#fictional astrobiology

[ideas-on-paper]

Rannoch researches - Part 1: Astrophysics, formation of the Tikkun system and origin of life on Rannoch

[Potential spoilers for the Mass Effect trilogy]

Alright, I finally, finally made it to the Rannoch arc of ME3 - and while it absolutely freaking destroyed me on an emotional level, I was nevertheless very excited to see the Quarian homeworld in person. I mean, it's one thing to just read the entries on the wiki, but virtually being there and flying around in the star system is something entirely else.

As you might know, I'm very interested in any lore about the Quarians and Geth, specifically everything that's related to Rannoch's culture previous to the Morning War, and being able to set foot on the site is like a dream come true for me. (Having an idea of the place you're researching just immensely helps with visualization. xD)

However, being my nerdy self, I decided to try and explore Rannoch's history a little further, beyond the Morning War and even the advent of Quarian civilization - that is to say, the history of Rannoch's star system. I'm aware that this topic might be a little dry to some people, since it has nothing to do with ME's story as a whole and basically just covers the scientific background. However, after researching about it, I must say that I find it to be quite fascinating, and I certainly learned a lot of things about astrophysics, the origin of life, and the universe as a whole along the way.

Disclaimer: I should mention that I'm neither an astrophysicist nor a chemist, and all my knowledge about the topic stems from self-study. Therefore, it's possible that some of my conclusions and projections might be scientifically inaccurate; if someone has more expertise in these fields than me, feel free to point any error out to me. For the sake of understandability, I will try to explain all facts as simply as possible.

The age of the Tikkun system

Before actually being able to travel to the system in Mass Effect 3, Legion already gives us a little trivia about Rannoch and its star in ME2. When Shepard inquires what the Quarian homeworld is like, they respond with:

"It is more arid than Earth. The star is older and more orange than Sol."

In combination with the information that Rannoch's star Tikkun has about 90% of the Sun's mass and half of its luminosity (which we learn from the planet's description), we can conclude two things:

Tikkun is older than 4.6 billion years (the approximate age of our Sun).

Tikkun is a K-type main-sequence star, sometimes also called orange dwarfs due to their emitted light being in the orange spectrum.

From an astrophysical perspective, these two pieces of information complement each other nicely: Since K-type stars are generally more stable than stars of the G-class like our Sun, they also have longer lifespans (about 17 - 70 billion years, in contrast to the estimated 10 billion of the Sun), which means that a K-type star that formed long before our Sun could still exist without issue.

Also, despite being colder and less luminous than G-type stars, K-type stars are considered to be of particular interest in the search for extraterrestrial life, if only for the reason that their extended lifespan gives organic life more time to develop. Furthermore, K-stars emit less total UV light and ionizing radiation than G-type stars, which are known to be damaging to DNA and thus would hinder the development of extraterrestrial life.

However, it's still debated how beneficial these presumed advantages actually are: Due to their lower heat emission, planets would have to orbit closer to K-type stars to have habitable temperatures, which might offset any benefit from a lower UV output. Also, while the total UV radiation is lower, K-type stars emit higher levels of X-rays and far ultraviolet light (F-UV) during their early lifespan, which may act sterilizing and destroy any atmosphere, thus preventing the emergence of organic life (or at least significantly delaying it).

Still, there is a factor that might have made it possible for life to develop on Rannoch after all: metallicity. Metallicity denotes the abundance of heavy elements in a star, although the term "metals" is a bit misleading - it's not about metals in the actual sense, but rather every element that is heavier than hydrogen and helium. Hydrogen and helium are the two lightest elements and the first to exist immediately after the Big Bang (in addition to small quantities of lithium), and all other elements were created by nuclear fusion in stars and then ejected into interstellar space by supernovae. Consequentially, that means the older a star is, the less heavy elements it contains (there are exceptions to this rule, however).

Now, the interesting part about this is that very recently, scientists have found out that planets orbiting metal-poor stars might actually be more habitable to organic life: Although metal-poor stars emit more total UV radiation compared to metal-rich stars, the spectrum of the emitted UV light strongly differs. Metal-poor stars emit more short-wave UV-C light, while metal-rich stars predominantly emit the longer-waved UV-B light. The difference is that while UV-B light acts destructive to any ozonosphere, UV-C light actually supports the formation of an ozone layer. It may seem like a bit of a paradox that a certain spectrum of UV light benefits the formation of an atmosphere protecting the planet from cytotoxic UV radiation, but what we can surmise is that metal-poor stars are generally more life-friendly.

