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Gamma Leporis 4 (USC 5 p1) is an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting the star Gamma Leporis. It is one of the planets cataloged in the Unusual Systems Catalog due to its interestingly similar physical and orbital characteristics to Earth. It is also one of the closest potentially habitable planets to the Earth, having a high ESI of 0.902 and unicellular marine life. Because of this, it has been dubbed "Earth 2.0" by the media.

The planet has a total of 11 moons, one of them is the planet's only major moon, dubbed "Moon 2.0".

Unicellular marine life has been detected in this planet, and further analysis shows that most of them are algae similar to euglenids, and cause no harm to humans.

Characteristics[]

Equirectangular map of Gamma Leporis 4

A map of Gamma Leporis 4 taken from an ASA survey.

The characteristics of this planet is where this planet stands out against the others. It is very similar to the Earth in terms of physical and orbital properties.

Its radius is 6,402 km, which is approximately 97% of Earth's radius. Its mass fares better at 6.0326E24 kg, or 100.98% of Earth's mass. This results in a density of 6.079 g/cm3, 10% higher than Earth's density, and gravity of 10.5105 m/s2, or 1.072 g. Its axial tilt is 18.652°, which is slightly less than Earth's axial tilt.

It has a rotational period of 14 hours, 51 minutes and 49.79 seconds, while its solar day is 14 hours, 53 minutes, and 30.74 seconds. Because of this, it is safe to assume that the planet is still suitable for human, animal, and plant life. It has an orbital period of 328.9 days, or approximately 0.9 Earth years, which is close enough. Unlike many other exoplanets that are very similar to Earth, Gamma Leporis 4 is not tidally locked. Therefore, it is very promising for colonization.

It has a semimajor axis of 1.02 AU, a perihelion of 0.95 AU, and an aphelion of 1.09 AU, all of which are very similar to Earth's. However, the differences between its perihelion and aphelion are slightly too high despite having an eccentricity of 0.061, which could cause more extreme seasons. Nonetheless, its axial tilt might help moderate this.

The planet's average surface temperature is 34 °C, which is quite hot, but this is relatively close to Earth's temperature in tropical regions.

Its atmosphere is where its similarity to Earth ends. With an atmospheric pressure of 0.438 atm, 62% of oxygen, 30.8% of carbon dioxide, 5.29% of water vapor, 1.35% of nitrogen, and 0.504% of sulfur dioxide, attempting to breathe in this planet is lethal until the atmosphere has been stabilized.

Despite all of this, it only has an ESI of 0.902, which is lower than expected for a planet with many similarities to the Earth.

Colonization[]

After its discovery, NASA's XXP missions have been launched to terraform and colonize this planet immediately. As the planet is very similar to the Earth with an exception of its toxic atmosphere, the only terraforming process required is to stabilize the atmosphere so that it's breathable, using the readily available Atmo-stabilizers. Construction of infrastructures such as residential, commercial, and industrial will be mainly focused on coastal areas, as the center of the continents are most likely too hot and arid to properly sustain life. Cities will also be planted with trees to minimize the potential effects of greenhouse effect later on. The rest of the landmass that aren't used for infrastructure building will be filled with trees to further minimize the chances of global warming to occur. After terraforming is completed and all infrastructures have been considered finished, NASA will allow access to the planet for the general public immediately. It is expected that the planet's capability to sustain life will be close to Earth's due to its similarities. However, areas closer to the center of the continents are less likely to achieve this.