章 134: Chapter 134: The Boiling Sea and the City of Rosy Radiance
A giant star is another stage in the evolution of a dwarf star.
Take the Sun, for example, which is already 4.57 billion years old. Over the next several billion years, the Sun's size will gradually expand. This expansion is caused by the continuous loss of mass from the star.
The greater the mass, the stronger the gravitational force. When a star loses mass, its gravitational force weakens, causing the star to expand.
Therefore, giant stars can be referred to as aged stars.
Arcturus is one such aged star, with an age of 7 billion years. Although its mass is only 8% greater than the Sun's, its radius is over 25 times larger than the Sun's.
Yan Xia sat in the ship's cabin, and with the naked eye, he could see Arcturus because it was so bright, 170 times brighter than the Sun. Even after accounting for the invisible wavelengths, Arcturus was still sufficiently luminous.
At this point, they were not far from the Solar System. Arcturus was only about 30 light-years away from the Sun. In about 500 years, they could return to the Solar System.
Thinking of this, Yan Xia asked Ella, "What's the situation in the Solar System now?"
After all, that was his home.
To be honest, due to the extremely distant past, Yan Xia had almost forgotten what the city he lived in looked like. Ordinary people could forget the environment of the places they lived in 10 or 20 years ago by the time they were 30 years old, but how many years had passed for Yan Xia?
Yan Xia brought up his virtual interface and checked the time.
The year 24381 AD.
It had been over 15,000 years since he left, and how long had it been since the beginning of human civilization?
"The Solar System is still in an unstable state. Among the inner planets, Mercury has disappeared like Earth, and now there are only six planets left. The orbits of these six planets have all shifted to some extent."
"Mars is now closer to the Sun and more habitable than it was over 20,000 years ago. Venus' orbit has become elliptical and is highly unstable, but the atmosphere on the planet's surface has been significantly blown away, making it suitable for colonization."
"The best time to return to the Solar System is 70,000 years from now. By then, the Solar System will be more stable than it is now, even though it won't be as stable as it was before. But with our current technological capabilities, we can afford to rebuild the Solar System at the lowest cost."
Yan Xia paused for a moment.
"Then let's set the plan for 70,000 years from now."
He wasn't in a hurry, after all, the only place he truly missed was Earth, the only place where the traces of humanity remained. The other places were too few, less than a billionth of a billionth.
And Earth had been destroyed, falling into the Sun, where the high temperatures had vaporized it, leaving no trace.
Fourteen years later.
The sightseeing spaceship arrived at Arcturus, also known as Alpha Boötis. It was a rare single-star system, and in the 21st century, humans had not discovered any planets orbiting it. However, Yan Xia's data showed that there was a planet around Arcturus.
Alpha Boötis-b
This planet had a radius only two-thirds that of Earth, and its mass was only slightly greater than Mars. Its orbit was very close to Arcturus, almost without any rotation. It was predicted that in 600 million years, it would be tidally locked to Arcturus.
And this planet was their destination.
The sightseeing spaceship flew into Alpha Boötis-b, enduring the terrifying high temperatures. This planet had a dense atmosphere, not naturally formed but modified by a company within the Federation.
Because Alpha Boötis-b was so close to Alpha Boötis, the surface temperature of Alpha Boötis-b could reach over 1,300 degrees Celsius. With the addition of the atmosphere, the temperature of Alpha Boötis-b soared to 1,600 degrees Celsius.
The company then had to spend a large sum of money to custom-make hundreds of combined planetary refrigeration units, known as planetary refrigerators, to maintain a constant temperature within the planet's atmosphere using cooling technology.
When the sightseeing spaceship entered the atmosphere, the first thing it passed through was a 7-kilometer-thick cloud layer. After penetrating it, there was an instant feeling of clarity, as if the clouds had been parted to reveal a bright sky.
Alpha Boötis-b was a pure ocean planet, with not a single piece of land or island in sight.
The water here had been transported by the contracted company, which compressed a large amount of oxygen and transported it to this planet. They also collected hydrogen from the core of the star during fusion and, using technology, directly converted it back into hydrogen atoms. By combining hydrogen and oxygen atoms, they created this ocean.
The average depth of this ocean was around 27,000 meters, with the deepest point reaching 30,829 meters. The total volume of water was 1.81 times that of Earth's water.
At this moment, the tourists on board woke up and looked down at the ocean through the glass.
"The Boiling Sea is truly worthy of its name."
"The ocean is indeed boiling."
Although Alpha Boötis-b had planetary refrigerators to help cool it down, the temperature was still very high, with an average of around 115 degrees Celsius, not reaching room temperature.
This caused the water on the planet to be in a constant state of boiling, and it was precisely because of this that such dense clouds formed, blocking the intense infrared and ultraviolet radiation and other high-energy, invisible light from Arcturus.
The sightseeing spaceship flew a certain distance within the atmosphere and found a giant vortex on the sea's surface. In the center of the vortex was a bottomless pit with a diameter of over 300 meters, into which the spaceship flew directly.
After descending, they saw the endless turbulent flow surrounding the spaceship, looking extremely dangerous, as if the ship would be smashed to pieces if it touched the turbulence.
The spaceship had slowed down to a speed of 100 kilometers per hour, and after flying for one hour, it reached the bottom of the turbulence and then entered the water. At this point, everything became clear, and they found themselves inside a giant transparent tube. The surrounding ocean, which should have been pitch black at a depth of 1,700 meters, was unusually bright.
There were large numbers of luminous plants, minerals, and animals here. A school of fish swam above the tube, emitting a soft blue-white glow, overlapping and crowding together in a spectacular display.
A giant fish over 50 meters long suddenly burst out, opening its mouth to swallow hundreds of fish, startling everyone.
In the distance, a colorful light cluster with a diameter of 500 meters suddenly moved. They initially thought it was a reef covered with various luminous plants, but it turned out to be a jellyfish.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now at the last sightseeing spot of this journey, the Boiling Sea."
"Here, there are a total of 298,908 species, and over 80% of the lifeforms emit light, creating the colorful underwater spectacle of the Boiling Sea."
"We are now heading towards the City of Rosy Radiance in the Boiling Sea, the only city in this sea. Its area reaches 64,000 square kilometers, and once you enter the City of Rosy Radiance, you will be free to move around."
The City of Rosy Radiance was not only the last sightseeing spot for the spaceship but also the destination for Yan Xia and Ella.
Because this place also had the most advanced biological research center in the Civilization Federation.
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