However, Rannoch's star system potentially being very old by galactic standards introduces yet another problem: At first, scientists suspected that metal-rich stars are overall more likely to possess planetary systems, particularly such that include terrestrial planets. This was probably due to the assumption that since heavy elements were not that abundant in the beginning of the universe, terrestrial planets were also not very common back then, although further observation has shown that smaller exoplanets exist around stars with a range of metallicities. Evidence suggests, however, that large gas giants are more likely to form around planets with high metallicity - perhaps because cores containing a large amount of heavy elements exert a stronger gravitational force on light gases.

Still, the issue remains that the cores of planets which formed during the early phase of the universe most likely contain next to no heavy elements. This is important because the iron and nickel core of Earth is one of the main reasons life was able to develop on our planet in the first case: The heavy elements in the core are responsible for Earth's magnetic field, which stabilizes the atmosphere and protects it from being blown away by solar winds. So, presuming that Rannoch's core is composed of a larger portion of light elements, it would have a weaker magnetic field than Earth, which in turn would make it harder for the planet to develop a life-essential atmosphere.

Either way, we can surmise that the question whether a planet is actually habitable depends on various different factors, and it once again proves what a delicate balance has to be met for organic life to develop. In case of Rannoch, it's worth mentioning that Rannoch's atmosphere is stated to be slightly thinner than Earth's (0.93 atm). So, if Tikkun is indeed an old, metal-poor star, perhaps the influence of the increased UV-C radiation is just enough to offset all other atmosphere-depleting factors, like F-UV radiation, x-ray radiation, and solar winds. Also, it's noted that Haza, the only gas giant of the Tikkun system, is comparatively small; thinking back to the observations that large gas giants predominantly form around stars with high metallicity, this might suggest that the percentage of heavy elements in Haza's core is pretty low, which in turn could hint at the system's high age.

Life based on dextro amino acids - proof of Rannoch's age?

However, there might be another, even more convincing indicator that Tikkun is pretty ancient by astronomical standards: As we know, life on Rannoch is based on dextro amino acids, including the Quarians who are the only dextro species in the galaxy aside from the Turians, with all others being levo amino-based. For a long time, scientists have been speculating why lifeforms on Earth consist pretty much exclusively of L-acids (levo), and why there are sugars (e.g. glucose) consisting of D-molecules (dextro), but no proteinogenic (protein-creating) acids. Theoretically, the chemical construction of D- and L-acids is exactly the same - the only thing that's different is the way the molecules reflect light, which is clockwise for D-acids and counterclockwise for L-acids (a property known as "chirality"). This may not sound like much, but it has major consequences: As a result, D- and L-acids are entirely incompatible with each other, acting like image and mirror image. (Just as a side note because I keep hearing that Quarians consist of "completely different" molecules than humans and thus are completely different lifeforms: Broken down to their chemical components, D- and L-acids don't differ from each other at all - it's basically the same, just the other way around.)

Meanwhile, the American chemist Ronald Breslow has proposed that the reason why L-amino acids are dominant on Earth has something to do with electromagnetic radiation: Going by the panspermia hypothesis, the molecules of life spread through the universe by means of meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and other matter. However, on their way through space, these molecules are subjected to the radiation of neutron stars and pulsars, and it's been observed that dextro amino acids get destroyed more easily by neutron star radiation than their levo counterparts. Thus, the meteoroids that fell down on Earth contained more L-acids than D-acids. Since amino acids of the same kind paired up with one another and became crystallized, the only ones that remained were those that couldn't find any partner: the excess L-acids, which were dissolved in the water and eventually became the components of organic life.

Now, one thing to keep in mind is that neutron stars and pulsars are objects that form after a dying star turns into a supernova. Logically, this would mean that the older the universe gets, the more neutron stars are created, and consequentially, their number must have been lower during the early stages. If this is true, the radiation hazard must have been lower as well, and presuming that the quantity of D-amino acids contained in a meteorite exceeded those of L-acids, it could've led to life developing along an alternate path on a different planet - even Breslow himself considered it a possibility that life based on D-acids and L-sugars might exist elsewhere in the universe.

