Dune II

[pendell]

I assume a Black Sun would be like a "black light". So maybe the entire planet is like some hippy college dorm room in the nineties.

Comment seen on the Reddit Astronomy group

Geidi Prime's home star is an actually existing star, Ophiuchi B (though there are technically several stars with that name with different numbers and letters in front of it, as that is the name of the constellation). It's a K dwarf, so a lot more of its total energy output is in the red and infrared bands than for a hotter star. I imagine the people on Giedi Prime may use implants or contact lenses to be better able to see in infrared - but as the human brain cannot just "invent" a new color, as far as we know, it's just shown as black and white. At least that would make sense to me. The Harkonnens and their people are also extremely pale, the lack of many high-energy/UV photons from their home star probably led to their genes for melanin production to go lose function over time as they need to use all available UV for Vitamin D production.

Nu Ophichi B is indeed a real star with a gas giant exoplanet orbiting 1.76 AU out. Would that make Giedi Prime a moon of the gas giant? It would be both dark and cold if inhabitable at all, though I suppose if you could generate a thick enough atmosphere that might make up for the greater solar distance and the cooler sun. That would also explain why Giedi Prime is an industrial planet; emissions which raise the temperature of the planet are a feature , not a bug, on their world, unlike the little blue planet orbiting Sol.

Respectfully,

Brian P.