Eta & Ora
Only forty two thousand kilometers away from it’s partner at it’s furthest, Ora is superheated by the tidal forces between it and it’s twin Eta. With a surface temperature barely downwards of fourteen hundred degrees celcius on the barycentre side, it is startling to realize that Ora – unlike Eta – is otherwise a scorched ice world.
The opposite side of the planet possesses ice sheets, generous in size considering the gravitational heat radiating from the planet’s core. Penetrating scans have revealed huge subglacial seas, dark but very warm, residing beneath these ice sheets. In addition, organic multicellular life, some examples of which measuring over a meter in length have been robotically extracted from these hidden oceans. Ora is uninhabitable by contemporary galactic life, and it is unknown how the native subglacial creatures manage to survive the extreme conditions they evolved in.
Eta, in contrast, is a barren and lifeless desert. Even hotter than Ora at fifteen hundred degrees celcius, vast expanses of molten lava can be seen on the side opposite of the barycentre. It’s equatorial ring is ravaged by storms, and would light up the sky on Ora if it’s inhabitants were capable of seeing it.