This would lead to the conclusion that the Quarians as a species are way older than humans - and potentially, the majority of the other races in the galaxy. What makes this even better is that it actually lines up very nicely with the comment from Erinya's bondmate (the Asari you meet on Illium during the sidequest "Medical Scans" in ME2) that Quarians have "old souls". (I'm not entirely sure how Asari are able to determine how old someone's soul is, but then again, I never quite understood their esoteric mindset. xD) Going from this, it might mean that the Turians are another "old" species of the galaxy, since they developed based on dextro acids as well - either way, I quite like this theory, since it not only fits in with the lore but would also make sense from a scientific point of view.

Rannoch's position in the Milky Way

However, as with pretty much all good theories, there is just one problem: Rannoch's position in the Milky Way. In 2016, scientists created the first global age map of the galaxy based on observations of 100,000 red giants, coming to the conclusion that the oldest, most metal-poor stars are located in the galaxy's center and in the halo (the roughly spherical space surrounding our galaxy, acting as a kind of "border zone"). Furthermore, they observed that with increasing distance from the galactic center, the stars of the disk (the "flat" level that the spiral arms are on) get younger the farther away they are - and with the Tikkun system being located at the disk's very edge, this puts my theory in a somewhat precarious place.

However, at the same time, the stars' age increases the greater the vertical distance from the galactic disk is (to put it simply, the oldest stars are found above and below the disk). At first, this led me to the suspicion that the Tikkun system might actually be located in the halo, since the galaxy map of Mass Effect is only in 2D and doesn't account for the 3D aspect. However, I was stopped short by the realization that the halo contains no interstellar medium - that is to say, clouds of gas and dust which are essential for the formation of solar systems. With nebulae (like the Perseus Veil) also being part of the interstellar medium, this makes a localization of Tikkun in the halo extremely unlikely. Still, one thing I did find out that Tikkun is probably located "above" most of the rest of the Milky Way: Due to the dented shape of the disk (which is suspected to be caused by the rotating movement of the galaxy's center), the regions at the outer edge of our galaxy are significantly bent upwards and downwards. I actually managed to find a three-dimensional map depicting the position of our solar system, making it possible to deduce the position of the Tikkun system in relation to it, which would most likely be located near the "raised" partition of the disk (see image below).

This 3D map of the Milky Way galaxy shows the position of our Solar system, and if compared to this Mass Effect galaxy map, we can conclude that the Tikkun system would be somewhere on the right, where the "ridge" is (Edited image; original picture source)

Still, that doesn't mean my speculations are completely off the table: In a more recent study from 2023, a team of scientists did a metallicity profile of the Milky Way's stars, starting from the galactic center all the way to the outer rim. During their survey, they not only observed a spike of metal-rich stars around 23,000 light years from the center (with 26,000 light years distance from the center, our solar system lies quite close to it), but also an unusually high quantity of metal-poor stars about 50,000 light years from the galactic center.

Granted, there is a correlation between the age of a star and metallicity, but as I already pointed out above, this doesn't always have to be the case. In fact, each of the three star populations - young, intermediate, and old - displays the trait of a higher metallicity near the center and a lower metallicity at the outskirts. Then again, the oldest, most metal-poor stars of the galaxy are also found in the center, and the research group has acknowledged that one reason for the steep decrease of metallicity near the outer edge might be that our estimates of the extent of the Milky Way's disk are off. Either way, a diagram from the study shows that old stars still exist up to a radius of 12 kpc (approx. 40,000 light years), with their luminosity decreasing the farther away from the center they're located. In the study, "old stars" were classified as those with an age of 8-12 GYR/8-12 billion years, so this would be my rough estimate for the age of the Tikkun system as well.

Another explanation for the rapid decrease of metallicity near the outer rim that has been proposed is the collision with a former, metal-poor dwarf galaxy. This galaxy would have been engulfed and later absorbed by the Milky Way, with its metal-poor gas being used as the building material for new stars. If this was true, perhaps the Perseus Veil might even be a remnant of this collision, consisting of gas formerly belonging to this dwarf galaxy. Going by the description from the Codex, the Perseus Veil is an opaque nebula in the colors of "purple and gold", suggesting that it might consist of a combination of emission nebulae (those that emit light in the visible spectrum, hence the striking colors) and dark nebulae. Dark nebulae absorb the wavelengths of light visible to the human eye, effectively concealing any stellar objects behind them (still, objects obscured by them can be observed with radio or infrared telescopes, which is a little curious considering that the Codex entry says "the Veil's total opacity prevents Council intelligence from surveying Geth activity"; however, it's possible that the Geth are using technology to disrupt those frequencies, not wanting organic races to spy on what they're doing). Dark nebulae in particular are also known to be the birthplace of many stars and planets, which makes them a likely candidate for the origin of the Tikkun system.

