Deneb
in fiction
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple
element in much science fiction.
Contents
The
Star Deneb
Deneb
is thought to have a diameter of about 110 times that of the Sun; if placed at
the center of our Solar System, Deneb would extend halfway out to the orbit of
the Earth. It is one of the largest white stars known.
Deneb
(Alpha Cygni), a luminous blue-white supergiant of spectral type A2Ia[1] in the
constellation Cygnus, shines prominently in the night sky—despite its lying at
the inordinate distance of some 1550 light-years[2]—and it is frequently
employed as a remote location, faraway destination, or alien home sun in works
of fiction (see "Dead Ahead" by Jack Vance and The Rowan by Anne
McCaffrey, below). Deneb's absolute magnitude is approximately −7.0, one of the
greatest intrinsic brightnesses of any known star, which gives it an estimated
luminosity nearly 60,000 times that of our Sun (see "Uncommon Sense"
by Hal Clement, below). It appears to have a diameter of about 110 times that
of the Sun[note 1] (see graphic), but a mass only 20 times as
great[1]—bespeaking a tenuous average density approximately 10−5 times that of
our own star.[note 2]
The
classification of Deneb as a blue-white supergiant, its mass (~20 solar masses,
and its surface temperature (~8400 K) mean that the star will enjoy but a short
lifespan and probably go supernova within a few million years. Its stellar wind
causes it to lose mass at a rate of 8×10−7, a hundred thousand times the flow
rate from the Sun.
Deneb
is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus and the nineteenth brightest
star in the night sky, with an apparent visual magnitude of 1.25. It is a
vertex of the Summer Triangle, the other two vertices being the bright stars
Altair and Vega (see High Sierra, below).[3]
The
name Deneb is from the Arabic (dhanab ad-dajājah), which translates literally
as tail of the hen.[4][note 3] In Chinese, (Tiān Jīn), meaning Celestial Ford,
refers to an asterism consisting of Deneb and eight other stars in Cygnus (see
graphic, below). In a legendary Chinese love story, Deneb marks the location of
the magpie bridge across the Milky Way,[5] which allows two lovers represented
by the stars Altair and Vega—the other two vertices of the Summer Triangle—to
be reunited on one special night of the year in late summer[6] (See Qi Xi,
below).
General
uses of Deneb
Deneb
anchors the Celestial Ford asterism crossing the Milky Way, and every year on
the 7th night of 7th moon it hosts the magpie bridge.
Deneb
may be referred to in fictional works for its metaphorical (meta) or
mythological (myth) associations, or else as a bright point of light in the sky
of the Earth, but not as a location in space or the center of a planetary
system:
Sky position: RA 20h 41.4m, Dec +45° 16.8'
Common designations: Deneb, Alpha Cygni, 50 Cygni, HIP 102098, HD 197345, HR 7924
"Uncommon Sense" (1945), short
story by Hal Clement. After his two-man crew mutinies, skipper Laird Cunningham
disables his space-boat and maroons the craft on a sun-blasted moonlike planet
of Deneb. Clement indulges in a seductive—and technically plausible—description
of the world's outrageous native life forms: predators whose "blood"
is liquid metal, "eyes" that are actually pinhole cameras for
straight-trajectoried gas molecules. Using his uncommon ingenuity, Cunningham
is able to exploit these biological peculiarities to regain control of his ship
and imprison the mutineers,[12] acting out the classic hard science fiction
theme of solving a scientific puzzle set up by the conditions of an alien
world.[13]
"A Place in the Sun" (1956),
short story written by Milton S. Lesser as by Stephen Marlowe, published in
Amazing Stories. The elan (personality essence) of Galactic Federation special
agent Johnny Mayhem is instantaneously transmitted from Canopus to Deneb City
on Deneb IV—the site of recent civil disturbances—where the usual dead body is
waiting for him in cold storage. But there's a mixup, and instead he comes to
under a cold shower on a spaceship that is plunging straight toward a fiery
annihilation in the Sun. He turns off the needle spray. He dries himself off.
He ponders his options...
"The Feeling of Power" (1958),
short story by Isaac Asimov. The Terrestrial Federation is at war with Deneb,
and it depends on hand-held devices startlingly similar to the digital pocket
calculators that would be unavailable until after 1971, more than a dozen years
after Asimov's prescient story. In the tale, humans have long since forgotten
how to perform even the most elementary arithmetic by hand until Myron Aub, a
low grade Technician, notices certain recurring patterns in the output of his
apparatus—and proceeds to figure out and share the underlying algorithms and
methods. The idea catches on, and the newfound ability of humans to perform
calculations on their own revolutionizes the Federation and the war, as men
rediscover the "feeling of power" inherent in spontaneous reckoning.
Asimov would later substantially abandon using any real star names such as
Deneb in his stories.[15]
Hyperion (1989), first novel in the
Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons. Humanity has spread across the galaxy,
and makes profligate, casual use of farcaster technology to travel instantly
between any two points in space (to its ultimate rue). The eponymous Hyperion
Cantos is an epic poem written by the character Martin Silenus.[17] In his own
words, "... My "few weeks to polish up the Cantos turned into ten
months of obsessive labor. I shut off most of the rooms in the house, keeping
only the tower room on Deneb Drei, the exercise room on Lusus, the kitchen, and
the bathroom raft on Mare Infinitus..."[18] Deneb Drei (Deneb III, in
German) and Deneb Vier (Deneb IV) are inhabited planets in the Deneb system,
just two of dozens of richly detailed planets featured in the single novel that
by itself would make Dan Simmons one of the half-dozen central science fiction
figures of the 1980s.[19]
Honor Harrington (1993- ), series of novels
written by David Weber. The Deneb star system is where the Honorverse's rules
of war, the Deneb Accords (similar to the Geneva Conventions) were negotiated
under the sponsorship of the Solarian League (see map). Non-signatories to the
Accords can be bad actors indeed, indulging in both torture and rape: "...
the Admiralty knew when they sent us out that neither Masada nor Grayson had
ever signed the Deneb Accords—and that they were both ... a bit backward, shall
we say? We all know how POWS can be abused..."[22] The Accords are
"honored" most prominently—more in the breach than in the
observance—with at least seven appearances in the eighth book of the series,
Echoes of Honor, where Harrington is herself captured and apparently
"executed" by the People's Republic of Haven.[23]
Film
and television
Star
Trek
The
items in this subsection all refer to works in the film, television, and print
franchise originated by Gene Roddenberry.
