Supernovae in fiction

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refer to caption
Artist's impression of a supernova

Supernovae have been featured in works of fiction.

Background[edit]

A supernova is a type of stellar event wherein a star explodes, releasing enormous amounts of energy in a short period of time. While a nova is strictly speaking a different type of astronomical event, science fiction writers often use the terms interchangeably and refer to stars "going nova" without further clarification; this can at least partially be explained by the earliest science fiction works featuring these phenomena predating the introduction of the term "supernova" as a separate class of event in 1934.[1][2][3]

Fictional depictions[edit]

Disaster[edit]

See also: Sun in fiction § Exploding

The prospect of the Sun exploding in this manner has been used in several disaster stories.[2][4][5] It was recognized early on that the immense destructive power of such an event would leave little to no hope of survival for humanity, and so while Simon Newcomb's 1903 short story "The End of the World" depicts a few survivors in the immediate aftermath,[2][6] Hugh Kingsmill's 1924 short story also entitled "The End of the World" instead focuses on the anticipation of the destruction of the Earth.[4][7] According to science fiction writer Brian Stableford, writing in the 2006 work Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia, it was thus not until the concept of space travel became widespread in science fiction—hence making evacuation of the Earth a conceivable prospect—that such stories became popular.[2] In John W. Campbell's 1930 short story "The Voice of the Void" humanity leaves Earth ahead of this disaster,[2][8] while in Joseph W. Skidmore [Wikidata]'s 1931 short story "Dramatis Personae" the Sun explodes without warning, leaving a few people already in spaceships as the only survivors.[2][9] Rescue missions by aliens are sent to Earth in Raymond Z. Gallun's 1935 short story "Nova Solis" and Arthur C. Clarke's 1946 short story "Rescue Party", though in the latter they discover that evacuation has already been undertaken.[2][10] The Sun exploding occasionally appears as a background event to explain why humanity has abandoned Earth in favour of colonizing the cosmos,[3] one example being Theodore Sturgeon's 1956 short story "The Skills of Xanadu".[2][11] Clarke's 1958 short story "The Songs of Distant Earth" (later expanded into a 1986 novel bearing the same title) revolves around humans leaving Earth shortly before the Sun explodes encountering the members of a centuries-old extrasolar colony.[2][3] George O. Smith's 1958 novel Fire in the Heavens revisits the theme of anticipating the end of the world as a result of an impending solar explosion,[2][12] and in Larry Niven's 1971 short story "Inconstant Moon", the sudden brightening of the Moon in the night sky leads the characters to conclude that the Sun has already exploded and will imminently destroy all human life on Earth.[4][5][13]

It is now recognized that the Sun cannot turn into a supernova (or nova) as the necessary stellar conditions are not met.[1][3][14] A couple of works such as the 1998 novel Aftermath by Charles Sheffield also depict more distant supernovae threatening Earth.[5] Besides humans, alien civilizations are also subject to the dangers of supernovae in works like the 1967 short story "Day of Burning" by Poul Anderson, where humans try to evacuate a planet inhabited by a pre-spacefaring society threatened by a supernova, and the 1955 short story "The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke where an alien species is found to have gone extinct some two millennia ago when their star exploded.[5][15]

Induced and exploited[edit]

Since these stellar explosions release enormous amounts of energy, some stories propose using them as a power source for extremely energy-intense processes, such as time travel in the Doctor Who serial The Three Doctors from 1972.[1] For the same reason, inducing them is occasionally portrayed as a potential weapon, for instance in the 1966 novel The Solarians by Norman Spinrad.[2][4]

See also[edit]

A photomontage of the eight planets and the MoonNeptune in fictionUranus in fictionSaturn in fictionJupiter in fictionMars in fictionEarth in science fictionMoon in science fictionVenus in fictionMercury in fiction
Clicking on a planet leads to the article about its depiction in fiction.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Bloom, Steven D. (2016). "Stellar Evolution: Supernovas, Pulsars, and Black Holes". The Physics and Astronomy of Science Fiction: Understanding Interstellar Travel, Teleportation, Time Travel, Alien Life and Other Genre Fixtures. McFarland. pp. 38–43. ISBN 978-0-7864-7053-2.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Stableford, Brian (2006). "Nova". Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 334–335. ISBN 978-0-415-97460-8.
  3. ^ a b c d Stanway, Elizabeth (2022-06-12). "Going Out with a Bang". Warwick University. Cosmic Stories Blog. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  4. ^ a b c d Stableford, Brian; Langford, David (2021). "Sun". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  5. ^ a b c d McKinney, Richard L. (2005). "Stars". In Westfahl, Gary (ed.). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 752. ISBN 978-0-313-32952-4.
  6. ^ Bleiler, Everett Franklin (1990). "Newcomb, Simon (1835–1909)". Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes. With the assistance of Richard J. Bleiler. Kent State University Press. p. 541. ISBN 978-0-87338-416-2.
  7. ^ Stableford, Brian (2006). "Sun, The". Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 506–507. ISBN 978-0-415-97460-8.
  8. ^ Bleiler, Everett Franklin; Bleiler, Richard (1998). "Campbell, John W[ood], Jr. (1910–1971)". Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936. Kent State University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-87338-604-3.
  9. ^ Bleiler, Everett Franklin; Bleiler, Richard (1998). "Skidmore, Joseph William (1890–1938)". Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936. Kent State University Press. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-87338-604-3.
  10. ^ James, Edward (2008). "Arthur C. Clarke". In Seed, David (ed.). A Companion to Science Fiction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 434. ISBN 978-0-470-79701-3.
  11. ^ Stableford, Brian (1999). "Xanadu (2)". The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places. New York : Wonderland Press. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-684-84958-4.
  12. ^ D'Ammassa, Don (2005). "Smith, George O.". Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Facts On File. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-8160-5924-9.
  13. ^ D'Ammassa, Don (2005). "Inconstant Moon". Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Facts On File. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-8160-5924-9.
  14. ^ Langford, David (1983). "Natural disasters". In Nicholls, Peter (ed.). The Science in Science Fiction. New York: Knopf. pp. 112–113. ISBN 0-394-53010-1. OCLC 8689657.
  15. ^ Nicholls, Peter; Clute, John (2023). "Clarke, Arthur C". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 2023-12-26.

Further reading[edit]

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