"Habitable Planets for Man"

One of the most difficult things about maintaining a blog and trying to stick to a regular schedule is the temptation to forgo a detailed analysis and simply link the reader to something interesting you've found on the web.

I found this book from 1964 about the possibility of human-habitable worlds elsewhere in the galaxy. Habitable Planets for Man, by Stephen H. Dole, discusses the requirements for a planet to support human colonization. Although in our current era of rapid exoplanet discovery (I'm pretty sure the word "exoplanet" didn't exist when this was written) is likely to refute at least some of this analysis, anybody interested in worldbuilding out to skim it at the least. Some of the requirements Dole lays out in his analysis:
-A mass between 0.4 and 2.35 Earths
-A surface gravity between 0.68 and 1.5 Earth-gravities.
-A mean annual temperature between 32 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
-A day length of less than 96 hours.
-A primary sun massing between 0.35 and 1.43 solar masses.

Dole also uses an equation reminiscent of the Drake Equation to estimate the number of habitable planets in the galaxy. After a lengthy analysis, Dole concludes that there is probably at least one habitable planet within 27.2 light-years of Earth, and 50 such planets within a 100-light-year radius(!)

In-teresting.

Pictured: A lineup of some of the best candidates for habitable worlds as of 2014. (Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico. Full-size image here.) Not pictured: explanation for why most of these planets are so pale.

That being said, I don't want to be excessively optimistic. It's true that we've been finding hundreds of planets within a small search volume relative to the size of our galaxy, and those are just the ones we can detect. Still, we don't know if our carbon-water-oxygen-based biochemistry is the norm in the universe. An alien biosphere could very easily be toxic. Even if the chemistries were identical, that could be worse. Alien bacteria could kill the first settlers in a matter of hours, a la War of the Worlds. Or consider an inversion: we land on a new world and the human microbiota in our bodies kill 95% of the native ecosystem within 20 years. Or yes, it might be inhabited already.

The fact remains that we've only found life on one planet, our own. That's not enough to plot a trendline. Once we find life somewhere else, we can start comparing and contrasting, and then our speculations will be much more fruitful.

But in the meantime, Dole's analysis provides us with an idea of what to expect, and a place to start when conceiving alien worlds in science fiction. Dole even leaves the reader with some creative ideas of alien worlds:
-Habitable moons
-Twin habitable worlds orbiting each other
-Planets in close and loose binary systems
-Planets with high axial tilt
-Planets with two habitable belts (think too hot at the tropics, too cold at the poles, but temperate at the middle latitudes in both the northern and southern hemispheres)
-Ringed planets

Whatever we find out there, it probably won't be like anything we've seen before. Maybe it'll be like something predicted in science fiction, but that's certainly no guarantee. Whatever is out there though, it'll be awesome.

Why "The Clone Wars" Was Exactly What Star Wars Needed (spoilers ahoy)

The prequels were terrible. On this the internet seems to agree. The mid-2000s weren't a spectacular time to be a Star Wars fan. When Revenge of the Sith debuted in 2005, it looked like the circle was complete and the last Star Wars movie had been made.

Then I heard that an animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, was in the works. It sounded interesting, but also redundant, since the micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars (note the absence of the definite article) had already been made. Unfortunately, I didn't have cable at the time, so it didn't make much difference. I did see the feature film in the theater back in 2008, and I watched one episode a couple years after that. Neither one really sold me on this new series. The new, "kiddie" aesthetic that permeated all the merchandise, including the Lego sets, turned me off. The whole thing seemed like a shallow imitation of the Expanded Universe novels I read in high school. And when I found out Darth Maul had been resurrected...

It was easier to dismiss this series as pointless kid stuff because I was discovering other shows like Star Trek and Stargate during the years this show was on the air. More and more, I was beginning to believe I had "outgrown" Star Wars. Sure, I would always be a fan, but I had expended enough nerd-energy on this particular franchise, and it was time to move on.

