Spaceships and Exoplanets [part 2]

Well, well, well. Two nice visualizations have grazed the interwebz just days apart. And now it's my job to make sense of it all and share the wisdom. The idea could be a variation on my previous post about spaceships and exoplanets but it's still worth reiterating nevertheless.
The other day, the spaceships chart came out from supernova condensate. Today the Exoplanets rendered by xkcd exploded on the net.
Why, spaceships should have destinations, right? And that is exactly the reason why I bring them together in one post lest people fail to get the point.
Our species must expand to other planets! Let's build the spaceships and starships and worldships and go to Mars and beyond. You see, the destinations are real. These exoplanets are out there for real. Yet the means to go there isn't here just yet. That means we have plenty of things to catch up with.
I know it's hard, but it's ok. We just have to do something simple persistently, like send out extrasolar probes every year as our technology allows. This will keep the inspiration alive to keep the action going for centuries to come.
The Voyager1 probe is on the threshold of being interstellar so it is a perfect time to stress the point: Let's go 'exo' !

Monsters and Exoplanets

The other day, I chanced upon some illustrations of monsters from the 16th Century via Ulisse Aldrovandi’s History of Monsters (Monstrorum historia). I noticed that these "monsters" were often a mix of land, air, and sea creatures (hybrids), and that the monster characteristics are attuned to the properties of planet earth, of course. But the point is this: As residents of earthworld, humanity has only known the usual land, air and sea environments as we evolved consciousness. And as such, these characteristic environments reflected in the kinds of creatures and monsters that our primal minds conjured from our imagination.

Now, what if the human psyche gets imbued with knowledge of new worlds? And what if we've come to learn of new types of planets, not just the usual terrestrial mix of land and sea that we’ve come to know of?

How will knowledge of new worlds create new mythical creatures from mankind's deepest imagination? Will a new mythos emerge from a new form of exoplanetary consciousness? Do we need to occupy a new planet in order to actually create new myths and legends specific to that planet?

I'm on the lookout for new archetypes of "monsters" that must come out from this era of exoplanets. Sure, it's all just aliens, aliens, aliens. I'm sick and tired of aliens. But although i'm a big fan of Science fiction, I realize that something new should come out from a new level of consciousness brought about by the fact that our planet Earth is just one among an infinite variety of worlds. Can our new generation of imaginative writers create new mythic creatures a la the Lovecraftian Cthulhu or The Great Race of Yith but with a unique exoplanetary twist?

What types of monsters will the modern man come up aside from the cliche of invading aliens, alien-human hybrids, disguised aliens, superhero aliens, artificially-intelligent aliens, and so on? Or are these alien-monster archetypes prevalent in popular culture the final set of otherworldly monsters that our minds can ever come up with? Are they all we can ever have?

Let me know if you have some leads regarding this inquiry. You can reply to me via twitter, or simply comment on this post.

Links:

History of Monsters

Exoplanetary Dreamscapes

As a follow-up to my installments about artsy exoplanetary sceneries, i bring you Exoplanetary Dreamscapes from Kahn & Selesnick. This time, i dare not use the word “surreal” as it will not suffice to describe these otherworldly works of art that send my mind to the wild exo-yonder.
Let my words be few. The links below points you to more of their work which can be accessible via their tumblr and their book, Mars Adrift on the Hourglass Sea.

Links:
Kahn & Selesnick (Tumblr)
Exoplanetary Dreamscapes
Mars Adrift on the Hourglass Sea (book)

Giordano Bruno, Imaginative Logic, and the Plurality of Worlds

I am gripped by a certain sense of nostalgia every time I read old books. There's something about those archaic sentences, or the fonts, which I imagine being printed by old, rusty movable types. Even more so, is that I am intrigued by the authors’ way of thinking in those early days when Science and Astronomy were in its infancy.

Thus, in the inquiry about other Worlds, what were the thinker's methods of thought in the olden days when there was no internet? How far can their ideas go when all they had were just the pure sight of Nature to power their brains?

Yesterday, I came across this book "Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science", in which the author reevaluates Bruno's contribution to the scientific revolution. We all heard about that the guy before, that pesky hooded friar who got burned at the stake for his heretical views.

