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Venus - questions about set dressing for an adventure

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Sat, 2014-04-12 16:38

ottomancer ottomancer's picture

Venus - questions about set dressing for an adventure

I'm writing an adventure which has the final acts set on an aerostat in the atmosphere of Venus. I am trying to give as much atmosphere in my descriptions to the players as possible, and wanted to run something by my fellow forum folk: From what I understand it, the Venusian year — the time it takes to orbit the sun — is about 225 Earth days long. Normally, that would mean that days on Venus would be longer than years. However, because of Venus' curious retrograde rotation, the time from one sunrise to the next is about 117 Earth days long. I like this idea of the sky being similar to sunset at Cloud City in the Empire Strikes Back. With days being so long, Could I conceivably have the final acts of the adventure set in perpetual sunset while the characters are on an aerostat?

Sat, 2014-04-12 16:54

bibliophile20 bibliophile20's picture

The surface may rotate

The surface may rotate relative to the Sun once every 225 days, but the atmosphere layer at the altitude of the aerostats goes around the globe once every 4 days (96 hours, roughly, depending on your latitude, with typical relative ground speeds of 360 km/h). However, the aerostats can maneuver around, especially to avoid severe storm activity, so they could extend the time that they spend in any area--including the twilight band--if they're trying to avoid entering an area of severe storm activity. For visuals, yes, Cloud City is certainly a good one to work with--just remember that the atmosphere is not breathable :) (Interestingly, when I do a Google Images Search for "venus aerostat", I get either pictures of Cloud City or the aerostat from pg 89 of the EP Core book)

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." -Benjamin Franklin

Sun, 2014-04-13 21:49

fellowhoodlum fellowhoodlum's picture

There should be ion engines

There should be ion engines and the like on Venusian aerostats for stationkeeping and emergency maneuvres so yes you can have an aerostat just hover at the sunrise/set indefinitely