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"Science fiction is the very literature of change. In fact, it is the only such literature we have."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Lens Image | ||
| A presentation of the night sky, calculated for any planet or point in space. |
The key point about this is that it is not simply a planetarium, which has a fixed viewpoint - namely, the earth. The Lens Image is calculated anew for every presentation.
| The Lens was perhaps the newest feature of the interstellar cruisers of the day. Actually, it was a complicated calculating machine which could throw on a screen a reproduction of the night sky as seen from any given point of the Galaxy.
Channis adjusted the co-ordinate points and the wall lights of the pilot room were extinguished... Slowly, as the induction period passed, the points of light brightened on the screen... "This," explained Channis, "is the winter night-sky as seen from Trantor..." |
| Technovelgy from Second Foundation,
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Doubleday in 1953 Additional resources -
|
You cannot yet (as far as I know!) buy a program or device that will let you calculate the night sky for anywhere in the Galaxy.
However, you can get software programs like Starry Night that will calculate the night sky view from the major planets of the solar system.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