Now let’s take a peek at how Bruno came up with his Philosophy and way of thinking. In one instance, Bruno “wishes to prove that opaque bodies lying between the eye and luminous bodies can easily disappear from the field of vision: a point which he illustrates by holding a matchstick between his eyes and a lighted candle."

Albeit primitive, Bruno noted the same difficulty involved in exoplanet-hunting; that it's like trying to find a firefly across the backdrop of a searchlight, as modern-day astronomers would often say. Had Bruno written that the distant star's light would be dimmed in a measurable way by an orbiting planet passing across the viewer's line of sight, he would have hinted at one of the most successful methods in Exoplanet-hunting, the Transit Method.

In his time, such an insight is not bad. Apparently, Bruno used "Imaginative Logic" (in contrast to rational logic) as his thinking method to come up with his ideas, which were considered quite radical at that time. Nevertheless, Bruno stumbled onto something bigger, an idea so true and powerful that he was willing to give up his life for it.

Today with more than five hundred known worlds on other stars, we are basking in that idea now.

The Plurality of Worlds "...constitutes the essential premise for the new cosmology of Bruno, whose universe is filled with infinite worlds, most of which are invisible to the naked eye."


"In space there are countless constellations, suns and planets; we see only the suns because they give light; the planets remain invisible, for they are small and dark. There are also numberless earths circling around their suns, no worse and no less than this globe of ours. For no reasonable mind can assume that heavenly bodies that may be far more magnificent than ours would not bear upon them creatures similar or even superior to those upon our human earth."
~ Giordano Bruno, 1584


"All philosophy is based on two things only: curiosity and poor eyesight; if you had better eyesight you could see perfectly well whether or not these stars are solar systems, and if you were less curious you wouldn't care about knowing, which amounts to the same thing. the trouble is, we want to know more than what we can see."
~ Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, Conversations on the Plurality of the Worlds, 1686

Links:
Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science

That ain't no Comet, It's a Green Lantern Ring!

As many poozers know, I am a fan of Green Lantern and that multi-alien group of intergalactic, exoplanetary police force called The Green Lantern Corps. So the moment I saw the photo of the Comet McNaught, a comics-style bubble popped up above my head with this text: "Hey! That looks like a Green Lantern ring zooming through our sector!"
Depictions of Green Lantern rings flying across interstellar space are only seen in comic books. But I believe that nothing else comes close to these pictures as to how lantern rings in flight might look like in our real world.
Sure, it is a comet, and that tail is made of gas and particles blown off by the solar wind from the comet's icy nucleus, and the green glow is actually caused by ionized atoms. Maybe "real" Green Lantern rings won't leave trails like that because it won't shave off ice, gas and dust. But if you leave some room for your child-like imagination, it will be an even more wonderful sight seeing that green glow of pure energy!
Now here's some trivia: This particular Comet McNaught is just one among many. In other words, there are many Comet McNaughts. Yes, just like the legend of Green Lantern rings, there's a whole bunch of Comet McNaughts. Well, perhaps not as many as lantern rings which could number up to thousands. But I can make a good guess (based on explanations from BadAstronomy) that the other McNaughts are colored green, too. Its probly even more exciting imagining some of them are yellow, blue or orange...
But if you wanted to see nature's depiction of a Green Lantern ring racing across the night sky, you might actually have a chance to see it in the next few days.
You never know, Comet McNaught might just be a Green Lantern ring in disguise, roaming our solar system looking for the next bearer! So always be ready. It might choose you!

Links:
It's Easy Being Green
Comet in the June Dawn

Photo Credits:
Comet McNaught by Anthony Ayiomamitis and Michael Jaeger

Avatar. I See You.

Avatar has a lot of heart and soul. This movie will make you cycle through the full range of human emotions. It will surprise you, delight you, it will make you laugh and cry and go mad.

The poignant storyline has successfully appealed to our deepest essence as a sentient being, as a tribe and as a civilization. Indeed, it has allowed us to see ourselves within a simple story, with that familiar pattern of discovery, conquest, colonization and exploitation which has occurred countless times on the islands of our planet since humanity began--and that which will probably occur in the outer reaches of space, on fertile new worlds yet to be known.

