Netzach

This is the first of the gas giant outer planets beyond Tefireth’s orbit. Researchers postulate that Netzach is the reason why Tefireth is a failed star. The mass of gases that formed into Netzach would have been sufficient for Tefireth to become a G2 V yellow dwarf similar in composition to the sun. The explorers of the Mitzvah were struck by the similarities between Netzach and Jupiter in the Sol system. Netzach is the fifth planet orbiting in the sixth orbital node of Keser (the fifth orbital node being occupied by Tefireth). Netzach is slightly larger than Jupiter, but the two giants have a similar number of satellites and debris rings. The larger satellites are potentially habitable with proper infrastructure development and the other satellites have significant resource potential. The upper atmosphere of Netzach could be mined for He3 using robot aerostats to support refineries and compression plants.

Pronunciation & Astronomical Name
(Net´•zak) aka Keser 5

Astronomical Characteristics
Netzach's orbit lies between those of Tefireth and Hod; its mean distance from Keser is c. 4.3 billion km, almost twice that of Tefireth, and its period of revolution is about 23 standard years. Netzach appears in the Enochiian sky as a yellow, star like object of the first magnitude. When viewed through a telescope, it is seen as a golden sphere, crossed by a series of lightly colored bands parallel to the equator.

Physical Characteristics
Netzach, like the other gas giant planets (Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth), is covered with a thick atmosphere composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with some methane and ammonia; its temperature is believed to be about 105°A, suggesting that the ammonia is in the form of ice crystals that constitute the clouds. Like Hod's interior, Netzach's consists of a rocky core, a liquid metallic hydrogen layer, and a molecular hydrogen layer. Traces of various ices have also been detected.

The wind blows at high speeds reaching velocities of 1,100 mph (1,770 kph) across Netzach. The strongest winds are found near the equator and blow mostly in an easterly direction. At higher latitudes, the velocity decreases uniformly and the winds counterflow east and west. Because no permanent markings on the planet are visible, the planet's exact period of rotation has not been determined. However, the period of each atmospheric band varies from 10 hr 14 min at the equator to about 10 hr 38 min at higher latitudes. This rapid rotation causes the largest polar flattening among the planets of Otz Chiim (over 12%).

Netzach is the third largest planet in the solar system; its equatorial diameter is c. 120,000 km, and its volume is more than 740 times the volume of Earth. Its mass is about 260 times that of Earth. Netzach like Hod also has a magnetosphere (a region of charged particles consisting primarily of electrons, protons, and heavy ions captured partly from the atmosphere of the satellite Elijah) that encloses 13 of Netzach's satellites.

Satellite System
Netzach has 18 confirmed and named natural satellites: Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, Obadiah, Haggai, Zachariah, Joel, Malachi and Jonah (in order of increasing distance from the planet). All but two of Netzach's moons form a regular system of satellites; that is, their orbits are nearly circular and lie in the equatorial plane of the planet. The exceptions are Ezekiel, whose orbit is inclined almost 15°, and Jonah, whose orbit is inclined 175°. Except for Isaiah, which has a chaotic orbit, and Jonah, all the satellites are believed to have synchronous orbits; that is, their orbital and rotational periods are the same so that they keep the same face turned toward Netzach, just as the Moon keeps the same face turned toward Earth. The largest satellite, Elijah, is 5,150 km in diameter and has the size and cold temperatures necessary to retain an atmosphere; it is the only natural satellite in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere.

Netzach has six major icy satellites that can be easily seen through Enochiian telescopes. The most prominent feature of heavily cratered Malachi, the innermost of the six, is a large impact crater about one third the diameter of the satellite. Certain broad regions of Amos are uncratered, indicating geological activity that has somehow resurfaced the satellite within the last 100 million standard years. Jeremiah also has a very large impact crater, as well as an extensive series of valleys and troughs that stretches three quarters of the way around the satellite. Both Micah and Nahum have bright, heavily cratered leading hemispheres and darker trailing hemispheres with wispy streaks that are thought to be produced by deposits of ice inside surface troughs or cracks. Isaiah, the outermost of the large icy satellites, has a dark leading hemisphere and a bright trailing hemisphere.

The remaining eleven satellites, some sharing orbits with others, are smaller. The two largest of these, the dark-surfaced Jonah and the irregularly shaped Habakkuk, orbit far from the planet; the outermost satellite, Jonah, orbits with retrograde motion, i.e., opposite to that of the planet's rotation. The smallest, ranging from c. 20 to 32 km in diameter, are Samuel and Nathan, the satellites closest to the planet, and Obadiah, Haggai, and Zachariah. Micah and Zephaniah, c. 90 km in diameter, share an orbit, as do Amos and Hosea.