The Imperial spaceship, Ganymede, crashes on a planet;
the sun is visibly an old red dwarf star;
planets form early in a star's evolution;
therefore, the planet is also old.
Surface rocks are vitrified;
this would have happened when the star's energy output intensified just before its collapse to dwarf size;
but the rocks are nevertheless eroded which would have taken millions of years;
therefore, the planet is by now so old that its rotation is slow and its nights are long.
Spacemen make such deductions on the basis of their astrophysical knowledge and experience.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Meaning even pure quill pen pulp science fiction like "Sargasso of Lost Starships" had some solid scientific reasoning built into the story. I like that, it shows how Anderson wanted to do MORE than simply write a story of adventure and derring do for PLANET STORIES, a magazine which, notoriously, did not insist too strongly on scientific plausibility.
Anderson did not object to action and adventure stories, per se, he simply wanted such tales to be done well.
Sean
Post a Comment