Science Fiction Trivia

[Cholmondely]

Danann (LE Modesitt - The Eternity Artifact)

[Disembodied]

Danann (LE Modesitt - The Eternity Artifact)

a sunless planet they name Danann, travelling the void just beyond the edge of the Galaxy…

Yup - that's one!

And for clarity (because many definitions of the term depend on bodies being in orbit around a star) I'll define "planet" here as any naturally occurring planetary-mass object.

[Nite Owl]

SPACE 1999 had Earth's Moon go Rogue.

The Low Hanging Fruit Trend Continues.

[ffutures]

Apologies if this isn't 100% accurate, it's a LONG time since I read the book and I can't find my copy to check the details:

In Run to the Stars by Michael Scott Rohan (1982) humanity has reached the nearer stars and learns that there is an expanding alien civilization out there. The paranoid government of Earth decides to deal with the "Alien menace" by secretly launching an asteroid at their homeworld at relativistic speeds. The hero learns of this and tries to stop the mission - it then turns out that the alien government is equally paranoid and has better tech, which it has used to launch a planet at our sun, also at relativistic speed, to trigger a nova. Because of the way the interstellar drive works there are no second chances - and unfortunately neither attack can be stopped.

This ends with Earth and the alien homeworld destroyed, and the surviving human and alien colonies eventually making more peaceful contact.

https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?BKTG14830

Later - Sorry, found the book, I was remembering it wrong. The actual weapons are smaller than planets, they have planetary mass due to relativity.

[ffutures]

OK - more low-flying fruit if you'll accept weaponized planets - the dirigible planets used by E.E. "Doc" Smith's Galactic Patrol in their war against Boskone in Gray Lensman (1939)

Take an uninhabited planet. Neutralize its inertia with sufficiently large Bergholm drives and fly it to where it's needed at ridiculous speed. When it is near your target turn off the Bergholm drives and it will revert to its original vector (towards the target planet if you've got things right) and speed. Get away fast before they collide and watch the pretty fireworks. For added destruction use two planets with opposing vectors and use them as nutcrackers...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Lensman

https://www.scifiwright.com/2013/10/the ... doc-smith/

[Disembodied]

SPACE 1999 had Earth's Moon go Rogue.

The Low Hanging Fruit Trend Continues.

OK - more low-flying fruit if you'll accept weaponized planets - the dirigible planets used by E.E. "Doc" Smith's Galactic Patrol in their war against Boskone in Gray Lensman (1939)

Both good examples, I think … three down, two to go.

[RockDoctor]

How about: five examples of scifi set on, or at least involving, "rogue" planets

Urrgh ... I'm remembering a ... Poul Anderson book I read once, many many years ago, set on a planet between galaxies (the description of the Milky Way in one direction and Andromeda in the other ... like the "blended light of the Two Trees" in Tolkein ... was very memorable. And makes me think I read it after the Silmarillion came out. But it's name ... and in any case, was it a rogue planet, or a "rogue" star? I can't remember. Pretty sure it was Poul Anderson.
Got it. "World Without Stars", 1967. And judging from this cover shot, I got hold of a first edition
image vastly over-sized at https://dpspbs.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pict ... 1539673533
Was it a rogue planet, or a rogue (inter-galactic) star?
It's available from the Archive https://archive.org/details/worldwithoutstar0000ande , but I never got that lending thing to work, and I'm not particularly intending to re-read it.
If I believe an Amazon reviewer (...), "Pull Anderson takes you far from our own galaxy and explores an alternate culture on a planet located near a fading Sun" which makes it not a rogue planet. Another reviewer : "Immortality a culture on a planet around a red dwarf that develops with very limited technology but uses mind control. Or at least emotional control, does show a culture that has stagnated after being 9n top for a very long time." Makes it sound slightly more interesting.
But, "faded" star or no, it's a star, so wrong for this challenge.

The problem for "rogue" planets in SF is that, by definition, they don't have those big bright shiny things beside them, screaming "look here!" across the electromagnetic spectrum.

[ffutures]

Another one - the "Great Evil," which appears to be a small planet- or planetoid-sized being that threatens earth every 5000 years and turns up in our solar system on a collision course with Earth in The Fifth Element (1997). While the Wiki and video linked below seems to think it's planetoid or small moon sized, I'm pretty sure we're never told precisely. It looks roughly Death Star sized in my opinion - not sure if that qualifies for the purposes of this question.

https://aliens.fandom.com/wiki/The_Great_Evil



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucJvVbnkWxU

[Disembodied]

Another one - the "Great Evil," which appears to be a small planet- or planetoid-sized being that threatens earth every 5000 years and turns up in our solar system on a collision course with Earth in The Fifth Element (1997). While the Wiki and video linked below seems to think it's planetoid or small moon sized, I'm pretty sure we're never told precisely. It looks roughly Death Star sized in my opinion - not sure if that qualifies for the purposes of this question.

