Tau Ceti: The closest single sun-like star
Dan WildIt was Frank Drake (1930-2022) who brought Tau Ceti to the attention of science-fiction. In 1960, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank, West Virginia, granted him access to the Tatel radio telescope. What started out as Project Ozma later became SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Drake’s first major contribution to SETI was to …
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Epsilon Eridani: Already in the sights of asteroid miners
Dan WildAlthough known to early star gazers, Epsilon Eridani does not figure heavily in myth. Claudius Ptolemy was the first astronomer to pay this star any sustained attention, cataloguing it in his famous 2nd-century Almagest. Indeed, it was Ptolemy that named the constellation Eridanus, after the ancient Greek word for ‘river’ (Ποταμού). Epsilon Eridani famously entered …
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Rocket Science: Chapter 2 – A haircut, red dust and Octomaids
Dan WildPrevious Chapter Marley had not taken Interspecies Liaison seriously. Presentation was important, so the first requirement – have a haircut. He recalled his visit to the Bad Ends. The hairdresser had asked, “Do you want to look like him?” He pointed to a picture of Frisky Benjamin, the famous C-grade actor. And the haircut was …
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