I am delighted by the rich set of planetary values, environmental virtues, spiritual awareness, and respect for life that is taught within a simple tale set on Pandora--an exomoon orbiting a gas giant in a distant exoplanetary system.

Pandora is home to a variety of life that includes the Na'vi, the dominant species. One can see that painstaking detail was crafted into Pandora and all its local inhabitants. In terms of the Art and Science of that world, the Aesthetics is a pure win. How about the Science? Did the filmmakers consult a planetary scientist or an astrobiologist during their brainstorming sessions? To begin with, i see it proper that the atmosphere on Pandora is toxic to humans--thus the need for the Avatar on a Xenosociological mission to learn more about the Na'vi culture. In reality, an atmosphere that is inhospitable to us would likely be the case even for "earth-like" worlds that we may discover in the future.

Although I admire the breathtaking sceneries on Pandora, what distracted me was the concept of the floating mountains which in my opinion, is quite odd with respect to the geological or chemical properties of Pandora. I don't think it's possible with the known laws of physics in that setting. Correct me if i'm wrong but making rocks levitate has something to do only with powerful magnets and ultracool superconductors.

As for the lifeforms on Pandora, i like them enough to want to see more variety. Only a handful were depicted when there should have been more (even as extras) within the ecosystem as rich as a jungle depicted in the film. I quite didn't notice any insect-like creatures which, based on my bias--should be one of the most numerous type of animals on any inhabited planet. Also, the extra pair of legs on their "horses" don't offer any advantage so i tend to question the evolutionary idea behind it. The animals look like plastic at times but it's all trivial, so that's alright, the design team made up by sporting a lot of Bioluminescence--of which i'm a big fan, in their flora and fauna.

Convergent Evolution may allow cat-like humanoid creatures such as the Na'vi. So I dont mind having thundercat creatures on exomoons. And yes, i know it's a cliche but I am happy about the references to an emergent organism--that of the trees linked to each other to make a global consciousness.

The last one of my observations is about the concept of the Avatar itself. The Na'vi avatar is a fully functioning biological creature with a brain capable of cognitive abilities. It would be possible for it to attain its own set of consciousness. What if it starts to dream in it's sleep? Many existential or ethical questions then arises if the avatar wakes up unlinked to Jake. Perhaps the sequel would answer that!

These blue avatars are way advanced compared to the robotic probes that we currently use to explore other planets. Yes, Spirit, Opportunity and even New Horizons are our Avatars, believe it or not. And the longstanding problem is the lagtime of the signal throttling back and forth the controller and the probe. Perhaps taming Quantum Entanglement is only possible with a scifi movie such as this. One can only hope. A real-time quantum link would indeed open up tremendous possibilities for space exploration.

Avatar's impact is strong. To me, the personal inspiration it gives is simple yet direct: With one chance at Life, what do you do with your body--your one and only Avatar?

On a global scale, I see this film as a major achievement because it opens up the idea of distant worlds to the general population at a perfect moment when science is on a hot trail of planetary discoveries, and at the fringes of discovering the first truly earth-like world. The recent discoveries of super-earths punctuated by a waterworld called GJ 1214 b somehow collaborated to launch this immersive film. The timing is all so perfect.

James Cameron's film has lived up to my expectations when I wrote about it nine months ago. And yes, the film-makers did actually consider habitable exomoons! Avatar is truly an epic Exoplanetology film. Do not leave Earth without watching this movie.

EVE's Planetary Interaction

As a follow-up to my previous post about EVE's exoplanetary upgrades to their Dominion expansion, here's what i found out:

By December 2009, the graphical upgrade will affect all 50,000 planets and several hundred thousand moons inside EVE. Each of them are unique with procedurally-generated textures and colors. Clouds move!

Gamers will have more Planetary Interaction. That means more engagement closer to the planets in low orbit. Players will get treats such as owning planets, managing and developing and manufacturing stuff on planets, and controlling the lives of people in the planets. Many of my questions from my previous post were answered. And from the looks of it, EVE's planetary upgrade is definitely impressive.

Of course, "procedurally generated" textures means that there's plenty of physics, math and planetary science in it. It's also fantastic to know that there's 50,000 planets inside a virtual game! And several hundred thousand moons just blows me away. All this is definitely a win. More power to EVE Online!