"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
(1966), second pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series written by
Samuel A. Peeples. The powerful—and dangerous—newly minted telepath Gary
Mitchell reminisces with his old friend Captain Kirk about a wild shore leave
they once spent together on Deneb IV, a planet of paranormal adepts, where he
had already displayed high psychic potential. Mitchell embellishes his side of
the account with the tale of an intense romantic encounter with a Denebian
woman he describes as a "nova." (For a contrasting perspective on
Mitchell's views about women see "walking freezer unit.")
"I, Mudd" (1967), episode of Star
Trek: The Original Series written by Gene Roddenberry and David Gerrold
(uncredited). The USS Enterprise is hijacked by a mysterious android and taken
to an unnamed planet, populated by hundreds of thousands of his fellows, and by
one Harcourt Fenton Mudd, a hapless con-man known to Captain Kirk. The
androids, assisted by Harry Mudd, plot to commandeer the Enterprise, take over
the galaxy, and control—and serve—humanity forever in a sort of cosmic nanny
state. The crew of the Enterprise overcome their robotic captors by using the
classic ruse of beguiling them with paradoxes, but not before Mr. Spock has
occasion to remind Mudd of the penalty for fraud on Deneb V: capital
punishment, with the means freely chosen by the condemned. (Compare Rigel:
"Mudd's Women".)
"The Trouble With Tribbles (1967),
episode of Star Trek: The Original Series written by David Gerrold. The USS
Enterprise pulls into Deep Space Station K7 where trouble immediately starts
with the crew of a Klingon battle cruiser on shore leave, and the Enterprise
suffers an infestation of tribbles, adorable balls of fluff that multiply without
bound and eat everything in sight. Things go from bad to worse, as Korax, the
Klingon first officer, calls Captain Kirk a Denebian slime devil and the
tribbles all die of an unknown cause—later revealed to be the unintended
consequence of a Klingon plot.
"Encounter at Farpoint" (1987),
two-hour pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation written by Gene
Roddenberry and directed by Corey Allen. Captain Picard and the crew of the
newly built USS Enterprise-D examine the mysterious Farpoint Station in orbit
around Deneb IV, which the enigmatic Bandi are offering to the Federation—all
as he labors under the judgmental gaze of a powerful alien entity that calls
itself Q. At Farpoint, Picard wants to fire on a mysterious hostile craft, but
is warned off by Q, so he sends an away team instead. Mysteries multiply as the
team, the crew, and Picard discover that the station is both more and less than
it seems, but the enigma is finally resolved and everything is put to rights,
to the apparent—if temporary—satisfaction of Q.
Other
film and television
Deneb
is the constellation Cygnus' alpha star.
Blake's 7 (1978-1981), television series
created and mostly written by Terry Nation. Roj Blake, a political dissident is
arrested, tried and convicted on false charges and deported to the prison
planet Cygnus Alpha (see graphic). He and two fellow prisoners commandeer an
abandoned alien spacecraft, rescue two more prisoners and are joined by an
alien guerrilla with telepathic abilities. The group conducts an ineffectual
campaign against the totalitarian Terran Federation. Similar to Star Wars in
its theme of free spirited rebels versus the oppressive empire, the series is
notably different in tone: the rebels are quarrelsome, depressive, pessimistic,
cynical—and in the end they assassinate Blake himself (he may be a
traitor).[24]
Babylon 5 (1993–1998), television series
developed and written by J. Michael Straczynski. Deneb IV is a large Earth
settlement and the largest colony market in its part of the galaxy.[25] It is
one of 23 colonies in the Earth Alliance, one of the galaxy's major powers
(although not the most powerful) in the Babylon 5 universe, and a hotbed of
prophecies, religious zealotry, racial tensions, social pressures and political
rivalries.[26]
See
also
Deneb
is referred to as a location in space or the center of a planetary system
unusually often in fiction. For a list containing many stars and planetary
systems that have a less extensive list of references, see Stars and planetary
systems in fiction.
Notes
and references
Notes
In a sort of cosmic coincidence, this is
the same as the ratio of the Sun's diameter to the Earth's: Deneb is geometric.
The relative average density is (relative
mass)/(relative volume) ≈ 20/1103 ≈ 0.000015.
Arab astronomers gave parallel names to at
least seven different stars, most notably Deneb Kaitos, the brightest star in
the constellation Cetus, the whale; Deneb Algedi, the brightest star in
Capricornus, the goat; and Denebola, the second brightest star in Leo, the
lion. All these stars are referring to the tail of the animals that their
respective constellations represent.
Deneb in star names as the tail of
constellations
Deneb, the tail of the swan.
Deneb Kaitos, the tail of the whale.
Deneb Algedi, the tail of the sea-goat.
Denebola, the tail of the lion.
Given the spaceboat Aquila's name, it is
somewhat surprising that the writers did not choose to make the Yrrillian
planet of origin Altair (Alpha Aquilae) rather than Deneb (Alpha Cygni).
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