The discovery of Nibbio happened in a rather common way. A probe was sent into the binary star system Right Epoch Ascension [NN Serpentis] in search of colonizable planets. There the probe found three rocky planets orbiting two dwarf stars revolving around a common center. Of those three planets, two are small and sterile due to their close proximity to the stars. The third planet, a super-Earth, was the last to be identified by the spacecraft due to its peripheral position quite far from the stars and the other two planets.
Probably its formation was caused by the engulfment of most of the matter in the system, leading to the small size of the two planets near the stars and also to their small number. During the first observations, it was hypothesized that it was a gas giant and that the density detected by the probe was simply due to the gases solidified by the pressure that each gas giant houses inside. This assumption was due to the bluish-whitish atmosphere that seemed to be engaged in a perpetual storm – a trait more usual in gas giants.
However, when the spacecraft entered its atmosphere, everything changed.
The probe came to find that the planet indeed had a rocky surface. The landscape was unusual, full of haze, composed of gargantuan plateaus the size of continents and swampy depressions with shallow seas a few tens of meters deep. Yet all these were environments teeming with life forms.
Observation by subsequent expeditions revealed that the highlands were once continents, and the lowlands were their seas; the world’s once oceans had evaporated long ago.
Analysis of rock layers indicated these evaporated slowly over millions of years, pouring thousands of metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere which condensed into the fog that now engulfs the planet.
It is from this fog that the planet’s name is derived – Nibbio precisely. The name derives from the mongrelization of the word “nebula”, i.e. “cloud”.
Thanks to the thick atmosphere and large availability of minerals due to the excessive erosion typical of super-Earths with atmosphere, the planet supports a very dense eco-sphere. Some of the fauna documented are known to reach gargantuan proportions. The largest of these is reported to be Mist Strider Titan.
This entry was created by community member, Zarekay56