But sometimes, no matter how much you scoff, no matter how many years you look down on it, deep down inside, you know that once it's out on Netflix you're going to sit down and watch all 121 episodes.

And what was it like? Better than I had been giving it credit for.  Longtime fans of the expanded universe of the novels will take satisfaction at seeing nods to established elements of the Galaxy Far, Far Away, though they may not appreciate some of the liberties taken with the source material (Ryloth, anyone?) The war feels much more like an epic galaxy-spanning conflict where "There are heroes on both sides" and "Evil is everywhere". There are a few "off" episodes (I guess the one I saw during its original airing was one of them) and some of the elements introduced into the Star Wars universe I really could have done without (particularly the Nightsisters), but it is a well-done series overall. Anakin Skywalker can't be the hot-headed apprentice he was in the movies because now he has an apprentice of his own. This has the effect of maturing the character a bit into something resembling what a viewer might imagine him to be while watching the original films, making his eventual metamorphosis into Darth Vader more of the tragedy it was meant to be.

Unlike a lot of cartoons, the writers are not afraid to mention or depict death, though neither does it seem overly violent (about level with the live-action films). It's quite mature for an animated series (and I mean the "let's act like real grown-ups" kind of mature, not the "Rated M for" mature).

The Clone Wars have been a part of Star Wars lore since the original film. The prequel trilogy was hardly able to do it justice, however, by beginning he conflict at the second film's conclusion and ending it midway through the third. By the time Order 66 was issued, the casual moviegoer would be lucky to know the names of the Jedi we saw gunned down by their own troops, let alone feel much emotional impact. The Clone Wars provides the Star Wars saga with a chance to do some real worldbuilding, as every moment of screentime need not be rationed for the sake of advancing the overarching series plot.

The sad part is, it would have been better if this series had been airing between 2002 and 2005, between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. What was needed was, oddly enough, filler. Filler is important because it gives the audience a chance to get to know characters. If we had seen some of this series before Episode III, maybe the Order 66 montage would have carried a stronger emotional impact; I don't believe that any of the Jedi shown killed in that sequence are ever named in the films themselves, and most of them didn't even have a speaking role (Plo Koon, anyone?) A TV series gives writers the chance to develop a number of minor characters and the fans a chance to pick out their favorites (who may be different from what the writers intended). The Clone Wars was exactly what Star Wars needed, but it was about six years behind schedule. Sure, there were plenty of books, comics, video games, and that Cartoon Network "micro-series", all released in that timeframe, but all that stuff didn't quite have the same level of cohesion, and didn't reach nearly the same number of people the films did. I bet if this series had begun airing shortly after Attack of the Clones was released, capitalizing on the film's publicity, it would have reached an audience comparable to the movies.

I mentioned before that Star Wars is a good example of the generic single-environment planets that occur way too often in sci-fi: the desert planet, jungle moon, ice planet, etc. The Clone Wars is very much the opposite, and it's pretty clear why. In an all-CGI series, planets don't always have to look photorealistic, and they need only appear for one episode, allowing for many more planets to be depicted, providing a little more room to be creative. And the makers of this series were creative. With the declaration that most of the pre-existing Star Wars Expanded Universe is being jettisoned to allow more creative freedom with J.J. Abrams's Episode VII and beyond, and that this TV show is one of the only works to survive that action, the strange new worlds depicted help me believe that the decision was a good one. I'm optimistic for the upcoming Star Wars Rebels series and, of course, Episode VII.

With all that in mind, presenting...

Top Ten Clone Wars Worlds

Note: all images, and some of the info in the accompanying text, are from the Star Wars Databank, found here: http://www.starwars.com/databank (remember kids, always cite sources!)

10. Malastare (Barren planet)

This planet actually got name-dropped a couple of times in the movies, and I remember it had a few podracing tracks in Star Wars Episode I Racer. That *was* a good game...wonder if it's on Steam...(EDIT: nope).
It's satisfying to see a planet that doesn't readily fit into an Earth biome, even if it is a bit generic. Malastare is probably one of the most likely planets to actually exist somewhere. No vegetation or herd animals in sight though...gotta wonder what that Zillo Beast ate every day.