However, there is also the possibility that the Tikkun system might not be located in, but rather behind the nebula. The form of dark nebulae tends to be very irregular, with no clearly defined boundaries and far-ranging, serpentine shapes. In the night sky, they appear as dark patches, which is a phenomenon we know from the Great Rift, clouds of interstellar gas and dust obscuring much of our view from the Milky Way (for avid star gazers, this is indeed the dark band that stretches across the "bright band" of the Milky Way). This is due to the Rift being located between the inner edge of the Orion arm (which is the spiral arm where our Solar System is located), and the Sagittarius Arm, the next arm inward; thus, the Great Rift effectively blocks our view of the Galactic center. So, perhaps something similar might be the case for the Perseus Veil, with the Veil being located in-between the closest spiral arm and Quarian/Geth space. (This would also make sense considering that the Quarians/Geth occupied more clusters than just Tikkun, for example the Far Rim; the fact that multiple clusters are obscured by the Perseus Veil would support the theory of it being a more extensive interstellar cloud instead of a nebula that only contains the Tikkun system, despite Tikkun's cluster being labeled "Perseus Veil").

Also, keeping the 3D-perspective in mind, the elevated position of Tikkun (and probably the other systems as well) would mean that observers from other star clusters have to look "up" at them, which might indicate that the Perseus Veil is located slightly below the Tikkun system. (As an allegory, imagine spanning a dark piece of fabric between you and a lamp at your ceiling.) This allows for some interesting speculation what our galaxy might look like from Rannoch's night sky, as our position on one of the spiral arms also affects what we can see of the Milky Way. In that sense, Rannoch might even be in a more "ideal" location to observe the galaxy as a whole, its elevated position granting something like a top-down view of the Milky Way. From the northern hemisphere, you would have a good view at the stars of the halo and other galaxies, while on the southern hemisphere, you would look directly at the dark "rift" of the Perseus Veil. One might wonder what kind of influence this had on Quarian mythology - considering the huge significance stars held in human culture, we can assume that the same is true for the Quarians, if not more.

Organic life: a temporary phenomenon?

Anyway, regardless whether my theories are true or not, I certainly found it very interesting to think about how life could've developed on a planet like Rannoch, and I think the possibility of there being an extraterrestrial civilization which is much older than ours is extremely fascinating. Still, one thing my researches taught me is that on a galactic level, creation and destruction often lie very close together: When a star dies and goes supernova, all life on the planets around it is naturally extinguished. However, the gas and matter from the dying star go on to become the building material for a new generation of stars, thus creating a new chance for life to emerge on other planets. The interesting question is though whether this cycle will continue indefinitely, or if there is some kind of natural limit to it. (As a fair warning, this is about to get a little existential.)

What stirred this thought in me is the observation that with growing age, the universe will become increasingly hostile to life, as each new generation of stars will contain more heavy elements. As explained above, this will lead to the stars emitting more hazardous radiation, which at some point could reach an amount that prevents the development of life altogether. So: Does that mean that organic life is really just a temporary phenomenon, and is our existence nothing more than a tiny episode in the grand history of the universe?

Regarding Mass Effect specifically, I wonder whether the Reapers are actually aware of this - I mean, a universe without life might mean that they'd be potentially jobless at some point. xD On the other hand, perhaps this is precisely the motivation behind their harvests: If organic life is truly just "an accident", as Sovereign says, maybe this is why the Reapers were talking about the "ascent" of humanity when turning all of them into a giant bio-machine in ME2. Maybe they actually intend to bypass the pre-destined extinction of organic races by lifting them onto a higher evolutionary plane.

Before you ask, yes, I've played the Leviathan DLC, and yes, I'm aware what the Reapers' purpose is in canon - however, I couldn't help but feel that the explanation of "AI and organics are destined to fight" is a tad bit lame, and on top of that, it leaves open so many plot holes and loose ends that never get addressed. So, I guess I would've preferred if they went with a more philosophical approach like this. (Especially since it not only seems to be implied, but also fits the overall setting quite well.)

