The travelling pollen
A short orbital period tells us how quickly a planet travels around its star. It does not directly measure the length of a surface day. This book adopts synchronous rotation as a scenario: the same hemisphere generally faces the host, while different locations see different stellar altitudes. The 19.535-day orbital measurement is real; that spin state is assumed [1, 2]. In a sheltered basin, ribbon colonies unfold branching reproductive combs. Mobile membrane sailors move between them, collecting nutrient droplets and carrying granular reproductive material. “Pollen” is a convenient analogy for the illustrated transfer mechanism, not a claim of flowers, seeds or a shared ancestry with Earth plants. The exchange introduces a problem that passive light gathering cannot solve alone. A fixed organism needs material from another colony, while a mobile organism needs an energy source. The story lets each meet the other’s need. How the partners recognize one another, avoid exploitation and reproduce is left deliberately unspecified. The flying anatomy is speculative as well. Lift would depend on atmospheric density, gravity, size and motion, none established by these pictures. What the plate makes legible is the ecological action: something moves between two botanical structures while a single star powers the wider landscape. Viewpoint: Reproductive meadow beside a broad basin.
The imagined scene
The host system is real. All alien organisms, robots, societies and social histories are fictional. Moons, rings, terrain and weather are artistic assumptions unless specifically supported by a cited source. These images are not calibrated simulations of the sky.
The scientific anchor
Kepler-1649 c is a transiting planet around Kepler-1649. Its saved catalog radius is 1.06 (+0.15 / −0.10) Earth radii and its period is 19.53527 ± 0.00010 days [Vanderburg et al. 2020]. This scene explores reproduction without earth flowers. Membrane sailors receive nutrient droplets while moving reproductive grains between unrelated colonies. All illustrated biology is fictional.
Vanderburg et al. 2020 — Kepler-1649 c discovery and measured parameters · NASA Exoplanet Archive — Kepler-1649 c · Kiang et al. 2007 — photosynthetic spectra as a general research context · Vanderburg et al. 2020 · Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table
Available measurements
Host: Kepler-1649 · 1 catalog star(s) · Rocky-size candidate
NASA composite catalog values may combine different papers. Errors and upper/lower limits are retained. “Calculated Value” means derived or estimated. Msini is a minimum mass. Missing values are unknown. A multiple-star system’s single stellar row does not describe every component. Equilibrium temperature is not a measured surface temperature.
| Quantity | Value & uncertainty | Unit | Paper / source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planet radius | 1.06 [+0.15 / -0.1] | Earth radii | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Planet mass | 1.2 | Earth masses | Calculated Value |
| Bulk density | 5.54 | g/cm³ | Calculated Value |
| Orbital period | 19.535 [+0.0001 / -0.0001] | days | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Orbital semimajor axis | 0.0649 | AU | Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table |
| Orbital eccentricity | 0 | Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table | |
| Orbital inclination | 89.339 [+0.056 / -0.056] | degrees | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Irradiation | 0.75 [+0.032 / -0.302] | Earth flux | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Equilibrium temperature | 234 [+20 / -20] | K; not surface temperature | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar effective temperature | 3,240 [+61 / -61] | K | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar radius | 0.2317 [+0.0049 / -0.0049] | Solar radii | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar mass | 0.1977 [+0.0051 / -0.0051] | Solar masses | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar luminosity | -2.2873 [+0.01652 / -0.01717] | log10 Solar luminosity | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar age | Unknown | Gyr | Source not supplied |
| Catalog stellar metallicity | -0.15 [+0.11 / -0.11] | dex | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| System distance | 92.191 [+0.5489 / -0.5425] | pc | TICv8 |
What about life?
Passes a deliberately broad 0.25–1.75 Earth-flux triage window. This is not a calculated habitable zone or evidence of water or life. Atmosphere, surface pressure, water inventory, stellar activity and orbital history remain unassessed. No confirmed life; no planet-specific biosignature literature review in this release.
Papers and references
Vanderburg et al. 2020 — Kepler-1649 c discovery and measured parameters · NASA Exoplanet Archive — Kepler-1649 c · Kiang et al. 2007 — photosynthetic spectra as a general research context · Vanderburg et al. 2020 · Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table · TICv8