Dry, thin air is forgiving; as many a mountaineer could tell you, temperatures that would fry or freeze with humidity and heaviness just don’t bother you at altitude. The reason? There’s just not as much substance to conduct and convect heat away from the body, … Continue readingThe Ultimate “Banana Belt”?
“Ghost atmospheres?” you might ask. Well…conventionally when we worldbuild planets, in the context of harder science fiction, we assume that atmospheres of terrestrial planets will be primarily carbon dioxide/nitrogen mixtures, or else will have been CO2/N2 mixtures but modified by life; to wit, Earth is … Continue readingWorldbuilding Ghost Atmospheres
I already have a frankly rather interesting concept for a planet dominated by sharp relief, to the tune of nigh-Martian highlands and the usual thick-air jungle-y lowlands, with the ocean reservoirs being underground, primarily. “Cascadia Below, Mars Above” I called it; but siting it in … Continue readingWorlds of Ice, Snow, and Salt
Adventures in worldbuilding continue, this time with a planet I’m not sure where to site, but it’s a definite type of world that might be out there that I haven’t explored yet: a world orbiting beyond the classic “habitable zone” but warmed by a greenhouse … Continue readingCascadia Below, Mars Above?
I know I just revisited my fictional planet Cerberus…but why not revisit it again? It is my blog, after all. But seriously, I do have some more details I’ve settled in on as I continue to tune the environment to suit the vibe I have … Continue readingFleshing Out Cerberus: Antarctic Vibes?
Okay, I exaggerate…but not by nearly as much as you’d think. The ice giants of our solar system, Uranus and Neptune, are typically dismissed as habitats for mankind: there is solid surface chauvinism (which leads us to overlook Venus at 55 kilometers altitude or so … Continue readingAnother Earth, in the Depths of Neptune?
Cerberus: the ultimate desert coast under a white-dwarf sun. I’ve worldbuilt for it once or twice on this website, but although alien, I haven’t explored just how alien Sirius B’s planet in my fictional universe would be until recently. There are also new aspects to … Continue readingCerberus: A World Out of Classic Sci-Fi?
Astrobiology, worldbuilding…you see so many red dwarf, orange dwarf, sun-like systems you feel like your eyes are going to roll after a while. Well…I’m going to flip the script: what about a paradise of a planet, orbiting a giant star that’s well off the main … Continue readingWinter Sports Under Twin Suns: Worldbuilding Capella
Where is the nearest Earth twin? It’s a crucial question for my sci-fi fictional universe, that I try to base on real scientific information about exoplanets but also keep interesting. Habitable planets abound in the closest star systems, but none are quite Earth-like. Proxima Centauri’s … Continue readingThe Pale Blue Dot, Filtered Through a Dream
Well, my brainstorming for planets kick continues, now with a little tool for calculating planetary equilibrium temperature (we need better worldbuilding software, after all…), and also with some ideas for a planetary system that was discovered early on but is now often overlooked: Upsilon Andromedae. … Continue readingThe Pale Green Dot, Filtered through a Dream