All the photos below are from the EVE Fanfest 2009

The topic on Planets starts at 23 minutes through the clip below.

EVE goes Exoplanetary

EVE Online, one of my favorite Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) has just made an important update. They added more details to the exoplanets in their universe.

The last time I've played EVE was almost 4 years ago during the months when I was unemployed. It was one of the virtual worlds I explored, attempting to earn income and hoping it would support my expenses in the real world. Of course, you can't make real money with EVE but it was an awesome experience just simply playing the coolest game ever. I miss my garage setup which I considered as my cockpit. I explored interstellar space through several monitors which I imagined as windows to another universe, a metaverse so to speak.

In EVE there are jump-gates that your ship needs to go through in order to reach a target destination via a series of warp jumps. These gates are somewhat bigger than those in Stargate Universe. Often, these jump-gates are near Extrasolar Systems, and the view is splendid. But then, I was virtually confined to my cockpit. The best I could do was to admire the view of planets and suns from afar because I cannot land on any planet and walk on it's surface. To that effect, I was simultaneously running several instances of Second Life and Entropia Universe on several other CPU/monitors--to give me the feel of being on the surface of another planet.

Today, Eve players still cannot land on any extrasolar planet "in-world". And with the recent upgrade concerning the details of the planets, I can only wonder how much Science they put into the Dominion update. Did they incorporate parameters for gas giants, super-earths, waterworlds or earth-like planets? Did they include exomoons? How did they incorporate the planetary details in the gameplay? Can the players mine the planets? How do the planets fit in the new storyline? These questions only draws me closer to sign up and set up my rig once again to find out.

As I reflect on my virtual-immersion days I realize that my past experience with virtual worlds was a valuable part of my journey to fully appreciate our natural world--our real universe. And though in the back of my mind the Ontological question remains whether any universe--virtual or otherwise--is real or not, the adventure to learn more about the wonders of our Cosmos remains steadfast.

Because exoplanets remain unseen, they provide ample ground for the mind to play between the real and the imaginary, or the wonderful and the mysterious. Exoplanets are a natural bridge between Science and the Arts.

Eve online's potential as a great teaching tool for Science is enormous. It's also a good source of inspiration for space travel, specially for this generation trapped in an age where human space exploration is not yet a reality.

But in my mind's eye, I can see that day when the first Exoplaneteer will brave the Cosmos, the first Exonaut who will visit Worlds I've never seen or imagined.



Links:
EVE's planetary graphics kicked up yet another notch for Dominion expansion
Eve's New Look at it's Planets
More Clips

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.

Space Alone

A great story! 'Space Alone' is a great tale for future explorers of exoplanets (exoplorers), and for those who search for life in space.

