tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post1456518088990808425..comments2024-03-29T09:09:24.834+00:00Comments on Poul Anderson Appreciation: Superjovian PlanetsKetlanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08588156788583883454noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-52195655221217852572022-03-19T22:59:34.860+00:002022-03-19T22:59:34.860+00:00Kaor, Jim!
And that reminds me of how I read of A...Kaor, Jim!<br /><br />And that reminds me of how I read of Anderson declining to have IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS? republished in the 1980's or '90's because there were so many advances in astronomy since 1963 that the book was outdated. Any revision of IS THERE... would need to be so drastic that it would be better to write a completely new book on the topics it discussed. And I wish Anderson had done that!<br /><br />But, as long as such caveats are kept in mind, IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS? is very much worth reading.<br /><br />Anderson's book can be supplemented by reading other works in the same field: CONTACT WITH ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS (2010), by Michael A.G. Michaud; or INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE? (2005), by Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ.<br /><br />Ad astra! SeanSean M. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973738112230622557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-56284414694233685532022-03-19T19:35:16.834+00:002022-03-19T19:35:16.834+00:00"When Poul Anderson's There Life On Other..."When Poul Anderson's There Life On Other Worlds? (New York, 1963) was published, it was known that there were extra-Solar planets sixteen times as massive as Jupiter."<br /><br />Really?<br />IINM it was a reasonable belief, but the objects in that size range thought to exist, eg: the one that inspired Mesklin, turned out to not exist.<br /><br />"Probably more than half the stars are double or triple..." (p. 86)<br />Apparently since Anderson wrote that, it was found that most *large* stars are double or triple, but stars from the sun size on down are more likely to be single. The difficulty of detecting red dwarfs skewed the statistics.<br /><br />Whether planets orbiting red dwarfs can be habitable, is a major question affecting how common life is in the universe.Jim Baerghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03182949391365921637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-53130083786103508362013-11-22T08:53:27.468+00:002013-11-22T08:53:27.468+00:00Hi, Paul!
And we both know Poul Anderson's no...Hi, Paul!<br /><br />And we both know Poul Anderson's novel VIRGIN PLANET has a roughly Earth sized moon of a super jovian which was terrestroid and became the home of stranded colonists from Earth.<br /><br />SeanSean M. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973738112230622557noreply@blogger.com