Exogazing: A New Music Genre that FITS!

In a fit of joy and delight, I've just learned that the band called A New Silent Corporation (ANSC) has picked up on "exogazing music". This is what they posted,

"Apparently there's a new name for our music genre, it's called exogazing. Like watching out to other worlds. Which kind of fits."
-- ANSC

This is the first time that a musical artist has expressed approval for the name of their new genre. And I'm very happy to hear it from this exogazing band. What is even more amazing to me is the last word of their quoted statement, "fits". Yes, it truly fits! Because aside from the semantic meaning of that word, there is also a technical match that truly puts their words in perfect context! It amuses me because "FITS" is a kind of file format used by planet-hunters to transfer lightcurve data. FITS has "an extraordinarily effective form of compression(!)" as Greg Laughlin says from his blog at oklo.org. In a broader context, FITS is actually the standard data format used in Astronomy.

As everyone knows, the etymology of exogazing comes from an exogazer's musical preference when gazing at the stars. “Exo” means “out”. Thus, to Exogaze simply means to “gaze out”. The term originated from a hobby of exoplanet enthusiasts called "Exogazing" which simply means “looking up in the starry night sky and pondering other worlds.” Exogaze music is the type of music recommended while stargazing and exogazing, and thinking of otherworldy stuff. Shoegazing (another genre) is looking down, while Exogazing is looking up.

The absence of lyrics prevents exogazers from being distracted by words. The melodic and atmospheric quality of exogazing music complements the mysterious expanse of space. And the almost-depressing and uplifting aura matches that lonely feeling that one gets when staring out into the night sky--where the feeling of insignificance, and appreciation of a fleeting chance at life, is entwined in an inexplicable mood.

In a nutshell, exogazing music is marked by these general characteristics: it has no lyrics, instrumental, and moody. It intersects with the post-rock genre and involves psychedelic plus ambient overtones. The songs are mostly a mixture of electronic and guitar-driven compositions, and typically uses computers and gadgets to make. Some examples of artists that create exogazing songs are: Caspian, Moonlit Sailor, Pelican, Lymbyc Systym, The American Dollar, Mooncake, Metavari, Glowworm and so on. See more from this list of artists that belong to this new genre here.

It's worth saying that discovery and exploration also occurs even in the field of music. And I am very excited about the unexpected musical discovery that has sprouted from the exploration of this new field of exoplanet science.

Spaceships and Exoplanets

I was admiring all the spaceships in io9's compilation of awesome space artworks when i noticed a pattern: almost all of them have planets!
"But of course! Spaceships are built so that one can go from planet to planet, so that's why planets are present in the background of many pictures of spaceships!" One can say that, but has anyone ever really noticed that fact? And so what? What does it mean? Well, it made me realize that Spaceships and Exoplanets go together!
And maybe there is some kind of golden rule in creating artworks of spaceships--perhaps there must be a planet's crescent somewhere in the canvas to be a masterpiece.
Or maybe i'm just exaggerating. And yes, maybe i'm just excited. After all, it will be on spaceships that our descendants will hop on to go to colonize other worlds.

Poetic Planetary Exploration: The Swamps of Sleethe

Today, I indulged the child in me by exploring other Worlds with child-like eyes through poetry. With bite-sized Exo-poems from Jack Prelutsky, The Swamps of Sleethe is a literary exploration of exoplanetary proportions. It is nicely complemented by the illustrations of Jimmy Pickering.
The moment I saw this book, I knew instantly that I had to show it to my kids, and review it. The blurb confirms that this is an enjoyable take on Exoplanets:
"Imagine that you're...travelling to unexplored planets far beyond our solar system...Travel to these far-flung worlds at your own risk!"
Of course, my 9-year-old loved it!
Indeed, wonder and terror is nicely woven by imagination within this book, plus an added fun to go with the play of words. The Swamps of Sleethe has an anagram game where the readers can decipher the word that describes the property of the planet in each poem. Take peek at these anagrams and see what you can come up with: Driffig, Fesstor, Gub, Skreber, Ogdofod, Sarbro, Theentor, Thade, Ning-fa-dee. They're actually cute names for exoplanets!

My favorite poem from the compilation is The Beholder in the Silence which I interpret to be about a Planemo--a sunless planet wandering the cosmos. Here's an excerpt:

Beholder in the Silence
On a planet gray and airless,
at the universe's rim,
Where the night is everlasting,
And the stars are ever dim...

The Beholder in the Silence,
With its one unblinking eye,
Stares into the boundless cosmos
Far beyond its sunless sky.

I also like the fact that the local inhabitants of the planets in the poems are given due attention. For example:

The Demon Birds of Lonithor
They soar above their planet
On perennial patrol-
To feast on otherworlders
Is their all-consuming goal.

And yes, believe it or not, the most poetic description of Extremophiles can be found on this book! The excerpt below suits well to inspire our young future astrobiologists!

The Swamps of Sleethe
On sweltering Sleethe, in swamps aseethe,
Malignant beings thrive,
Abhorrent things that need not breathe,
And yet are quite alive.

We are witnessing the arrival of the plurality of worlds, heralded by accelerating discoveries of weird planets way beyond our imagination. This book nicely introduces to young readers what is truly happening in our midst: bizarre new exoplanets are continually being found by planet-hunters that can only be described via imaginative prose and poetry, as how they can be magnificently rendered in The Swamps of Sleethe.