The Living Rings of an Exoplanet

An idea came to my mind immediately after I learned that one of the rings of Saturn is being replenished by ejected material from Enceladus.
What if on a distant exoplanetary system, life manages to spark and thrive within the sub-surface ocean of an Enceladus-like exomoon? And if that exomoon spews out material the same way Enceladus does, then microscopic lifeforms may get ejected along with the salty nutrients, perhaps by piggybacking on ice crystals or water droplets of the plumes. If they survive the trip outward through the vents, what comes next is fascinating: Life on Exoplanetary rings! They will then thrive off the minerals and nutrients of the rings as it is replenished by the exomoon.
We call these resilient organisms as Extremophiles. They are those that thrive in harsh environments where we don't expect life to flourish.
Do you remember the water bear that survived in outer space? Remember the recently-discovered species of bacteria that live in Earth's Stratosphere? We can almost say that with extremophiles, anything is possible! Therefore, this conjecture of life on planetary rings is worth pondering upon.
What will these "Living Exoplanet Rings" look like? Well, if it exists then it would provide a spectacular sight to behold.
Imagine a multi-colored band of rings, each band occupied by different species adapted to the properties of each ring. If this scenario happened on Enceladus, it would not just be the E-rings that would be populated by micro-organisms. As they feed, evolve and grow in size, some species would migrate to another orbit or band of ring.
And if these living ring ecosystem evolves with enough complexity, they may even pulsate, sparkle or glitter. Imagine all the colors and beauty that a "living ring" of a planet would exhibit. It would be like a flat coral reef in space. The beauty of an artificial Planetary Ring Art Installation is no match for the primeval art created by Nature and Life.
And what would these microscopic "ring organisms" look like? Well, perhaps it may look just like any other cellular lifeform but in this scenario it may develop a crytal-like structure in it's membrane to enable itself to link and separate with other crystals. Or perhaps they may exploit the ionized particles in the rings to use magnetism for 'locomotion'. I am simply postulating a mechanism by which they can increase or decrease their size and mass in order to migrate to other rings of orbit. They may utilize crystals for other purposes as well, bending and focusing light for cellular communication, and perhaps for chemical synthesis--in other words--for cooking!
I speculate that once a migration loop occurs between those thriving on the rings and those living on the exomoon, then the rate and diversity of evolution of these ring-lifeforms may be boosted, along with hastened mutations caused by cosmic rays. Those that get swept back onto the orbiting moon would reproduce to create another set of species that is already adapted to live on the planetary rings, plus some random extra qualities of the next generation. All they need to do is ride on the jet stream from the sub-surface ocean through the vents and out into space and onto the rings, and the cycle goes on.
If we further take into account the possibility that the ring organisms may eventually end up on the planet itself, then a diverse ecosystem will be created that encompasses a moon, a planet, and it's rings.
You see, the presence of life makes things a little bit more exciting. And for planetary rings, it may be true as well--even when it is within the confines of conjecture and imagination.

Links:
ESA: Sodium salts point to subsurface ocean on Enceladus

A World in Progress: Snaiad

What happens when Imagination glues together Speculative Biology and Exoplanetology? You get Snaiad, a compilation of hand-drawn creatures straight from an imagined world.

"Snaiad is one of Humanity's first off-world colonies, the jewel in the sky, the realm of the sublime. The hopeful colonists arriving from the war-weary Mediterranean found themselves not in a second Garden of Eden, but an unusual new world they had to understand and adapt in order to survive. Understand it they did, and here is what they found."

The world of Snaiad is given life in this site. It has a timeline history nicely chronicled, and even extends up to 550 years later from today. According to this "legend-in-progress", its not until 250 to 433 years from now that extrasolar colonization will occur. It also has a map and geography of the planet.
The Snaiadi creatures are given detailed information regarding their physiology, anatomy and biology. An explanation is also provided on how they are created in a step-by-step process straight from the artist's mind. It is truly amazing!
But here's the best part: You can actually go into this world right now. Yes! You can join the further development of Snaiad. It has a venue for collaboration. It is somehow connected to DeviantArt and some other projects of a similar vein. I am currently pondering how i can contribute to these awesome endeavors. As such, I would gladly recommend these types of projects to spacehack in a kind of off-beat category.
I will continue to explore Snaiad and others like it for I am truly delighted by the discovery of incredible Worlds borne of Imagination and Science.



Links: Alien para-tetrapods of Snaiad

Hands for Science Fiction

My whole family dropped by our local bookstore for the last time to say goodbye as it closes down. I chanced upon Mechanika: Creating the Art of Science Fiction by Doug Chiang, and bought it for my son who is a budding artist. If i had the time, I would've doodled around with the techniques of the master craftsman Dave Chiang in creating fantastic machineries of the future and other-worldly animals. But I guess it's time for the next generation to act as the hands for crafting new worlds and the stuff of the future.
This book features a step-by-step tutorial on how to create sci-fi works of art. From concept to sketch stage, all the way to rendering, painting and finishing the details of the masterpiece using Photoshop.
What's great about this tutorial is that not only does it teaches but it inspires, first and foremost. And thus the imagination then runs free.

Serendipity and Imagination

A very cool bookstore called Imagine Atrium in my area is closing, and it's a very sad thing indeed. To show our support, my wife brought the whole family to take part in the last Poetry Reading session at the store. The kids loved it and we all had a blast.
I say that everyone must experience the magic of Poetry for it encompasses many of the great facets of humanity.
After the event, I looked around the store for discounted books to buy and I chanced upon a gem: Galactic Geographic Annual 3003 by Karl Kofoed. It's a highly graphic sci-fi book that set my mind careening in outer space and into the future. How it jives with the theme of Exoplanetology is unmistakeable. It touches upon Exobiology, Exoplanetary science and some bit of Archeo-Astronomy and Astrophysics intermixed with intriguing settings of futuristic fiction that might actually come true, someday.
My imagination was truly set ablaze with this find.
Karl Kofoed's art is truly masterful. I wonder how his paint strokes can evoke visions of the future. It is a work of art. And I am glad that Serendipity has given me a book to power my Imagination.

