Life of other worlds: drawings and sketches from one space explorer's travel journal is a series focusing on various other star systems in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Odin Star System (NOTE: Planet and orbits not to scale)

The Odin System is a yellow star system consisting of six planets. Balder and Njord are the only planets with life forms. Dr. Dag Stassen discovered the system during the exploration mission of the European Space Agency Interplanetary Space Probe in the early 21^st century. The ESA gave it names according to mythological Norse gods and goddesses.

Frigg

The first four planets are rocky. The last two planets are gas giants; Thor being a super gas giant. Between the two gas giants there is a large asteroid field called The Valkyries, which contains some of the largest asteroids ever recorded. The gas giants, Thor and Loki, seem to keep the asteroids in check and corralled into their orbit around the star Odin. Without Thor and Loki, the asteroids would cause havoc within the system. However, it is believed that the gravitational pull of the collective asteroid belt and Loki prevented Thor from being pulled further into the system, thus keeping the inner planets safe. (Note: Planets and their orbits are not to scale.)

Frigg

The first planet is Frigg, named after the wife of Odin and goddess of married love. It is geologically inactive with a high surface temperature.

Hel

Hel

The second planet in the Odin System is called Hel, named after the Norse goddess of death. Hel is a turbulent geologically active planet which lives up to its name.

Balder

The third planet Balder is an Earth-sized world with a similar gravity and atmosphere. It is named after the Norse god who was the son of Odin and the favourite of the gods. It has one moon named Hoder. Balder is a geologically active planet with a continuous rocky, mountainous terrain. Unlike Earth, Balder contains most of its water underground. Caves are a common geological form. Water on Balder has a very high mineral content and is very saline. Most of the large creatures on Balder exhibit qualities of both reptiles and mammals on Earth. Plant life consists mostly of lichen-like and moss-like plants. Vines are the dominant plant, covering rock spires and mountain ranges, sometimes reaching several meters in diameter.

A repto-mammal that hangs from cliffs and lures in small flying nectar-sucking creatures - its mouth resembles a certain flower and oozes oil that smells like the nectar.

One of the exobiologists on the team stated that this was not a dinosaur. I beg to differ.

An actual flying snake, well it was really more of a clumsy glider, flapping and gliding from one cliff to the other. The landscape was littered with high jutting cliffs, making this creature quite at home

Njord

The chilly water world of Njord

The fourth planet Njord is a chilled water world. It is named after the Norse god of ships and the sea. It has one moon, Aegir.

Njord is 82% water. Its planetary climate resembles that of the Northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans on Earth. Most of the dry land consists of large mountainous archipelagos near its equator. The equatorial ocean is more shallow and warmer than the deep, usually frozen, polar ocean.

Aquatic life on Njord is extremely diverse. The largest numbers of species resemble the fish of Earth. There are no mammal-like creatures anywhere on the planet. Most of the scientists that have explored Njord say that it resembles Earth during its Devonian Era, though much colder.

One of the surprises of Njord is the existence of several large shark-like creatures. The largest carnivore creature on the planet, the Fury Fish (Pistrix furiosus) make the Earth's sharks seem tame in comparison. After the death of several explorers, a planet-wide caution is in place to anyone near a body of water that is connected to the open ocean.

the Fury Fish (Pistrix furiosus

Pistris piscatus - Distant cousin to the Fury Fish, this creature takes a gulp of water into its "blowhole", and then pulls itself through shallows (and sometimes on to shore) using its arm-like fins in order to capture trapped prey.

Pistrix tenoris -- Related to the Fury Fish, this slow relation uses baleen to sieve the waters of the ocean world of Njord.

Thor

Thor, named after the Norse god of thunder and the sky, is a gas super giant. It has two rocky moons, Fjorgynn and Sif. The moons are warm desert worlds even though they are in the planetary cold zone. As a gas supergiant, Thor radiates heat, passing it along to its moons. Due to the distance from the inner planets and solar winds, Thor’s heat has little effect upon the smaller planets of the system.