, with a rotation period of 36 hours. The atmosphere of Troas has a sea level pressure of 106.6 kilopascals, and consists of 30% oxygen
and 70% nitrogen
, with less than 1% hydrogen
, helium
and carbon dioxide
. Troas is in the midst of an ice age
, with large polar ice caps covering both poles, though both ice caps are slowly retreating. Troas has a single large continent 16,000 kilometers across straddling the equator, with mountain ranges near each coast and a large river system that empties out into the sea through a gap in the western coastal mountain range. Troas has extensive photosynthetic
plant life and considerable animal life.
Troas has a single satellite, Ilium, also known as Sister, with an atmospheric pressure of 13.3 kilopascals. Although there is no longer any free water on Ilium, there are large former sea bottoms that have formed salt flats.
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
that serves as the setting for the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
s "Sucker Bait
Sucker Bait
Sucker Bait is a science fiction novella by Isaac Asimov. It was first serialized in the February and March 1954 issues of Astounding Science Fiction, and reprinted in the 1955 collection The Martian Way and Other Stories...
" by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
and "Question and Answer
Question and Answer
Question and Answer is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson that originally appeared in the June and July 1954 issues of Astounding Science Fiction...
" by Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
as part of a proposed Twaine Triplet. It may have been created by Dr. John D. Clark
John D. Clark
John Drury Clark, Ph.D. was a noted American rocket fuel developer, chemist, and science fiction writer and fan. He was instrumental in the revival of interest in Robert E. Howard's Conan stories and influenced the writing careers of L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, and other authors.- Life and...
, who is known to have created the scenario for the earlier Twaine Triplet The Petrified Planet.
Joseph Louis Lagrange
Joseph-Louis Lagrange , born Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, was a mathematician and astronomer, who was born in Turin, Piedmont, lived part of his life in Prussia and part in France, making significant contributions to all fields of analysis, to number theory, and to classical and celestial mechanics...
, who first worked out the existence of Lagrangian points. Located within the globular cluster
Globular cluster
A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers. The name of this category of star cluster is...
Messier 13
Messier 13
Messier 13 or M13 is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in the constellation of Hercules....
, the Lagrange system is a binary star
Binary star
A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. The brighter star is called the primary and the other is its companion star, comes, or secondary...
system consisting of a blue-green star called Lagrange I and a red star called Lagrange II. (This is contrary to standard astronomical nomenclature. The two stars should be called Lagrange A and B.)
Troas, also known as Junior, is located in the system's L5 point, also known as a Trojan point after the Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
's orbit in the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
. It was for this reason that Troas was given its name, after the Troas region of Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
where ancient Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
was located. The system's L4 point is occupied by a group of asteroids called Lagrange Epsilon, also known as the Puppies.
Troas is about the same diameter and mass as Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, with a rotation period of 36 hours. The atmosphere of Troas has a sea level pressure of 106.6 kilopascals, and consists of 30% oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
and 70% nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
, with less than 1% hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
, helium
Helium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
and carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
. Troas is in the midst of an ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, with large polar ice caps covering both poles, though both ice caps are slowly retreating. Troas has a single large continent 16,000 kilometers across straddling the equator, with mountain ranges near each coast and a large river system that empties out into the sea through a gap in the western coastal mountain range. Troas has extensive photosynthetic
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...
plant life and considerable animal life.
Troas has a single satellite, Ilium, also known as Sister, with an atmospheric pressure of 13.3 kilopascals. Although there is no longer any free water on Ilium, there are large former sea bottoms that have formed salt flats.