The Planet Kaunis – A World-Building Project

[Peter Toth]

Hello Cartographers!

Working diligently since my last post, I’ve spent about 250 hours on this new project, a so-called “eyeball planet” around a brown dwarf, which in turn orbits a sunlike star. I devoted half my time to the graphical representation that appears below; the rest, fussing over the science and mathematics of what I’ve ensured to be a highly plausible conworld.

Originally, I intended to submit only the final copy of this map once it was finished, but noticed that I was getting bogged down with the graphical details, unsure of how to proceed. Thus, I’m posting this incomplete map here to elicit some feedback and critiques related to my graphical representation, particularly the mountains and the river placement, which I consider to be the most dubious features. Please keep in mind the unconventional global circulation (see below).

The setting is a solar system in the Milky Way galaxy, consisting of one sunlike star (G0 V) and a retinue of planets, much like our own solar system. Kaunis was originally covered in oceans 15 kilometers deep, only the highest topography protruding from the water surface. Its rotation rate was less than 21 hours. Then, about 600 million years ago, a 61-jupiter-mass rogue brown dwarf, Electra, careened through the system and captured two terrestrials, Kaunis one of them. Electra’s massive tides would pulverize Kaunis’s surface and level every single mountain on the planet. In only 9 years, Electra would have tidally braked Kaunis’s rotation rate to over 44 hours and drawn a water bulge 12 kilometers deep on two sides of the planet (also ending the pulverisation of its topography). This bulge idea was my eureka moment after I devised a method in Photoshop for rendering this “12 km stationary tidal bulge.” When I applied it to my original map, my girlfriend and I loved the results. (I also hope it deters the viewer from noticing that I’ve cheated on this map by copying actual DEM data rather than hand drawing and “Wilburing” the topography.)

I’ve also worked out the meteorology of Kaunis, taking into account its slow rotation rate, which would create a very different pattern of prevailing winds and pressure zones on the planet. Having read a couple studies on this subject, I’ve assumed a 2 Hadley cell global circulation model with high pressure at the poles and low pressure at the equator, causing a wind about 50% stronger than typical earth-like winds. (Derived from the equation for geostrophic wind.) Due to a weak Coriolis force, the winds would ever so slightly be deflected towards the west. Also due to the slow rotation rate, strong sea and land breezes would develop as the continent interiors heated up and cooled down significantly during the long days and nights; this would modify the general circulation. Kaunis would experience no hurricanes and very few cyclonic storms. Rainfall would be greatest at the equator and taper off towards the poles, the topography creating many rain shadow zones.

Due to Electra’s 82-watt-per-square-meter infrared heat emission, the side of Kaunis facing Electra experiences some heating of its ocean immediately underneath the brown dwarf, making the oceans about 4 degrees hotter at that point (leading to greater rainfall!).

As you members from Finland would know, Kaunis is Finnish for “beautiful,” because I’m planning to use this name in an advertisement poster to encourage immigration to this newly discovered world.

As the original map was over 10,000 x 5,000 pixels, I had to resample it and submit the 9 M version. This is a work in progress.
Please let me know how this map could be improved. Regarding the physical data, I admit that some of my calculations could be in error; thus, if you disagree with my results, please let me know. (All physical data available on request.)

Thanks,

Peter

[Ilanthar]

Very nice and detailed! We can feel that you reduced it, considering the level of details for the topography.
And original layout for the continents, btw.

[selden]

I like it a lot!

Of course, as Ilanthar mentions, the appearance of the pixilation does suggest that it was derived from a higher resolution image.
The deep trenches along the western coasts of some of the land masses at first made me think some 3D shadow effects were being used, but I eventually realized that wasn't the case.

Is this image is derived from a monochrome heightmap?
Or is it being generated programmatically in some fashion?
What software did you use to generate and/or color it?

Are you planning to generate a full 3D representation of the stellar/planetary system?
If so, what visualization software do you expect to use for that?

Have you considered either Celestia or Space Engine, for example?
Or will you be generating images from scratch, perhaps using 3D modeling software like Blender or Anim8or?

Thanks for sharing!

[Peter Toth]

Thank you Ilanthar and Selden for the positive reviews!

First of all, Selden, I remember you from the Celestia forum, where, about 15 years ago, you informed me about the coordinate system upon which the Celestia’s orbital elements were based. Thus, I was able to craft an entire galactic sector (in the Scutum-Centaurus Arm) consisting of over 10,000 stars (generated with MS Word mail merge option) and one solar system, upon which I was intending to base a novel. Since I enjoyed the world-building much more avidly than the actual writing, I decided to abandon the novel and instead design solar systems for a hobby, without giving much attention to the specific human aspects. I found Celestia to be the most useful software program for rendering these solar systems, and I used raw physics equations rather than randomized Internet-based generators to tailor the mathematical details.

Since I was no longer writing a novel, I decided to use the existing star field as the setting for my current world-building project, Kaunis. As it turns out, I only had to make some general changes in Celestia to adapt the old system to accommodate the new orbital data. I intend to fully represent the stellar system using Celestia, in full 3-D, and create a short documentary showing the main celestial bodies and their gravitational waltzes.

