Each planet can be viewed in two different ways, depending on whether or not the moon is currently eclipsing the sun. When the sun is not eclipsed, the sky appears as daylight everywhere. When the sun is eclipsed, the night sky is visible everywhere. We therefore use the terms Dayside and Nightside to describe these two states. They are not accurate, but they are concise and reasonably descriptive of a situation that makes little real-world sense (for some values of "real").
Stars are often visible even when the sun is shining, but they may be very dim or appear as dark specks against a lighter backgound. They are often difficult to distinguish from floating debris in daylight. When the sun is eclipsed, the stars appear clearly in their familiar guise of dots of light against a black background.
Stars are not the only things that appear, disappear or change their appearances with the sun. Many of the Sights that you will find on the planets are visible only in one of the two states.
- "The materials used to build the artifacts bounce light at various frequencies. This means that certain sculptures are only visible in specific light conditions." — from the Eclipse trading card
Dayside[]
A Dayside view of the Side A planet.
Dayside is the way a planet looks when the Moon is not eclipsing the sun. Everywhere on the planet; even on the side facing away from the sun. So the "side" part of Dayside is just along for the ride, with no semantic import whatsoever.
Many things that are visible in the Dayside view are not visible on Nightside view, and vice versa. Daylight is the "natural" element of
- things
- stuff
- ...
[to be continued]
Nightside[]
A Nightside view of the Side A planet (and moon)
Nightside is how a world appears when the Moon is eclipsing the sun. So the name Nightside is about as completely inaccurate as a name can be. Night doesn't really mean night, exactly, and side doesn't mean side at all! Get over it.
Darkness is the natural element of
- most Buildings,
- other stuff
- ...
[to be continued]
To Say Nothing of the Moon[]
In related news, there have been reports of things appearing and disappearing with the passage of the Moon! In a frenzy of mass hysteria, hooligans have been seen dragging and pushing moons across all of the known worlds, hoping to reveal previously concealed secrets "by the awesome power of Mother Moon." Calmer (and lazier) heads reason that this phenomenon is likely limited to those few worlds with "naturally" (ha!) passing moons, and carry on their "normal" (ha!) exploratory research.