Neighbors

A few billion years ago this planet formed, orbiting an otherwise
run-of-the-mill star.  It was a wet world, covered with oceans, with a
protective atmosphere.  Water dominated the surface.  There may have
even been the beginnings of life there.

Space is brutal; a
significantly large asteroid slams into the planet.  The impact
scatters debris into space, and tears much of the atmosphere away.  It
also causes massive volcanism.  The result is a planet with a thin
atmosphere and a nearly solid core, covered with water.

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