Monday 18 May 2015

Interstellar Hazards

Poul Anderson, Starfarers (New York, 1999).

Kenri Shaun lists the hazards of interstellar travel:

"'...dark dwarf nebulae, black holes, or rogue planets.'" (p. 196)

Rogue planets play major roles in Anderson's "A Sun Invisible," Satan's World and Ensign Flandry; black holes in his "Kyrie" and For Love And Glory, but what is a dark dwarf nebula? Googling discloses dark dwarfs and dark nebulae but not dark dwarf nebulae. Is such a nebula one composed entirely of dark dwarf stars? That would indeed be a navigational hazard.

After some awesome detours (see recent posts), I am again rereading Starfarers and finding several linguistic and technical points to discuss, maybe in the next post.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Now is as good a time as any to inform you I will be going away for a few days next Saturday. At my older brother's insistence and the persuasions of a friend of mine at work I'm going to Las Vegas, in the American state of Nevada. My older brother wants a family reunion.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Very good!
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Many thanks! Las Vegas, of course, is best known for its casinos. And the US crime procedural TV show CSI: Las Vegas.

Sean