Anyway, that's enough talk for today - I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into Rannoch's astrophysical background, as well as my conjectures how it all may fit in with real-life science. I'm definitely planning to make this into a longer series, but I need to figure out how day and year cycles work on Rannoch first. In fact, if anyone of you has sufficient mathematical knowledge, I would be very grateful for any assistance in calculating how fast time passes on Rannoch - we do know that it has a slightly lower gravitation than Earth (0.89 g), and since theory of relativity exists, that means time passes faster on Rannoch than on our planet.

It might take me a while before I'll be able to continue this series (if simply for the reason that posts like these take a lot of time and effort to make), but still, thank you for your attention!

[selkra-souza]

AF Attack for @jayrockin!

My headcannon is that Talita was taught how to read Portuguese in homeschooling, before choosing to switch to on-campus schooling and subsequently becoming very rusty in it. Here she's reading a reprint gibi* of Turma da Monica (featuring a scan of my own copy of the gibi I've had since childhood). I think Cebolinha would've been her favorite from the turma because she's interested in his meticulous "infallible plans".

*gibi means comic!

[exobiotica]

A Giant Forest Walker

[aut2imagineart]

Creating more alien lifeforms for the ExtraTerrorestrial universe, I headed back to the home world of main alien from the Disney World experience. I previously depicted some land animals and a sapient species from said home world, but I never depicted any of the marine life so I'm rectifying that.

The top organism is the apex predator of the ocean. Like crocodilians, they are ambush predators that lie in wait for prey to get close before bursting forward and grappling it with its first pair of limbs. If unable to catch large prey, they can partially sustain themselves through filter feeding. These enormous leviathans can grow up to 84m but specimens one third the size are far more common. Right below is a dolphin sized* swimmer that travels in large schools feeding on smaller swimming organisms. It's two rear pair of legs are used for propulsion while its front pair became defensive battering rams similar to a mantis shrimp. Below is a large filter feeder capable of swimming in both directions. Traveling in pods, they create bubble nets to corral large schools of prey before engulfing them with their bristle mouth tendrils. If attached, the pod forms a defensive sphere with their tendrils exposed as they can deliver painful stings. At the bottom left is a deep sea gulper which, like many earth counter parts, is capable of swallowing prey larger than itself. It evolved a body smoother then most other lifeforms on its world in order to move faster in water though it comes at the expense of less defense. Lastly, at the bottom right, is a bottom dwelling walker which grows reefs on its back for camouflage and food. For extra protecting, they travel in small herds which makes them haven for many smaller marine organisms.

I see if I have any more ideas for this universe as I enjoy drawing them so much.

ExtraTerrorestrial: Alien Encounter belongs to Disney.

As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

*I boxed off the small swimmer to indicate a separate size. Everything else is to scale.

[fenmere]

`etekeyerrinwuf `ukavenäof

Sunspot Biology Notes

Here is what we have decided regarding the prehistory and biological development of the Sunspot’s ecosystem. Very, very few of the characters or narrators in the stories know all of this, though some have speculated theories that are very close.

The Ktletaccete evolved on a planet in another galaxy millions or billions of years ago, depending on which method you use to measure time, and from which perspective you do so (relativity is like that). From the perspective of life on the Exodus ships, and its time to evolve, it has been in the millions to hundreds of millions of years range, but during that time breeding and genetic engineering efforts by the Crew of the various ships have had more impact than evolution itself.

When we say the Ktletaccete evolved on a planet, we mean to the point of creating the Exodus Ships. Leading up to that point, evolution on the planet spanned a number of years analogous to what has occurred on Earth so far, only up to a much more technologically advanced state (obviously).

We will call this planet Kepekapo.

We will refer to these two eras as Pre-Exodus and Post-Exodus.

We have decided that Kepekapo was fairly Earth-like, including having a sun and a moon that are very similar. And, also, there has been a lot of convergent evolution, in which many of the themes of biology on Earth were mimicked on this planet. 

But, there were some major differences as well, beginning with the XNA structure of that life. The genetics of life from this planet are not at all compatible with that of Earth. (this is going to be a long string of reblogs intended to elaborate and share our entire set of notes, and we will likely post this to our website blog and wiki at some point)

[very-uncorrect]

Space mermaids on Europa....

Book idea???