An All New World Awaits for Avatar

In my quest to observe how new scientific knowledge of other planets would be assimilated into popular culture via films and other media, I have stumbled upon a movie called 'Avatar' directed by James Cameron.
Here's an overview:
In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture.
In a distant future, humanity discovers the planet 'Alpha Centauri B-4', and for those scientists and astronauts who've traversed the gulf between neighboring suns and arrived on its alien soil know it as 'Pandora'. A world filled with an incredible diversity of beautiful and deadly ammonia-breathing lifeforms. It's also a world that harbors treasures and resources almost beyond price.
I will stop here with my spoiler. Those who want more can click here at your own risk.
Already there's been plenty of movies that give reference to other planets but I am on the lookout as to how new movies would absorb new scientific findings about exoplanets. Will they actually have the word "exoplanet" in their script? Will they mention "Habitable Zones"? Will they consider habitable exomoons as a setting?
In this movie, 'Alpha Centauri B-4' is obviously using a different exoplanet naming system than what we currently have. From the looks of it, Pandora might be the 4th planet from one of the stars comprising Alpha Centauri. This is a great start! And what the heck? It's a movie! Must I expect much?
Although I enjoy movies for what they are, I tend to appreciate more of those movies that have accurate scientific references, more or less. For me, there's a reason why "Science" is in Sci-Fi.
Avatar will be in IMAX 3D, to be premiered on December 18, 2009. I eagerly await for this potential Exoplanetology movie of the year!

The Green Lantern Corps

After I dropped off some overdue Exoplanet books at the NYPL, I happened to pass by Jim Hanley's Universe along 33rd St.
I put on my fabled "Citizen Journalist" hat and happened to ask a guy named Steven if they have any material that had references to exoplanets. I sure asked the right guy, because he mentioned several new installments on The Green Lantern Corps, Annihilation, and gave a very well-informed historical overview of those series and so much more. (Only now, as I was composing this blog, that I just found out that I talked to the man who was featured on Wired!)
I like more of Marvel characters than those from DC comics, and I admit that Green Lantern was not in my list of favorites, but my recent discovery about The Green Lantern Corps made it worth my renewed foray into comics, because their interplanetary setting rocks! The GLC series is written by Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons (artist of the Watchmen) joined by Patrick Gleason as the artist.
The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force composed of a diverse species of extra-terrestrial individuals. Our very own Kyle Rayner serves as one of Earth's representative to the group.
The home planet of the Green Lantern Corps is called Oa, which is said to be at the center of the universe.
The Corps patrols the reaches of space at the command of the Guardians of the Universe, a race of immortals. The Guardians created the Green Lantern Corps some three billion years ago. Each Green Lantern is given a power ring, a weapon and artifact granting the bearer incredible power limited only by their willpower.
The Guardians divided the universe into 3600 “sectors” and choose two natives of each sector to serve as that sector's protectors.
I have yet to find out how these "sectors" adjust in proportion to the expansion of the universe.
I am still enjoying an issue of The Green Lantern Corps, at the same time observing how the new scientific knowledge about exoplanets will spill into the comic literature with an intergalactic and interplanetary setting.
There will be more to come...



Links:
http://jhuniverse.blogspot.com/

Exoplanetology and Science-Fiction

A nice post about Exoplanets from IO9, one of my favorite sci-fi blogs. It's great to have the Sci-Fi community taking a close watch on developments in Exoplanetology - the Art and Science of Exoplanets. And why not? Man simply cannot resist the call of other Worlds. Exoplanetology is a field that beckons the imagination, and Exoplanets appeals to Sci-Fi because they're far enough to stretch the imagination, but close enough for Science. If any object at all represents a kind of missing link between Science and Fiction, then i think it's The Exoplanet.