Due Nov 17

Planets Orbiting Other Stars

For centuries astronomers hypothesized that planets must orbit other stars. The first hard evidence, though, didn’t arrive until quite recently. In class we tell the story of how extra-solar planets were first detected. Arts HW: the hard Sci-Fi of Larry Niven.

Grant Proposal Due

Your Grant Proposal is due the Saturday before class. Email Dr. Henebry if you need a 24-hour extension.

Astronomy Reading

Openstax Astronomy (pdf | online), Chapter 23-24

Artist’s Statement: step 2

Write a second ¶ as part of the upcoming artist’s statement. If you submitted your inspiration last time, write a brief bio this time—and vice versa. Submit under the appropriate heading below, along with an updated 2-4 sentence description of your artwork.

Arts Assignment

Read Larry Niven’s “Neutron Star.” Write a 1-2¶ response to one of the following prompts:

1. “Neutron Star” was first published in 1966, at the height of the Space Race. Yet (like many science fiction writers of his era) Niven sets his story in the far future, in a time of galactic exploration. Reading this story, do you hear echoes of the Cold War? Or does this far-flung future have more in common with some other historical era? Point to a particular moment to exemplify your point.
2. I mentioned Niven a few weeks back as a practitioner of “Hard” sci-fi, stories which prize scientific accuracy. Does this story teach the reader science? a scientific frame of mind? Point to a particular moment to exemplify your point.
3. Niven originally published this story in the same sort of Sci-Fi pulp magazine as Lovecraft published in thirty years earlier. How do Niven’s style and outlook differ from those of his predecessor?