[ghostsofchernobyl]

My previous favorite solution to the Fermi Paradox was the Junkyard theory, stating that Earth was used by Aliens as a trash planet and life just accidentally evolved from it.

This, though... this "Fool in A Field" hypothesis is pretty damn close to taking that spot as my favorite.

I low-key love the fact that sci-fi has so conditioned us to expect to be hanging out with a bunch of cool space aliens, that legitimate, actual scientists keep proposing the most bizarre, three-blunts-into-the-rotation "theories" to explain the fact we're not.

Some of my favourites include:

Zoo Theory: What if there are loads of aliens out there, but they're not talking to us because of the Prime Directive from Star Trek? (Or because they're doing experiments on us???)

Dark Forest Theory: What if there are loads of aliens out there, but they all hate us and each other so they're all just waiting with a shotgun pointed at the door, ready to open fire on anything that moves?

Planetarium Theory: What if there's at least one alien with mastery over light and matter that's just making it seem to us that the universe is empty to us as, like, a joke?

Berserker Theory: What if there were loads of aliens, but one of them made infinite killer robots that murdered everyone and are coming for us next?!!

Like, the universe is at least 13,700,000,000 years old and 46,000,000,000 light years big. We have had the ability to transmit and receive signals for, what, 100 years, and our signals have so far travelled 200 light years?

The fact is biological life almost certainly has, does, or will develop elsewhere in the universe, and it's not impossible that a tiny amount of it has, does, or will develop in a way that we would understand as "intelligent". But, like, we're realistically never going to know because of the scale of the things involved.

So I'm proposing my own hypothesis. I call it the "Fool in a Field" hypothesis. It goes like this:

Humanity is a guy standing in the middle of a field at midnight. It's pitch black, he can't move, and he's been standing there for ages. He's just had the thought to swing his arms. He swings one of his arms, once, and does not hit another person. "Oh no!" He says. "Robots have killed them all!"

[neurontosomething]

Brane Connectome Project: Basically Fetid

Latest post in a #Neuro #Science #Fiction #WorldBuilding project The #Brane #Connectome: Basically Fetid

Do not think of us at the dawn. Dawn is thing of suns, and of the peoples that huddle to them. Our worlds were rogue, wanderers, under a sky that shone. When the very universe was warm to the touch. Suns were not the greatest among our gods. We grew into understanding. That we were first. That we were alone. That things could not last. Our Warm Time was fleeting. Due to give way to frigid…

[42poppy-brox]

I have many-MANY stories/screenplays; one of such, I’ll call MDC for now, is a personal favorite. MDC is a space-opera of sorts following different alien cultures/lives within the galaxy during a time of increasing cosmic anomalies.

This sketch is of the Chronicler of MDC, Safeeoka Utseelum.

[spacenutspod]

Your questions....our answers! Buckle up, space cadets! Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson as they navigate through a new constellation of cosmic queries in this episode of Space Nuts. In this interstellar Q&A session, we're launching straight into the terraforming terrain, pondering massive megastructures, and the cooling conundrum of Venus. Dan from California, or "Caladan," sparks a stellar discussion on whether a colossal solar panel at Venus's L1 point could reverse its runaway greenhouse effect. Next, we're rocketing over to Dan in Brisbane, who's curious about the protostar L1527 and its captivating James Webb Space Telescope image. Our hosts explore the fate of material ejected during the formation of our solar system and the forces exerted by our sun's solar wind and photonic pressure. Could the remnants of our solar system's early cloud still linger in the cosmic winds? Then, we're warping into the realms of science fiction with Star's question: Does scientific accuracy enhance the enjoyment of sci-fi, or is imagination the final frontier? Andrew shares his favorites, from the plausible "The Martian" to the fantastical "Dune," while Fred reflects on the genre's influence on his scientific path. Lastly, young Ted from the UK, with some help from his father Joe, wonders why the moon is sometimes visible during the day and what that means for the other side of the Earth. Prepare for a lunar lesson that spans the globe! So, ignite your curiosity engines and prepare for a journey through the mysteries of space and science fiction. Remember to send us your astronomical questions for a chance to be featured in our cosmic conversations. Subscribe to Space Nuts on your preferred podcast platform and join us as we continue our voyage through the vastness of the universe. Until next time, keep your telescopes trained and your dreams space-bound! (00:00) Andrew dunkley: We've got a few questions about terraforming (01:29) Recent data suggests Titan probably not as life worthy as we once thought (04:00) How long would it take Venus to cool down and would that eventually lead to (08:45) Fred: Dan from Brisbane wants to know about protostar formation (15:23) We've got a question from star. Um, so we're talking about a proto star now (15:51) When it comes to Sci-Fi does your enjoyment depend on how accurate it is (21:59) Why can I sometimes see the moon during the day in the UK (24:18) Andrew Dunkley: Thank you for joining us on Space Nuts Thisd episode is brought to you by NordPass - the best way to manage all your passwords and lose that angst for not very much money. Like....seriously cheap....check out the special discount deal at www.nordpass.com/stuart

