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A Jupiter-sized planet (artist's impression) passing in front of its parent star. The planet was discovered by the NASA/ESA COROT satellite. (Read here for more COROT information.)
Exoplanets are grabbing the headlines these days. There are something around 220 or so planets around other stars that we about, and the number keeps growing as astronomers refine their planet-searching techniques and upgrade specialized telescopes to do the searches. There have been several discoveries announced in recent weeks, and at least one more that I know of will be announced soon. So, there's a bonanza in planet discoveries going on.
One of these days we'll find an Earth-like planet and know it's an Earth-like planet (we think we've found one, but the "Earth-like" part is still unconfirmed). That'll set off a huge firestorm of discussion about what life might be like on such a world. Of course, for science fiction readers, such discussion topics are old hat, but as an SF reader myself, I suspect that the reality of an Earth-like planet and its life will probably be nothing at all like what we've imagined in SF magazines and books for the better part of a century now.
When I was a kid, I used to imagine going to Mars and finding life there. I didn't know about the Edgar Rice Burroughs "life" on Mars until I was much older, so my childish imaginings were not limited to fighting men and princesses. Most of the time I was finding strange red plants, weird talking worms, rabbits, etc. I guess the life I imagined was what was familiar to me as a child. Although, since I lived part of my life on a farm, I don't recall imagining Martian sheep and cows and chickens.
Life on other planets around other stars didn't even enter into my world view until I was somewhat older and had read my first science fiction. And, of course, that life was humanoid, water-based, and still somehow weird. Science fiction tales are made up by humans, so it's pretty obvious that our stories of alien life will have some attributes of humanity, no matter how that life looks. I suspect that's because if somebody came up with a truly weird life form, the story would founder along until one of the characters found a way to communicate with it. (Shades of Star Trek, and the many ways Hollywood tried to imagine the truly weird and talk to it.)
So, SF fan that I am, I can't wait til the first life-bearing planet outside our solar system is found. The debates and discussions are going to be amazing to witness and take part in!
In keeping with the science fiction theme of the last entry, let's talk about star names and the mental visions they conjure up when we say them. Try Vindemiatrix, for example. It's the third-brightest star in the consellation Virgo. In his Star of the Week entry for this star, Jim Kaler describes the name of the star as a "somewhat corrupted feminized Latin form for the original Greek name that meant 'the Grape Gatherer.'"
When I say the word "Vindemiatrix" (pronounced "Vin-duh-me-AY-trix"), I think of a space-faring civilization living on Vindemiatrix III (a third planet out from that star). Now, I don't know whether there IS a third planet in orbit around this star, but it's a cool name.
How about Zuben Elschemali or Zuben Algenubi? Romantic-sounding, evocative of far-off lands on distant planets. I always wanted to hear those planets named in Star Trek or other science-fiction shows. I think I remember hearing Captain Picard once direct his ship to the Cor Caroli V system, which would be some planet(s) around stars in Canes Venatici.
To that end, I recently stumbled across a web site that has listed all the planets visited in the Star Trek universe. They've listed them by quadrant and spectral class, with their names. It's a spinoff of the book Star Trek Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek, which I first examined at a Trek convention where I was a guest speaker a few years ago. A very cool way to teach star names and make them relevant.
The topic of unusual star names reminds me of the time I went down to New Mexico to cover a story for The Denver Post Empire Magazine. The story was about atmospheric physics, specifically how clouds become electrified enough to zot out lightning. The Irving Langmuir Lightning Lab atop Mt. Baldy in the center of the state near Socorro had a team of researchers studying cloud electrification and they had done some work where they basically reversed the charge of a cloud as it passed over the summit of the mountain. The local paper had run a headline saying "Scientists turn cloud upside down." My editor saw it and sent me down to the get the story.
The chief scientist was a guy named Bernard Vonnegut, and on the way up to meet him, I had been warned by the PR chief for New Mexico Tech not to ask Dr. Vonnegut about his famous younger brother, Kurt. So, I didn't. But I did spend several days atop the mountain with Dr. V, and learned a lot about cloud physics. So much so that I wrote a story that subsequently won a science writing award for the Post.
On the last day atop the mountain we were waiting for a cloud to form and Dr. V and I were sitting in a sunny room having a cold drink. We were sort of passing the time chit-chatting. He got up to check an instrument reading, and when he sat down he said, "I suppose you want to know something about my brother."
I burst out laughing and said, "Well, they told me not to ask you about him, and so I respected that." He laughed.
"I don't mind talking about Kurt. He's always been so imaginative. Back when I'd come home from college and he was a teenager, he'd tell me these stories about far-off stars and planets and worlds that he'd invented."
"Did he ever mention Tralfamador?" I asked.
Bernard nodded. "Yes, that was one of them."
Tralfamador is a world invented by a character in the book Slaughterhouse-Five. Even though the book is quite ironic and dystopic, I was always taken with the name Tralfamadore. It just sounds like a place so far away that you'd have to travel light-years to get there. Sort of like Vindemiatrix and Sirius and Zuben Elschemali and Miaplacidus and all the other stars whose names evoke not just meanings in Earth languages, but visions of far-off lands and distant stars with planets containing beings we have yet to meet.
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which I first examined at a Trek convention where I was a guest speaker a few years ago. A very cool way to teach star names and make them relevant.
