According to legend

I write space opera because I find astronomy and cosmology fascinating. How was our planet created? How did the solar system come to be? How did the universe start? I’m not special in that respect. Humans have looked at the stars and asked questions since forever. For hundreds of years many people believed in astrology, based on the constellations visible in the sky at different times of the year. A constellation is simply a pattern somebody made up by relating stars to each other. And from there, they created stories to explain how that particular animal, or object, appeared in the sky.

The aboriginal people in Australia thought the stars of the Milky Way (the band of light we see crossing the night sky) was a river marked by the campfires along its length. They have a story about the Pleiades, the open cluster near the constellation Orion. The aboriginal people called them the Seven Sisters, just as we do. You can read the legend here. Basically, seven sisters are pursued by a hunter who wants one of them as his wife. The Greeks had their own legend in which Orion chases the daughters of Atlas. The aboriginal story and the Greek story are remarkably similar, and I find that fascinating, since there’s no way one version could have influenced the other. This link takes you to more stories about the Pleiades.

Ancient people explained natural events in ways that made sense to them. But as we became more knowledgeable, we could explain something like the Pleiades in more and more depth. However, there’s something deliciously… RIGHT… about the ancient interpretation. The stars of the Pleiades are, you might say, stellar sisters. And the hunter in the sky is Orion. As Professor Olivia Jhutta (main character in The Stuff of Legend) explains, “legends often arise around a kernel of truth”.

I really enjoyed writing The Stuff of Legend. The plot centers around an open cluster called the Maidens or the Dancers and the legends that relate to it. The constellation is not the Pleiades or any other particular open cluster but it’s based on reality.

I did my research and found out that globular clusters are tightly packed (for stars) and gravitationally bound to each other. The stars are the oldest we know of, and because of that wouldn’t be likely to have the elements created in super novas so they’re not likely to include second Earths. The stars in open clusters are younger. They form in the usual stellar nurseries like the gas clouds of the mighty Orion Nebula. From there, they remain in a more ‘open’ gravitational relationship until they leave home on their own. Our sun was probably part of an open cluster when it was a teenager. You can find out more about open clusters here.

For the purposes of my story I wanted the gas clouds that you see around Orion as part of the legends associated with my cluster. I went back to research, and discovered that an open cluster that had been thought to be part of the Orion Nebula, was in fact a different entity, situated in front of the nebula. Here’s the story of NGC 1980.  It was perfect. So my story takes place with regard to a star cluster that has some similarities to NGC 1980.

Of course, there are legends surrounding the star cluster, which is where my story starts. History professor Olivia Jhutta thinks there might be some truth in legends. Admiral Jak Prentiss doesn’t agree. Here’s an excerpt from a conversation they have at a civic reception. Olivia has asked Jak what he knows about a star cluster known as the Maidens.

“Let me see… the cluster is about ten stellar units away, contains about a thousand stars, including many with planetary systems, and it’s territory in dispute.”

She cocked her head.

“The Ptorix also lay claim to the area.”

“Ah. Of course.”

“It is one of several places where the lines between the borders of our established sovereignties are not distinctly drawn. Neither of us has a settlement there, and neither of us will allow a settlement there.”

“But you’ll have heard the legends. About the Gh’ria.”

Bless her heart. Jak couldn’t help the laugh. “Miss Jhutta, they’re just stories to frighten children. We’ve found no trace of any space-faring giants anywhere, and neither have the Ptorix.”

“You don’t think there might be something in the old legends? Some element of truth?”

There was a decided chill in the air, but damn it, legends? “There are legends about all sorts of things. Ghost ships around abandoned asteroid mines, strange appearances on moons, vanishings. In my experience, they have all come down to something mundane. Faulty equipment, flashing lights. Fraud. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

She smiled, nodding. “I see.” But the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

Find out all about it here.

* The image of the Pleiades was produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) using the Hubble Space Telescope