9. Mon Cala (Ocean planet)

We did see an ocean planet in Episode II (Kamino), but only the stormy surface. I've occasionally heard it said that Earth's oceans are much more diverse than all its land biomes combined, so exploring an underwater world should open up a lot of possibilities. I didn't see a lot that stood out in the few episodes featuring this planet, but it still gets points in my book for the potential. I also applaud the writers' decision not to call it "Mon Calamari", as naming an aquatic planet and aquatic species after a seafood dish makes it difficult to take either one seriously. (In addition, I applaud the writers' use of a young Admiral Ackbar in three episodes without once having him declare that something is a trap.)

8. Teth (Purple planet)

This planet appeared in the feature film and stuck with me because of the epic sideways battle taking place on a cliffside, but it sticks with me because of its purple color palette, which isn't seen in nature a lot. While variation in a color palette is sometimes a good rule of thumb for visual design, there are times when a more monochromatic approach works, and this is a good example.

7. Christophsis (Crystal planet)

First impressions are important, and despite the feature film's lackluster performance, Christophsis represents a promising start. I have to wonder whether those crystals are artificial constructs (really avant-garde architecture?) or naturally occurring formations, possibly silicon-based life forms that have been hollowed out and inhabited by the natives the way trees are used by the Wookiees, or the Berenstain Bears.

6. Carlac (Snowy-blossom-tree-forest planet)

The visual designers seem to have been going for a Japanese look here; not sure if there are any real-world trees that blossom during the snowy months, but I suppose if a planet has a colder climate, there's no reason deciduous plants couldn't retain their foliage in the deep winter. Evergreens manage it on Earth, after all. Also, I shouldn't presume that just because Ahsoka Tano happened to land here when it was snowy, that the planet is always snowy; if an alien had landed in the U.S. during last winter's polar vortex in a starship with no windows, they might have decided Earth was just like Hoth.

5. Rugosa (Coral-desert planet)

Again, first impressions matter, and a desert planet full of coral is a good place to set your first episode. Not sure if this is meant to be a dried-out ancient seabed and the coral is long-dead, or if this coral actually thrives in an arid environment. Either way, it looks really cool. Interestingly, the planet appears to have been named for a real-life order of extinct coral.

4. Saleucami (Balloon-tree-desert planet)

This planet showed up during the Order 66 montage in Episode III, and it wasn't quite clear in the few seconds of screentime whether those giant bulbs were intended to be life forms or rock formations. I'm reminded of the Balloon Trees from Blue Moon in the Extraterrestrial documentary I linked to before. I do like how the TV show portrays a planet with multiple diverse types of plants, and not just the balloon trees.

3. Felucia (Fungal-jungle planet)

This place really stood out the first time I saw it in Episode III. Giant colorful fungus in place of trees! Do these photosynthesize, or is that role filled by airborne algae (explaining the slight haze in the air)? Either way, it's exactly the kind of planet I'd like to see in Episodes VII, VIII, and/or IX.

2. Umbara (Laser-tag-arena planet)

When I was in elementary school, I spent a few birthday parties at Grand Slam, and the best part was always the laser tag arena, with everything glowing fluorescently in the dark. I liked to imagine it was an alien planet (specifically, orbiting the star Vega, and inhabited by hammer-headed interstellar warmongers). The older I got, the more I realized that a laser-tag arena didn't make a very realistic planet.
Umbara is the setting for a four-part story arc focusing largely on the clone troopers duking it out with the hostile locals (who mysteriously wear space helmets, even though the non-native clones don't seem to need breathing equipment; maybe it's just part of their battle armor). It's always dark, and the plantlife and structures glow fluorescently, essentially making the entire setting one giant lasertag arena. Bioluminescence seems at risk of being overused in sci-fi, but here it's done with some level of restraint, which I think is for the better. It's really satisfying to see an idea I liked as a kid then dismissed as unrealistic as I got older be given a believable treatment as an adult.

