Kim Stanley Robinson's novel [i]Red Mars[/i] has an interesting description of a space elevator collapsing onto Mars. You wouldn't want to be living anywhere near the equator...
This is interesting but it makes Jupiter look awfully drab and dark. I'm not sure this is realistic. It would be nice to find an atmospheric effect that is close to yours but brighter.
At last! A high-res view of Iapetus's bright side. This has been a long time coming. It's amazing, some regions look like they're covered in freshly laid snow. Iapetus must be one of the weirdest places in the solar system. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-list.cfm?browseL...
Interesting opportunity for comparing Celestia's version of the Saturnian system with the real thing "Family Portrait" of Saturn's moons http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001126/ Celestia cel://Follow/Cassini/2007-09-09T02:56:31.28063?x=9oJDwmtWexqD/////////w&y=rnrgEgzDsZwD&z=E9oTGRLuX...
I guess this is the point to ask whether anyone's read Wheelers by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen... has some rather odd aliens in the atmosphere of Jupiter, but you'd expect that from the authors of Evolving the Alien. That reminds me of Iain Banks's The Algebraist , which also has wheel-shaped aliens...
All these images seem too dull (in colour, I don't mean they're boring!) If I was in the Gliese 581 system and looking at the star, would I really be able to stare at it like I would a glowing ember? Or would it be blindingly bright and hurt my eyes, even if less so than our Sun? If so, shouldn't it...
I have two odd bugs. Planetary orbits are overlapping 3d models. See pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=483312451&size=o http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=483312439&size=o Specifically, the furthest half of the orbit overlaps; the nearer half doesn't. The effect only hap...