Comparative Climatology III 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2065) 2063.pdf

APPLYING SCIENCE TO FICTION: A LOOK AT THE FICTIONAL PLANET MESKLIN. M. M. McKin- ney, University of California, Los Angeles ([email protected]).

Introduction: In the modern field of planetary science, there exists a wide array of known and posited exoplanets to analyze and model. But going back even just a few decades, the majority of exoplanets were fictional. One of these fictional planets is particularly interesting, in part because it was based on a contemporary finding of a potential ex- oplanet in the 61 Cygni system [1]. While this finding is now known to be false, the planet spawned from it remains an interesting attempt at a truly alien world. This planet is Mesklin, developed by Hal Clement for his 1953 novel Mission of Gravity. Mesklin: The planet described in [1] was 16-times Jupiter’s mass. Clement wanted to use this as a setting, and thus needed it to be habitable to both native lifeforms and (at least to a degree) humans. Mesklin was given a solid surface, with most of its mass crushed into degenerate matter near at its core [2]. The native lifeforms could traverse this surface, and its high gravity, just fine, but humans would be crushed even with futuristic support. The solution to this gave Mesklin its most distinctive feature: high rotation, to the point that the planet flattens into an oblate spheroid. With a rotation rate of just 17.75 minutes, the effective gravity at the equator was reduced to 3g, within human tolerance provided the right support suit. Climate: What would the climate be on this unusual world? The orbit described in [1] would place it well out of the habitable zone for liquid water, but partially within that of liquid methane. The orbit however is also highly ellip- tical, meaning its closest approach could boil away any liquid methane it might have. In this presentation, I will explore the creation and design of Mesklin. Focus will be placed on planetary climate, including radiative temperature and basic moisture processes. Did Clement get his calculations correct back in 1953? And what sort of climate could such a planet have? References: [1] Strand K. A. (1943) Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 55(322), 29. [2] Clement H. (2002) Heavy Planet.