1. Raydonia (Neon-forest planet)

This planet only got a brief treatment in the series when Darth Maul came here to draw out Obi-Wan Kenobi, but it still looks really cool. It's basically Umbara in daylight: weird plants with bioluminescence, and a salmon-colored sky for no adequately-explored reason. Maybe the plants are giant flowers, and the sky gets its color from heavy quantities of space pollen? Point is, it looks cool, and sometimes that's all that matters.

The Real World(s)

I've been following exoplanetology news for something like a decade now, and I will admit it sometimes can seem a little dry. On NASA's PlanetQuest the news can occasionally seem discouragingly dull, talking about the size of a planet, or maybe spectral data we're occasionally able to get from one. Not a lot. And so many of the planets we've discovered are too big or too hot to be habitable (at least to us).

When a scientist voices speculation, it's easy to take it as fact, because a scientist said it. But it's still speculation. Granted, that's better than nothing. And when you put those guesses together into a three-minute video, you get something that actually can get you pumped up about astronomy:



Now, before you go sharing this with anybody, bear in mind that not all the facts presented here are correct; this channel doesn't look like it's very credible, even if they do appear to be citing sources. Kepler-35, for example, is only a binary system, not a trinary. I'm also not sure how much evidence there is that it rains rocks on that other planet, or that that pulsar planet is really made of diamond.

On the other hand, in at least one case they didn't mention the best details. HD 189733b is a blue planet where it rains molten glass. I have NEVER seen anything like that in science fiction, or even referenced.

Pictured: Artist's rendering of HD 189733b - evidence that God has more creativity than any Star Trek writer. (Image source: NASA - http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/107)

Alien planets don't have to be habitable to be awesome.

A Brief Clarification

In my first post, I linked to NASA's PlanetQuest site. There, they have an article on the history of exoplanetology. They open with reference to a guy named Giordano Bruno, and claim 'when the Catholic monk Giordano Bruno asserted that there were "countless suns and countless earths all rotating around their suns,' he was accused of heresy" (NASA).

Even a cursory glance at the relevant Wikipedia article reveals that this is a distortion of the truth; Giordano Bruno was indeed burned at the stake, but "scholars emphasize that Bruno's astronomical views were at most a minor component of the theological and philosophical beliefs that led to his trial" and that the charges against him included "denial of several core Catholic doctrines".

I'm tired of seeing scientists who treat religion as the antithesis of everything they work for. Science itself can be an expression of religious fervor, an attempt to know more about God's creation and how it works, opening up a greater appreciation for it all.

As far as I know, the Catholic Church has not made any declaration of the possibility or impossibility of other worlds, or life therein, intelligent or not. So let us please put to rest this tired old idea that there is some timeless conflict between science and religion. NASA, if any of you are reading this, either stick to your field of study or get your facts straight.

Pikmin - Alien Wildlife on a Familiar Planet

So this past weekend I went out and bought a Wii U, and with it, Pikmin 3.

"Pikmin 3 box artwork" by May be found at the following website: NeoGAF. Backups: fuzunga, Giantbomb. Licensed under Fair use of copyrighted material in the context of Pikmin 3 via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pikmin_3_box_artwork.png#mediaviewer/File:Pikmin_3_box_artwork.png

Despite being a Nintendo fan, I never played the original game but once borrowed the second one from my college roommate. What's always struck me about these games is the ingenuity and creativity that went into the myriad fauna the player - only half an inch tall - encounters. Since this is a video game, most of it is hostile.

