Auric I

A major irritation for the Astronomic Society, Auric I is one of the most recently named planets in the universe, as well as the most recently settled. The headache is because the 'I' in the name would normally indicate that it is the first traditional planet in the Auric system. However, in this case it appears to be the name given to an asteroid field around a star which bears the inexplicable name 'New Kairo'.

The asteroid field itself is strange for several reasons. Firstly, its constituent elements:

• Gold: 98.40% by mass
• Niobium: 1.08%
• Thorium: 0.32%
• Phosphorous: 0.07%
• Platinum: 0.04%
• Calcium: 0.03%
• Yttrium: 0.03%
• Silicon: 0.02%
• Other elements: 0.02%

Secondly, the field lies in a rough sphere around New Kairo, between 0.8 and 1.3AU from the star. There is no common orbital plane. The density of rocks is much higher than would normally be expected of an asteroid belt at this distance, especially given that it is distributed in fully 3 dimensions.

Thirdly, about 25% of the planet's fragments have one face which is a smooth plane. These appear to be level to within 21nm, quite a feat of engineering which cannot be explained as natural.

The most popular explanation for these oddities is that the asteroid field is actually some kind of debris from a Rheas artifact. What kind of object would leave such remains is the subject of much speculation. On the planet itself, it is said that the founder (whose name is not recorded) told a legend of 9 'Mysterious Planets of Gold' left behind by an ancient alien civilisation. He is reported to have claimed Auric I to be the first, and set off on a voyage to discover Auric II in some far part of the galaxy.

History

Prior to the year 1313, there was no record of this planet, or of its star. According to local myths, a team of adventurers (possibly space pirates) heard a legend of a golden planet and made a discontinuous transit from Magellan into a nearby region of deep space. Several months later, a radiation signal was detected which matched the spectrum of a mid-sequence star. Possible explanations for this include the allegation that the Auric asteroid field is actually the partial remains of some kind of alien Dyson Sphere, which the discoverers somehow destroyed.

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Timetable code: AUI