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Astronomy and references

Warrior Worlds is an independent series. These volumes contain astronomy and references; character stories and interpretations are reserved for the author.

Numerical values retain the NASA composite snapshot dated 25 September 2026. Linked studies document source-specific methods and uncertainties. Calculated values, limits and minimum masses are identified. The illustrations do not establish moons, local landscapes or life.

The edited jackets carry the Warrior Worlds identity and its own volume numbering. Jacket artwork is editorial imagery, excluded from planetary scene counts.

WASP-12 b · The Star That Takes a World

The elongated dark planet and luminous gas bridge interpret tidal deformation and atmospheric escape. The elongation, separation, stream brightness and color are exaggerated for legibility rather than fitted to an observing epoch. This is not a resolved photograph. The observer, shielding and humanoid are fictional. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · WASP-12 b · composite snapshot, 25 September 2026
  2. Li et al. 2010 · tidal deformation model
  3. NASA/Hubble · low optical reflectivity
  4. NASA/Hubble · atmospheric escape
  5. Leonardi et al. 2024
  6. Collins et al. 2017
  7. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

K2-22 b · A World Unraveling into Dust

The surviving body, copper dust arc and stellar occultation illustrate the disintegration interpretation. Dust color, structure and angular extent are not measured images. The illuminated dust is not a jet of fire or a procession of resolved boulders. The creature and protected viewpoint are fictional. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · K2-22 b · composite snapshot, 25 September 2026
  2. Sanchis-Ojeda et al. 2015 · disintegrating planet and leading tail
  3. Colón et al. 2018 · variable transits
  4. Adams et al. 2021
  5. Sanchis-Ojeda et al. 2015
  6. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

55 Cnc e · The Incandescent Hemisphere

The molten hemisphere, crustal islands and atmospheric rim are an interpretation, not a resolved map. The atmosphere’s exact composition remains model dependent. Window filtering, radiation protection and the humanoid are fictional; exposed life on this scorching world is not implied. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · 55 Cnc e · saved 25 September 2026 snapshot
  2. Hu et al. 2024 · A secondary atmosphere on the rocky exoplanet 55 Cancri e
  3. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

Kepler-16 b · When One Sun Crosses Another

The two host stars are real, while the moon, terrain and humanoid are fictional. The smaller cooler star is shown crossing part of the warmer star in an illustrative alignment. Stellar disks are enlarged for visual explanation; this is not a predicted eclipse or a calibrated naked-eye sky. The gas giant is outside the frame. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · Kepler-16 b · composite snapshot, 25 September 2026
  2. Doyle et al. 2011
  3. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

WD 1856+534 b · A Giant Hides a Dead Star

The planet-to-star size contrast is central: the giant can hide its compact white dwarf host. The picture chooses a fictional near-contact viewing geometry; it is not an observed epoch. Atmospheric edging, exposure and protection are invented. The narrow white light is exposed stellar disk, not a black-hole accretion ring. The terraces and enhanced starfield are invented components of the habitat view. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · WD 1856+534 b · composite snapshot, 25 September 2026
  2. Vanderburg et al. 2020 · discovery
  3. MacDonald et al. 2026 · atmosphere and mass constraints
  4. Vanderburg et al. 2020
  5. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

KELT-9 b · Heat That Unmakes Molecules

The immense hot host and the planet’s luminous atmosphere illustrate extreme irradiation. White, violet and rose tones are filtered artistic colors, not a naked-eye prediction. Molecular dissociation cannot be seen as individual molecules at this scale. The enclosure and organism are entirely fictional. Stellar texture and prominence-like filaments are illustrative, not observed structures. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · KELT-9 b · composite snapshot, 25 September 2026
  2. NASA/JPL 2020 · hydrogen dissociation and heat transport
  3. Borsa et al. 2019
  4. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

HD 80606 b · The Violence of Closest Approach

Spitzer measured a rapid change in infrared brightness near closest approach. The glowing atmospheric sweep visualizes that response rather than a mapped weather front or literal fire. The close stellar vista, colors, timing and thermal pattern are illustrative. The shelter and humanoid are fictional. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · HD 80606 b · saved 25 September 2026 snapshot
  2. NASA/JPL · HD 80606 b infrared light curve
  3. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

HR 8799 e · A Young World Still Shining

The planet’s self-luminosity is translated from infrared into visible rose and wine tones. The patchy atmospheric texture is imagined and deliberately differs from Jupiter’s familiar bands. This is not a calibrated human-eye sky. The satellite, ice, organism and its survival are fictional. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · HR 8799 e · composite snapshot, 25 September 2026
  2. GRAVITY Collaboration 2019 · Interferometric detection and K-band spectroscopy of HR 8799 e
  3. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

PDS 70 c · The Disk Where Moons May Begin

ALMA detects compact dust emission associated with PDS 70 c; infrared and hydrogen-line observations support an accreting protoplanet. The dust disk’s visible color, spiral details and nearby observer are interpretive. No moon is established by the scene. The planet is a warm object inside a disk, not a black hole. The relative sizes of planet and disk are compressed for legibility. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · PDS 70 c · saved 25 September 2026 snapshot
  2. Benisty et al. 2021 · A Circumplanetary Disk Around PDS 70 c
  3. Fasano et al. 2025 · Inner disc and circumplanetary material in the PDS 70 system
  4. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

bet Pic b · The Architecture of a Dusty System

The Beta Pictoris debris disk and directly imaged planet are real; the moon and observer are fiction. The great luminous sky band is an imagined local view of circumstellar dust, with brightness and warp enlarged for legibility. It is not a ring around the moon, a nebula or a calibrated sky. Other planets are not shown as giant disks. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · bet Pic b · saved 25 September 2026 snapshot
  2. ESO · Beta Pictoris b and the structure of its debris disk
  3. Lagrange et al. 2010 · A giant planet imaged in the disk of the young star Beta Pictoris
  4. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance

Kepler-16 b · A Giant Beneath Two Suns

Kepler-16 b and its binary host are real. The foreground is an invented moon, not the surface of the gas giant. The copper-crowned being, basalt terrain, mist and surface reflections are fictional. The giant’s indigo atmosphere, pearl cloud veils and vortices are artistic choices, not an observed cloud map. Apparent sizes, star positions, illumination and phase are composed for the picture rather than calculated for a dated viewpoint. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.

  1. NASA Exoplanet Archive · Kepler-16 b · composite snapshot, 25 September 2026
  2. Doyle et al. 2011 · Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet
  3. NASA · View from a hypothetical moon of Kepler-16 b
  4. NASA · Where your shadow always has company
  5. Complete measurements, uncertainties & source provenance