Yes, the original image was a monochrome heightmap, crafted in Photoshop using the “cut and paste” method with a DEM of the entire earth, bathymetry included. (The continent shapes had been previously generated in Gplates). To make the process easier, I used a gradient map adjustment layer to immediately render the topography in the desired colour scheme rather than in B&W. I created separate Photoshop documents for the north and south poles, which, once complete, were translated to equatorial using the polar coordinates option and overlain on the main map. Finally, I made a mask for the tidal bulge (again using a Gplates feature), blurred it, and placed the whole layer upon the heightmap, selecting the “subtract” blending mode. The final result accurately mirrored my mathematical calculations for the tidal bulge.

Thank you for your interest. I shall be developing this world in much finer detail in the upcoming months.

Peter

[selden]

Thanks for the development details! I'm sure we'll all enjoy the results.

[Peter Toth]

Hello Cartographers and World-Builders!

Using Filmora, I've finished the video depicting my solar system which includes the planet Kaunis. It's basically a flyby video that visits the main bodies of this solar system. I hope you enjoy it.

Peter

[Peter Toth]

Hello Guild,

I've completed the next logical step in the construction of Kaunis: the January and July equivalent temperature maps, which appear below. To generate the data for this image, I used Clima-Sim as well as my own climate modeler built with Excel, which allowed for more latitudinal mixing (more efficient heat flow from equator to pole). In case you're wondering why the middle region is inexplicably hot, remember that Electra, the brown dwarf, radiating 81.5 W/m2 of radiation, heats this hemisphere of Kaunis (which permanently faces Electra) to an average of 4 Celsius degrees.





(Knowing this is a very acquired taste in mapping), I hope you appreciate this effort. Next phase: ocean currents!

Peter

[Peter Toth]

Hello Guild,

I’ve made some recent progress with my conworld, although maintaining my enthusiasm for this project has been a struggle lately after having suffered some personal setbacks and tribulations. Moreover, seeing my work get buried again without so much as a compliment, criticism, or even a platitude has saddened me. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I so desperately wish that my work could be more interesting or appealing to my general audience. Does anyone out there find my work mediocre in any way, perhaps as to suggest a paucity of effort? Is my choice to use a satellite DEM instead of an original topographic algorithm robbing my work of originality or any other merit? Is the style in any way boring or unimpressive?

At any rate, I’ve completed the January and July precipitation maps, which required a special analytical study of Earth’s general precipitation patterns, as well as intense and diligent mental effort. (As a survivor of a serious head injury, I find most conworlding procedures mentally exhausting, although that could never deter me from striving to maintain absolute scientific accuracy and realism in my maps.)

Due to Kaunis’ slow rotation rate, the circulation pattern is nonconventional: instead of three circulation cells per hemisphere, Kaunis has only one Hadley cell consisting of high pressure at the poles and low pressure near the equator. The Coriolis force slightly deflects the airflow towards the west, and due to a much lower axial tilt (combined with smaller continents relative to Earth), temporary pressure zones over the land masses effectively don’t exist, nor does any monsoonal activity. However, due to the longer day, powerful sea/land breezes modify the general circulation in ways that I might illustrate in a future update, provided that you – my audience – remain interested.

At any rate, I surely hope this work hasn’t disappointed anyone. If so, then please let me know because I need feedback in order to continue making progress. Finally, I’d like to make one specific request to those skilled and knowledgeable in climatology and rainfall patterns: how accurate would you rate this map, with regards to scientific realism?

Thank you so much.

Peter

[MrBragg]

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with any of what you've done, but the audience for this hyper realistic type stuff is pretty small and tends to wax and wane in its activity here. FWIW, I'm also in the 'likes super-realistic maps' category and I personally find what you're doing here really cool! If you want more feedback, there are a few subreddits that are pretty active that you could also post to, though IMO the most important thing is that you're having fun doing what you're doing regardless of how much anyone else likes it.

[Peter Toth]

Thank you so much MrBragg,

I agree with everything you’ve stated; perhaps many individuals haven’t yet acquired the taste for this level of realism or simply don’t care to. Frequently, however, I do see “realistic” posts similar to my own garnering a high level of curiosity from members, who seem interested in every aspect of that world—physical details, lore, and more. I’m assuming that my technique isn’t sufficiently refined to produce what I would consider “impressive” or “quality” work, although I do craft each map straight from the heart. And yes, my motivation comes mostly from my own enjoyment of crafting realistic worlds; indeed, this hobby does produce a powerful dopamine rush that always keeps me coming back for more. I just wish that I could earn a living doing something I truly enjoy, instead of slaving away at my menial day job of stocking shelves at a grocery store. I’m 45 years old and I’ve been doing this since 1996, always hoping for a niche in this very unusual market. I want to be successful like Ilanthar, morne, vorropahiah, and many others whose maps I always enjoy viewing.

Today, I’m hoping to elicit some critiques from you experts on ocean currents. I’ve assumed a one-Hadley cell circulation, consisting of high pressure at the poles and low pressure at the equator. (As the planet rotates much slower than the Earth, there is no subtropical high-pressure zone or polar front). Does the current circulation pattern look realistic for this type of world?

I would appreciate any feedback on this one aspect, if anyone out there is knowledgeable.

Thank you so much for viewing.

Peter