Astronomy

Celestial Bodies

Planets

There are seven planets in the Thorns universe.

Lotos - a grey, frozen planet far away from Ire.
Aulu - a blue gas giant, often said to look like the sea.
Harai - a large, ringed gas giant, brownish-green in color, with grey rings.
Vachran - a copper-colored gas giant with eighteen moons.
Phaeta - a blood-red and brown planet, roughly three times the size of Vita, with large craters all over its surface.
Gaeon - a terrestrial planet close to Vita, enough to appear in the sky as roughly the size of a pea. Gaeon is a blue-green sphere with three tiny orbiting moons. Called 'the most beautiful planet'.
Vita - the closest planet to the sun, supposed to be the only life-supporting planet by mainstream science. Vita has two moons, Benea and Osa.

The Sun

The Sun, around which the planet Vita revolves once every solar year, is known in human mythology as Ire, the spirit of warmth. One of the few genderless spirits, Ire bestows his/her heat upon the planet without asking anything in return. The sun, therefore, is the ancient human symbol of altruism.

The Moons

There are two Vitan moons, though one is much larger than the other. In common terms, the extremely large Benea is referred to as the "moon", while the far smaller Osa is mainly noticed as a small white spot in the noonday sky. Osa receives little light from the sun, Ire, except during the winter months, when it becomes more noticeable.

Other Bodies

Ire's solar system also includes an asteroid belt known in astrological circles as "the Wanderers." It cannot be seen with the naked eye except during the winter months.

Constellations

The ten main Vitan constellations are named after gods and goddesses from the Circle Pantheon.

Alioeth, or Alioe's Eye - a round collection of five stars with a large central white giant
Hulaleth, or Hulali's Tail - a roughly tail-shaped constellation of six stars
Basheth - a triangular three-star constellation
Vulketh - a branching constellation with over thirty small stars
Roeth - a stick figure woman, seven stars
Vespeth - a bird-shaped constellation, nine stars
Hurteth, or Hurte's Teeth - shape of a tiger mouth, made of eight stars
Imaaneth - standing next to Roeth, this is a child-shaped constellation of five stars
Nauleth - a stag, fourteen stars
Opheth - a ring-shaped constellation of six stars

There are other, smaller constellations, generally only culturally significant to humans and wicks:

The Lovers - seventeen stars in a cluster, shaped like an embracing couple
Mother Bird - a crane-shaped constellation
The Twin Brothers, or Markuus and Wain - two figures from an ancient fable
Crotus - a constellation in the shape of a now-extinct six-legged reptile
Pinpin, or The Trickster - Stemming from the old wick legend, Pinpin was one of the first wicks- he rejected the noble uses for magic and called on the mona to play devious tricks, and long ago his spirit would be blamed if a cow did not give milk (Pinpin had spooked it) or if the Crops failed (Pinpin had pissed on the seeds) and Wick superstition meant that for the first few months of a child's life it would wear a scrap of yellow- the colour Pinpin despised the most lest he whisper treachery in the child's ear and turn a good baby bad. As a punishment for his crimes, Pinpin was trapped in the night sky but the constellation is notoriously tricky to find, and often seems to change position- Pinpin appears running to some, sitting down to others. Also, the star of Fool's Home which lies in Pinpin's bag of tricks is often confused with the Home Star which always points north, and has led many a sailor astray.
Iolanthe's Lyre - It comes from a wick story, a favourite among the Red Crow tribe it must be told around a circle, each person around telling a line of the story until the conclusion is reached. As such no one has ever written the tale down verbatim and there is no right way to tell the story, depending entirely on the company you keep there will be either a tragic romance, a riotous bawdy comedy- some have even been known to spin it as a horror story. However the story is told, it will always feature a young wick girl named Iolanthe and her Lyre and to wicks she takes her place playing in the sky.
The Doe and Buck - Two small constellations on opposite ends of the sky, eternally running. Whether the Buck pursues the Doe or the Doe pursues the Buck remains up for debate. In winter, only the Buck is visible in the night sky, in summer, only the Doe is. For about one week in Intas and another in Yaris, both can be seen on opposite ends of the horizon.