Binary stars in fiction
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Planets outside of the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
have appeared in fiction since at least the 1850s, long before the first real ones were discovered in the 1990s. Most of these fictional planets do not differ significantly from the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
, and serve only as settings for the narrative. The majority host native lifeforms, sometimes with humans integrated into the ecosystems. Fictional planets that are not Earth-like vary in many different ways. They may have significantly stronger or weaker gravity on their surfaces, or have a particularly hot or cold climate. Both desert planets and ocean planets appear, as do planets with unusual chemical conditions. Various peculiar planetary shapes have been depicted, including flattened, cubic, and toroidal. Some fictional planets exist in multiple-star systems where the orbital mechanics can lead to exotic day–night or
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
al cycles, while others do not orbit any star at all. More fancifully, planets are occasionally portrayed as having
sentience Sentience is the capacity to experience feelings and sensations. The word was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '':wikt:sentientem, sentientem'' (a feeling), to distinguish it fro ...
, though this is less common than stars receiving the same treatment or a planet's lifeforms having a collective consciousness.


General characteristics

Most extrasolar planets in fiction are similar to
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
—referred to in the ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' franchise as
Class M planet In the '' Star Trek'' universe, a Class M planet is one habitable by humans and similar life forms. Earth, Vulcan, Romulus, and Qo'noS are examples of Class M planets. The planet needs an atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen, should be close to a sta ...
s—and serve only as settings for the narrative. One reason for this, writes in ''
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy ''The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders'' is an English language reference work on science fiction and fantasy, published in 2005 by Greenwood Press. It was edited by Gary Westfahl and consists of th ...
'', is to enable
satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
. Nevertheless, there are also many fictional planets that differ significantly from Earth. Earth-like planets have become less common in fiction following the first detection of an
exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
around a Sun-like star in 1995, reflecting the scarcity of such worlds among the thousands discovered since. The majority of extrasolar planets in fiction are inhabited by native species, and humans are variously depicted as being integrated into or remaining apart from such alien ecosystems. Some fictional planets are described as orbiting real stars; a 2024 article in the '' Journal of Science Communication'' analysed a sample of 142 fictional exoplanets, of which nearly a third fulfilled this criterion, and found "an absence of influence of whether or not the planet setting is in a real star system on other worldbuilding characteristics".


