Xaris /ˌʃə ˈriːs/ is a gas giant with a mass of 1.28Jup and size of 1.98Jup, and the tenth planet in orbit around Alnitak triple-star system, otherwise known as Zeta Orionis, or ζ Ori (Xor in the native language). It is currently classified as uninhabitable, despite its habitation, the Xarisans. It orbits once approximately every sixty Earth years.
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Xaris has a Saturn-like set of rings and over seventy moons, the largest two of which are habitable. The largest moon is approximately half the size of Earth and is home to one of the two subspecies of Xarisan, the Xakarun. The other subspecies, the Xalur, inhabits the other moon.
Xaris is composed of a rocky, mostly iron core approximately the size of Mars. Its atmosphere makes it unique; it is composed of primarily nitrogen and oxygen, as well as some heavier gases such as CO, CO2 and naturally occurring sulfur hexafluoride. The upper 200 miles of the atmosphere are breathable, and the pressure in the uppermost 75 miles is at habitable levels.
Its total mass is estimated at 1.28 times that of the planet Jupiter, and yet its size is 1.98 times that of Jupiter, approximately. This makes it substantially less dense than Sol's largest gas giant. Scientists theorize that this difference in density, in addition to the atmosphere's unique composition, makes the planet able to sustain life.
Nearer to the core, the immense heat and pressure vaporizes some of the iron. Xarisans are a spacefaring race, and so humans have theorized that they have some way of extracting this iron gas and condensing it, but once the humans finally established a colony on Xaris, they discovered that the Xarisans' raw materials came primarily from the planets two sets of rings, which are largely accessible without leaving the atmosphere.
Xaris orbits the entire Alnitak system in an elliptical orbit, resting right within the habitable zones of both the close binary pair of Alnitak Aa and Ab, and the second star, Alnitak B. The planet's orbit remains static in shape, and rotates with Alnitak B, something scientists are still trying to explain. Its low density makes its rotation fairly slow, as well; a Xarisan day is approximately three Earth days, with thirty to thirty-six hours of daylight.
Its hot inner structure provides enough radiant heat to keep the planet habitable but cold at the aphelia, of which there are two per year. Since the planet's axial tilt is approximately zero, the eight seasons are caused by the eccentricity of its orbit. The hotter of the two summers is at perihelion to the binary Alnitak A, which takes it to the inner edge of the habitable zone around the large blue star and its companion.
The eight seasons with their Xarisan names and English monikers are as follows, as well as their characteristics, effect on ecology, and planetary position in relation to A or B.
The biggest controversy involving Xaris is whether or not to classify it as uninhabitable. Skeptics argue that the classification is inaccurate, stating that the upper atmosphere is rich in O2, and that the Xarisans already make it their home. But proponents of the classification cite a number of reasons: