Thursday, 13 July 2017

Supernovae

Concerning supernovae:

"Epsilon Aurigae, Sirius B and Valenderay were simply among the most famous examples."
-Poul Anderson, "Lodestar" IN Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1979), pp. 368-408 AT p. 386.

Here Poul Anderson seamlessly blends current cosmology with his own science fiction. Epsilon Aurigae and Sirius B are real stars. Valenderay is the Eriau name for the supernova that threatened to destroy Merseian civilization in the earlier story, "Day of Burning."

Finally, "Lodestar" is about the search for the supernova that created Mirkheim.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And the Merseians might well have included the star Saxo, around which orbited Starkad, as one of those famous supernovae. Esp. if events had gone the way they wished in ENSIGN FLANDRY.

Seam