Astronomy & the Cosmos

The skies above Adnati are crowded with one sun, three moons, and countless stars, including scores of named constellations, of which a dozen are the most prominent.

Sola, the Sun

Adnati has a single yellow sun, called Sola in the common tongue but more commonly referred to as simply “the sun.” The solar cycle lasts exactly 362 days. The Common Calendar is based on the solar cycle, beginning on the Winter Solstice and cycling through Spring, Summer, and Autumn until it returns back to Winter.

The Moons of Adnati

There are three moons in the skies above Adnati.

Of these, Lunaal, a mottled gray orb, is the largest and brightest. Lunaal takes 29 days to cycle from a new moon through the full moon and back to a new moon. The twelve months of the Adnati Common Calendar roughly corresponds to Lunaal’s cycle. Sages understand that Lunaal must be the closest to Adnati based on how it eclipses the others when their paths cross. It is the most dominant celestial body in the heavens, other than the Sun, and when people simply say “the moon” in the Common Tongue, it is Lunaal that they are referring to.

The second moon, both in distance from Adnati and in apparent size to the naked eye, is Raudraal, sometimes called the Red Moon. To the naked eye, Raudraal appears to have a diameter a quarter of Lunaal’s. Sages know that this may be deceptive, as Lunaal is also clearly closer, since Lunaal eclipses Raudraal when their paths cross. It takes Raudraal 40 days to cycle from a new moon through the full moon and back to new. The ten-day week in the Common Calendar is based on one-quarter of Raudraal’s cycle.

The third moon, Caerudraal, is known as the Blue Moon, though sages continue to speculate fruitlessly whether the hue comes from oceans on the moon’s surface or from minerals in its soil. It takes 77 days for Caerudraal to complete its full lunar cycle.

The Stars & Constellations

There are thousands and thousands of stars in the skies above Adnati, perhaps millions of them. Of these, there are scores of named constellations, twelve of which are well-known even to non-astronomers due to how they’re used to mark the months of the calendar year and the seasons and the harvest cycles.

The most prominent star in the heavens, due both to its brightness and its closeness to the celestial north pole, is named Ilimorí after Ilimoran Toruvial, the most senior of the elven gods who, among other traits, is the God of Starlight. Navigators have used Ilimorí for millennia to guide their travels. 

The twelve most prominent constellations in the heavens are used to mark the months of the Common Calendar. They are named after the gods of the Almagest Pantheon. These include:

Planets

For millennia, sages have recognized that there are at least five known celestial bodies that traverse the skies in a manner completely unlike the moons, the stars and constellations, and the sun. The sages call them planets, and they have been named after five of the elven gods.

 

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