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In planetary science, planetary differentiation is the process by which the chemical elements of a planetary body accumulate in different areas of that body, due to their physical or chemical behavior (e.g. density and chemical affinities). The process of planetary differentiation is mediated by partial melting with heat from radioactive ...
Sad Planets describes Solaris as an "enigma", calling some of the book's most moving passages those that describe the planet itself, with no human presence. [2] Green Planets states that Solaris "resists both physical and epistemic human penetration", describing it as "an impervious mirror surface". Ironically, the planet itself appears to ...
Science fiction bibliographers E. F. Bleiler and Richard Bleiler, in the 1998 reference work Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years, list various imaginary constituents of the pre-modern "science-fiction Solar System". Among these are planets between Venus and Earth, planets on the inside of a hollow Earth, and a planet "behind the Earth". [16]
Most extrasolar planets in fiction are similar to Earth—referred to in the Star Trek franchise as Class M planets—and serve only as settings for the narrative. [1] [2] One reason for this, writes Stephen L. Gillett [Wikidata] in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, is to enable satire. [3]
Terraforming is well represented in contemporary literature, usually in the form of science fiction, as well as in popular culture. [1] [2] While many stories involving interstellar travel feature planets already suited to habitation by humans and supporting their own indigenous life, some authors prefer to address the unlikeliness of such a concept by instead detailing the means by which ...
Other purposes for Mercury in modern science fiction include as a base for studying the Sun, as in the 1980 novel Sundiver by David Brin where humans attempt to determine whether there is extraterrestrial life inside the Sun. [2] [3] [16] Similarly, the planet is used as a solar power station in the 2005 novel Mercury, part of Ben Bova's Grand ...
Stars, although there is a certain poetical reference to them in much science fiction, do not actually feature in much depth in most SF stories. There are a couple of notable exceptions. However, in the main, the stars themselves remain relatively untouched in the pages of SF, and exist simply as a means of providing light and warmth to planets ...
H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, depicting Martians invading Earth, is one of the most influential works of science fiction. [1] Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. Trends in the planet's portrayal have largely been influenced by advances in planetary science.