[selkra-souza]

zero gravity alien spaceship TV dinner

[humormehorny]

I don’t know if I couldn’t give this series a shout out The Isla Project.

This is a science fiction series that puts the science into science fiction.

This Chanel explores the fictional world, isla, a tidally locked planet.

[aut2imagineart]

I initially started on another addition to my Pangea Ultima project but felt more compelled to design aliens instead. Particularly, I wanted to expand the universe of ExtraTerrorestrial: Alien Encounter, the extinct Disney World experience that I was making concept art for a hypothetical movie for fun. Since I made several lifeforms for the home world of the main alien monster, I figured I design lifeforms that could exist on the home worlds of the other aliens featured in that experience and tie-in arcade game.

I'm starting with the home world of Skippy, the fuzzy yellow alien that's featured in the ExtraTerrorestrial pre-show. I imagine his world to be a moon with extended world and cold periods (result in most lifeforms with insulation) as well as numerous predators that his species would evolve super keen senses to detect. The apex predator at the top is a black-bear sized glider that hunts with an impaling proboscis (largely inspired by robber flies). Another arboreal predator is an orangutan-sized creature that uses its forearms for locomotion while using its middle pair for hunting. The ground predator is inspired by snakes and pug moth caterpillars. Its an ambush hunter that remain still until prey draws close before grabbing it with its forelimbs and eating it alive, dislocating its jaws if the prey is larger. The flying creature has characteristics of birds and amphibians and mainly hunts smaller animals with its extendable tongue. The small gliding creature is an omnivorous species related to Skippy's that uses the patterns on its head-flaps and limb. membranes to startle would be attackers. The last creature is an herbivore who's adults have poisonous quills for protection.

I really enjoyed designing creatures in this style (imagining them being brought to life through practical effects). I'm looking forward to doing more of these.

ExtraTerrorestrial: Alien Encounter belongs to Disney.

As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

[theeldritchdarling]

Love that we’re moving from the stereotype of every planet bring Earth but with a different coat of paint

I really really really should be going to write for my job now but I want to write one of these days about how "habitable" planets in fiction don't make sense... You can't eat like 80% of plants here on Earth and they evolved alongside us, and even common molecules like glucose and proteins are indigestible if they have the same chemistry but different structure (stereoisomery). And that's just operating with our own biochemistry.

If you went to an alien planet with an ecosystem as complex as Earth and tried to eat some alien fruit (I'm assuming alien life is parallel enough that biological concepts such as forests and fruit exist), you would at best find it tasteless (or strange) and completely indigestible and at worst poisonous or more likely, you'll have a deadly allergic reaction... in fact that's the more likely thing, alien ecosystems may produce compounds that are harmless and even vital for them but would be absolutely deadly to us. I think even walking in an alien forest will expose you to all sort of allergens and toxins. The good thing is that microbes from both biospheres will be too incompatible to infect each other. Probably.

All that ol' timey science fiction about going to colonize and make a farm of alien fruit or sometimes even introducing Earth life no problem (something for a larger post, but connected to US Manifest Destiny ideology) or space operas like Star Wars or Star Trek where you visit a hundred alien planets and they're all alike and you can even eat the Exotic Food and Mate with the aliens are nonsense. If you visited a living alien planet you'll better keep your spacesuit on... hell it even might be better to keep your suit on in those planets that in say, a terraformed Mars.

[antiauteur]

the way aliens are imagined in both pop culture and literal astrobiology is completely informed by colonialism and modernist ideas of "advancement" and "human progress".

im sorry, but why does every sentient extraterrestrial species have to take over their own solar system, star cluster, galaxy and be imagined to want to take over or eliminate us humans on earth if we make contact? it's giving settler fears of colonialization being projected onto hypothetical life outside of earth.