It takes me quite a while to get through a book, especially one as thick as Strang Tales, the biography of Dr. Cornelius Strang, discoverer of Planet X and creator of Ellie. At the rate I’m going, we’ll be celebrating ten years of monitoring Ellie on Planet X before I even get halfway through this book. Here’s another scan from the book’s insides (go here for the first one). Just click on the pic below and read how Dr. Strang was inspired to make his great discoveries!
This is one of those old graphics that they used back in the late sixties on TV news programs to show how far away Planet X is from Earth.
I was having a little discussion about the star that Planet X revolves around with Ellie reader Neutrino. It was pointed out to me that I’ve never actually stated which star it is except in some vague clue from time to time. Of course that was an accidental oversight on my part, and it took Neutrino to not only remind me, but also point out exactly which star it happens to be.
Another thing Neutrino reminded me was that Planet X’s parent star is only 200-300 million years old – not enough time for life to evolve. So the fact that there definitely is life there is not only an amazing discovery, it’s also a real mystery. Part of Ellie’s mission is to discover those answers. Anyway, Neutrino inspired me to go down to the archives and dig out this magazine article from the early 70s.
A new planet was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope over the weekend. This one’s a little special. It’s been named Kepler 22b by astronomers and it sits right smack inside what’s termed the Goldilocks Zone in orbit around its parent star, 600 light years away. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right for the possibility of running water and balmy 70 degree days.
Here’s a link to read more about Kepler 22b. And here’s an artist’s interpretation of another planet that falls within the habitable zone of its star:
I went rooting through some old papers here at Mission Control and discovered two pages of an interview with Dr. Strang in a 1968 copy of Awesome Science Magazine. Click on the picture to read it!
Sorry, the rest of the interview is missing. But in the back of the magazine I found these classified ads under the cartooning heading (for reals). I’d have paid $4.95 to get an education in commercial art!
Another fine example of Planet X-ian wildlife. This is a Lemon Drop Flutterby, a relative of the Cellophane Wing Flutterby.
Here’s a sketch of what is believed to be the Chromatic Winged Pea Flit, approximately actual size (depending on your monitor).