While the concept isn't exactly new, I like the idea of a plant-animal hybrid. Anthropomorphic carrots! Working together like an ant colony! And they come in a variety of species, much like the creatures we lump together as "beetles" or "birds". There's your fire-resistant reds (probably a defense mechanism against the Fiery Blowhog or the Pyroclasmic Slooch!) and your electric-resistant yellows (able to take on the Bearded Amprat) and your waterproof blues (because being able to swim is pretty important). The second game had heavy-hitting purples with good upper-body strength and tiny poison-resistant whites (with red eyes - could they be albinos?)
Not sure why those last two didn't come back for the third game's story mode. Instead we've got tough-skinned gray ones that look like rocks (sort of like a walking-stick's camouflage?) and pink winged Pikmin (weak on the ground but good in the air). Also, I'm told the first game's ending implied there are other species out there somewhere; I have to wonder why they only introduce two or three new species per game. Having ten to twelve types of troops instead of three or five would probably open up some different emergent gameplay tactics, improving  replay value.

The life cycle of these creatures is a bit fantastical, though. The Pikmin appear to be omnivorous; any enemy you defeat, you can take the cadaver back to base, where the Pikmin presumably eat it and more Pikmin sprouts are produced.

That's pretty rough for a cutesy game like this! But I suppose it makes sense from a nature perspective. On one hand, I like the series' leaning toward having a real-life nature feel. On the other hand, it's still packaged like a game for children. What's up with the Bulbmin? Parasitic Pikmin? *cringes* I mean I suppose macro-parasitism does happen with real-world animals, but from what I've seen in the games, it's not quite clear whether the Pikmin are meant to be alien animals or sentient, intelligent beings. (I really hope Nintendo intended them to be the former; otherwise I feel a lot worse about all the Pikmin that died over the course of my playthroughs...)

But I digress. Wasn't I talking about the life cycle? The eating is done by their nest...thing that the game calls an "Onion" due to its shape. In the 2nd game each of the 3 principal Pikmin flavors had their own Onion. In the new one, each new Onion you find fuses with the ones you've already found, by the end creating a sort of rainbow super-Onion (must get crowded in there at night when all the Pikmin come home to roost). The new style is streamlined for gameplay purposes, true, but less realistic (yes, I am calling out a Nintendo game on realism! I am also ignoring the fact that the Onions fly away - into orbit - at night to escape nocturnal predators!) Perhaps there's a queen Pikmin inside the Onion, whom we never see, eating the food brought to the nest and producing seeds as a queen ant might lay eggs?

As for the aforementioned hostile fauna, I like how they feel like actual animals and not just enemies in a video game. Highlights include the Bulborb, a spotty frog-like thing that comes in different varieties, the aforementioned Fiery Blowhog (I'd like to see more creatures in sci-fi with a valid scientific mechanism for generating fire or electicity) and the Burrowing Snagret, a long-necked heron-esque bird that pops its head out from underground in an inversion of classic ostrich behavior. There's quite the variety; too bad the third game lacks the Piklopedia, an Audubon-style log in the second game of the various creatures you encounter. One of the characters is even a scientist, but all she really seems to journal about are the different fruits you collect as the goal of the game - fruits that players will recognize, despite the game taking place on an Earth millions of years into the future, as evidenced by visible continental drift. Likewise, I kinda miss the caves from the second game; they made you feel like there was more to the world than just the surface. Plus the daily time-limit did not apply underground.

As for the tiny astronauts from the planet Koppai, they don't seem to have any problem digesting these anachronistic fruits, despite the environment itself necessitating full spacesuits. Players will note that the fruit is always turned into juice before consumption, and this represents the whole of their food supply for the duration of their expedition to Earth - or as they call it, planet PNF-404 (see what they did there?) I find that concept interesting in itself: creatures that only drink and never eat. How does that work? Does it have to do with their diminutive stature?

All in all, I thoroughly enjoy the Pikmin games. There's a feel of exploration; the Areas you visit are named in such a way as a human explorer might think up names on the fly for areas on another planet. There's just enough realism and thought put into creature design to really leave an impact. The fact that it's a Nintendo game doesn't do much to diminish this fact; we're so used to the ideas that alien life would either be humanoid or hideous, we've never really considered the possibility that alien life would be...cute.

Plus, cultivating an army of cute killer carrots is always guaranteed fun. Makes me wish I could see the world from a height of half an inch.

Maybe being Ant-Man isn't as lame as people think.