Solar System

Alien Awakening will take place on a roughly Earth sized planet in a star system similar to Vega, modeled after that system to some degree even. The system will have a blue main sequence star (class A), roughly 2.5 times as large as our sun (Sol) near the middle of it's life. The star is almost 70 times as bright as our sun, with a proportional increase of energy and radiation output, so the planet that Alien Awakening takes place on is about 7.1 AU - far enough to form liquid water and thus life. The solar system also includes a Jupiter size planet at about 16 AU and a larger gas giant, about 10 times the size of Jupiter, at about 65 AU. Like Vega, there is also a debris field starting at 80 AU and extending out to about 120 AU. Comets are a common site within the inner solar system, though the larger gas giant does a pretty good job of sweeping out a path and keeping the inner solar system clear of debris.

To get an idea of what the solar system might look like, I found an artist depiction of the Vega System. Click on the image to get a larger view. Below the image is a link to the image source.


Artist Impression of the Vega System.

Image Source

Atmosphere and Fauna

Due to the atmospheric make up of the planet and spectrum of light from the blue star, red light is not the most abundant color of light to hit the surface. What this means is that the best wavelengths to absorb for photosynthesis are not red and blue but rather blue and green. The result is that red is the predominant color photosynthesizing plants rather then green. Below you can see an image of what that may look like, click on it to link to the NASA article (where the image originates) describing the possibility of non-green plant life on other planets.


Non-green plants possible on other planets.

This also means that the aliens must be adapted to distinguish between different shades of red very readily, instead of green. The result is that the alien vision is more sensitive to red light making green and blue somewhat muted in comparison. In addition, different wavelengths of light are scattered in the atmosphere - the sky is not the same blue color as on Earth. Instead it is a yellow color, deepening to blue as the sun sets. The sun is smaller in the sky, the star is 2.5 times bigger then Sol but also 7 times further away. However it is also much brighter, causing the atmospheric scattering to be stronger. The planet has one moon, like Earth, though it is about 2 times larger then ours, it has a smaller satellite in orbit as well. The moon has an atmosphere, due to it's increased mass, though it's smaller satellite does not.

Climate

The larger moon has a much greater effect on tidal movements, the difference between "low tide" and "high tide" is profound - settlements would not survive well near the coasts. The amount of light seen at night also varies more, during full moons the nights are much brighter then on Earth. The star, and thus the planet are younger then their Sol counterparts and the planet tends to be hotter as well. The result is a hotter, much more humid environment - very rich in the diversity of both plants and animals. Fortunately life also formed earlier then on Earth, including intelligent life.

The alien world will be fleshed out more in future posts, thanks for reading. :)