Planetary classification has always been of great interest to me, and my efforts over the years ultimately culminated in my work on Star Trek: Adventures.  For the Starlight Universe, I have developed an entirely new way to classify planets in my work.  The most obvious reason for this is because I couldn't just copy/paste the Star Trek classification system, but the real reason for the change is because Star Trek's system--while beautiful in theory--simply cannot accommodate all of the planets that exist out in the wild... there just aren't enough letters in the alphabet.

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So I decided to take the 20+ classes that exist within the Star Trek scheme and pare them down to the absolute bare minimum, which turns out to be seven (with Classes H and  X arriving as a new categories).  The new classification scheme is based entirely upon the planet's composition.  

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CLASS C: Carbon

CLASS F: Nickel/Iron

CLASS H: Helium

CLASS J: Jovian

CLASS N: Neptunian

CLASS T: Terra/Silicate

CLASS X: Anomalous

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Since Earth is a planet that is familiar to most of us, I'll use it as an example to explain how things work.   Because Earth is made mostly of oxygen and silicate rocks, it is therefore considered a Class T planet.  Of course, there are many different examples of silicate planets in our very own solar system: Venus and Mars also meet these criteria, but both planets are also drastically different from Earth.  Therefore, we must divide them into various classes similar to the old Star Trek system. 

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CLASS T1: Protoplanet
CLASS T2: Molten
CLASS T3: Primordial
CLASS T4: Barren
CLASS T5: Arid
CLASS T6: Frozen
CLASS T7: Hothouse
CLASS T8: Typical/Garden
CLASS T9: Marginal
CLASS T10: Pelagic
CLASS T11: Oceanic

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A Class T5 planet is the famed desert world.  Class T6 is frozen.  Just like in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, everyone is here! All your old favorites!  Earth is a Class T8 world, otherwise known as a "Typical" or a "Garden" world. 

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This is where Earth's classification ends, but many planets are a bit more complicated than our own.  Some are tiny.  Others are big.  Many are moons.  This is where the notion of a subclass comes in.  

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SUBCLASS A: Ammonia

SUBCLASSS B: Biolumenescent
SUBCLASS C: Chthonian
SUBCLASS D: Dwarf
SUBCLASS G: Giant
SUBCLASS H: Haloarchean
SUBCLASS M: Moon
SUBCLASS R: Rogue
SUBCLASS X: Irradiated
 

These are generally self-explanatory.  Aside from the ones that aren't! 😘 Ammonia variants have ammonia instead of water.  Chthonian is the exposed core of a gas giant.  Haloarchean is a world with purple flora, something that would be found around a Type-M star or on young planets similar to Earth where plants use retinal instead of chlorophyll to harness the sun's rays.

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Still using Earth as an example, imagine our planet was one of those giant "Super-Earths" that are apparently quite common in the universe.  In that case, we would simply add a big G to denote the GIANT subclass, making Earth Class T8G.   What if Earth was also a moon, in addition to being giant?  Then it would be Class T8GM.  A planet can have multiple subclass tags! It's not rocket science, but it does get a little cumbersome...  I will probably avoid diving too deep into the nitty-gritty details in Starlight's myriad episodes, but I do want you to know that there is an entire, working system in place.

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Also, a word about the planet renders themselves!  They are quite lovely, are they not?  I worked rather diligently hard to make them, and to be perfectly honest, I would generally prefer that you... like... not steal them for your own purposes.  Just saying.  I'm pretty easy to work with, and if you desperately need a planet for your own project, get in touch with me and we can work something out that doesn't involve theft!  

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