I'm prepared to accept it: it's sufficiently large enough to form itself into a sphere.

That's four; next one takes the prize …

[RockDoctor]

the "Great Evil," which appears to be a small planet- or planetoid-sized being that threatens earth every 5000 years

Ummm, if it reappears on a 5000 year cycle, then it's in orbit around the Sun, not "rogue".
Off the top of my "Solar system notes" sheet, at 5000yr, it's in the range of half the orbit of Sedna (11,673.9 yr) and the Brown-Batygin proposal for Planet 9 (nominally 9,586.3 yr, but with substantial error bars). The closest I've heard of to a 5000yr orbit is 2012 VP113, but that never gets within about 60AU of the Sun (eccentricity 0.695), and is only visible as an uninformative faint point of light. No mass, light curve or anything informative, as far as I know.

[RockDoctor]

I'm prepared to accept it: it's sufficiently large enough to form itself into a sphere.

Which isn't involved in the (current) definition of a planet.
But in any case, being in an orbit - even a 5000 year orbit - isn't "rogue". We've several observed objects on orbits that long in the Solar system. (None of which come within 60+ AU of Earth, and pending a very unlikely close encounter with an as-yet undetected "planet 9", won't.)

[RockDoctor]

Having knocked out the "Great Evil" in it's repeating orbit around the Sun (not "rogue"), I'll try for the #4 post, with the "ice planet" encountered by the good ship "Long Pass" in Niven and Lerner's "of Worlds" series, tying up lots of Niven's "Known Space" loose ends. That was definitively in interstellar space. And not in orbit around anything, being shipped from [un-named system] to the "Fleet of Worlds" to become "Nature Preserve 5", the 6th member of the pentagon of planets.

<P>Of course, that, and the other 5 planets, were not naturally in that position - on that trajectory, even - having been moved onto those trajectories with the unhealthily powerful and worryingly unstable "Outsider drive". But I don't recall natural-ness being a criterion.

<P>I'm not sure that the Fleet of Worlds itself counts, because even if being navigated towards Galactic North, under power, it's component planets are in mutual orbit, not "free flying". I don't think Niven ever mentions the relative orbital speeds compared to the 0.1c that the Fleet itself is doing. Come to think of it, I don't think he mentions the spacing either. Which matters. Can I work that out form the stability of the "satellite suns" against tidal effects? Hmm.

[ffutures]

the "Great Evil," which appears to be a small planet- or planetoid-sized being that threatens earth every 5000 years

Ummm, if it reappears on a 5000 year cycle, then it's in orbit around the Sun, not "rogue".
Off the top of my "Solar system notes" sheet, at 5000yr, it's in the range of half the orbit of Sedna (11,673.9 yr) and the Brown-Batygin proposal for Planet 9 (nominally 9,586.3 yr, but with substantial error bars). The closest I've heard of to a 5000yr orbit is 2012 VP113, but that never gets within about 60AU of the Sun (eccentricity 0.695), and is only visible as an uninformative faint point of light. No mass, light curve or anything informative, as far as I know.

I don't think it's on an orbit - it seems to be moving of its own volition, and I think coming out of hyperspace or something rather than making the journey through normal space. But I'll step aside if people aren't happy with it. Of course if Disembodied accepts this it's no. 4, which would make Rockdoctor no. 5 and the next victim winner if accepted.

[Disembodied]

I'm prepared to accept it: it's sufficiently large enough to form itself into a sphere.

Which isn't involved in the (current) definition of a planet.

No, but part of the definition of a planet is that it has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit; since "rogue planets" don't have orbits, that's why I went with planetary-mass object - i.e. any celestial object massive enough to form itself into a sphere, so we're good here. And although the "Great Evil" does apparently appear on a regular cycle it also has the ability to move under its own power, suddenly accelerating and heading straight for Earth, so clearly not on an orbit.

the "ice planet" encountered by the good ship "Long Pass" in Niven and Lerner's "of Worlds" series

Good news! This also counts. Number 5, we have a winner! You may take your pick of any one of the gonks on the lower two shelves before you set the next question …

[RockDoctor]

Oh, rude words.

OK, in the last couple of rounds we've had the Puppeteers using the "Outsider drive" to hurl planets around like Rocket Ronnie with the bit between his teeth, EE Doc Smith's Lensmen doing the same, and the whoever doing whatever to the Great Evil to cause the Great Evil to give the weird woman a weirder dress. So, in deference to events at the Crucible, let's have a "colours" worth (that's 6 - yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black) set of ways of moving planets around.

The usual rules take Niven/ Known Space, Lenspersons, and bandagedressers off the table, but I'll leaveNiven's non-Known Space work in hand, because I'm thinking of a bowl of low-hanging fruit.

Extra MBPs if the cup-winner can coordinate with the potting-people and finish it on Monday evening. 147 MBPs if you can stay up for the final black.