Exotic shapes

Various exotic planetary shapes appear in fiction. In Hal Clement's 1953 novel ''
Mission of Gravity ''Mission of Gravity'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Hal Clement. The novel was serialized in '' Astounding Science Fiction'' magazine in April–July 1953. Its first hardcover book publication was in 1954, and it was first publis ...
'', the planet
Mesklin Mesklin is a fictional supergiant planet created by Hal Clement and used in a number of his hard science fiction stories. It is distinctive for the interaction of its strong gravity with the centrifugal force due to its fast rotation, originating ...
's rapid rotation causes it to be shaped roughly like a flat disk and gravity is consequently about 200 times weaker at the equator than it is at the poles, while the moon Jinx in Larry Niven's 1975 short story " The Borderland of Sol" is instead stretched by tidal forces from the planet it orbits rather than flattened, resulting in a prolate spheroid shape where the equator is covered by an atmosphere but the poles rise up above it. Another disk-shaped planet is the Discworld of Terry Pratchett's 1983–2015
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
book series of that name, a flat world which is carried on the backs of elephants that are in turn carried on the back of a turtle, with the arrangement orbited by the world's sun. Bizarro World in the ''
Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
'' franchise is a
cubic Cubic may refer to: Science and mathematics * Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement * Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex ** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system w ...
planet, rendered that shape by the actions of Superman. Earth itself gets turned into a cube in Henry H. Gross's 1987 short story " Cubeworld", and an altogether artificial planet-sized cube is the setting of G. David Nordley's 2009 novel '' To Climb a Flat Mountain''. Double planets close enough together to share an atmosphere through their
Roche lobe In astronomy, the Roche lobe is the region around a star in a binary system within which orbiting material is gravitationally bound to that star. It is an approximately teardrop-shaped region bounded by a critical gravitational equipotential, wit ...
s appear in
Homer Eon Flint Homer Eon Flint (born as Homer Eon Flindt; 1888 –1924) was an American writer of pulp science fiction novels and short stories. He began working as a scenarist for silent films in 1912 (reportedly at his wife's insistence).Munn, Vella (Mar ...
's 1921 short story " The Devolutionist", Robert L. Forward's 1982 novel ''
Rocheworld ''Rocheworld'' (first published in serial form in 1982; first book publication, under the title ''The Flight of the Dragonfly'', 1984)Internet science fiction database entryThe Flight of the Dragonfly/ref> is a science fiction novel by Robert Fo ...
'' ( ''The Flight of the Dragonfly''), Bob Shaw's 1986 novel ''
The Ragged Astronauts ''The Ragged Astronauts'' is a novel by Bob Shaw published in 1986 by Gollancz. It is the first book in the series ''Land and Overland''. It won the BSFA Award for Best Novel. Plot summary ''The Ragged Astronauts'' is a novel in which interplane ...
''—which depicts an interplanetary hot air balloon expedition—and
Charles Sheffield Charles Sheffield (25 June 1935 – 2 November 2002), an English-born mathematician, physicist and science-fiction writer, served as a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronautical Society. ...
's 1990 novel ''
Summertide ''Summertide'' (1990) is a science fiction novel by American writer Charles Sheffield, the first of his series of Heritage Universe. The story takes place millennia in the future, with humans having extensively colonized our spiral arm of the ...
''. A planet in the shape of a
torus In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloquially donut or doughnut) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle. If the axis of revolution does not tou ...
is the setting of Flint's 1921 short story " The Emancipatrix", being the result of the protoplanetary disk condensing so quickly that it did not coalesce into a spherical shape first; an artificial planet-sized torus also appears in 's 1981 short story " Moonbow", while Niven wrote of a much larger toroidal megastructure in space in the 1970 novel '' Ringworld'' and a much smaller one in the 1973 novel ''
Protector Protector(s) or The Protector(s) may refer to: Roles and titles * Protector (title), a title or part of various historical titles of heads of state and others in authority ** Lord Protector, a title that has been used in British constitutional la ...
''.
Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
's 1949 short story " The Wall of Darkness" is set on a planet bounded by a wall in the shape of an Alice handle, a kind of three-dimensional equivalent of a
Möbius strip In mathematics, a Möbius strip, Möbius band, or Möbius loop is a surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist. As a mathematical object, it was discovered by Johann Benedict Listing and Augu ...
.


In multiple star systems

Planets in
multiple star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or '' galaxy'', although, broadly speaki ...
s have attracted attention from science fiction writers, especially in terms of what kind of life would exist on planets with more than one sun and how history might be cyclical as a result of the "long year" that occurs if the
orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...
around one of the stars is very lengthy. A particularly early example of this is
C. I. Defontenay Charlemagne Ischir Defontenay, writing as C.I. Defontenay (1819–1856), was a French science fiction writer. His ''Star, ou Psi Cassiopea'' of 1854 is seen by some as an example of proto-space opera. Others see Defontenay as a predecessor of Olaf ...
's 1854 novel '' Star ou Psi de Cassiopée'' (English title: ''Star: Psi Cassiopeia''), described by
science fiction editor This is a list of science fiction editors, editors working for book and magazine publishing companies who have edited science fiction. Many have also edited works of fantasy and other related genres, all of which have been sometimes grouped unde ...
David Pringle as "the first detailed evocation of an alien solar system", which depicts various alien species inhabiting the planets orbiting the stars.
Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
's 1941 short story " Nightfall" portrays a planet which is in constant daylight from at least one of its six suns for millennia at a time before a single night of true darkness, which is a much-anticipated event, the 1963 ''
The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
'' episode "
On Thursday We Leave for Home "On Thursday We Leave for Home" is an episode of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. In this episode, a struggling colony on a distant planet awaits the arrival of a ship that will take them back to Earth. The story cen ...
" depicts a planet that is challenging for humans to inhabit due to the unending heat and light from a pair of suns, and
Mark Hodder Mark Hodder is an English author, since 2008 living in Spain. His six-part series of 'Burton & Swinburne' steampunk novels opened with ''The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack'', which went on to win the 2010 Philip K. Dick Award. The following tw ...
's 2012 novel '' A Red Sun Also Rises'' is set on a planet where a dim red sun rises at the same time as the planet's twin white suns set. Hal Clement's 1957 novel '' Cycle of Fire'' depicts a planet in a binary star system where the
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
s last for decades and different species dominate the hot and cold parts of the year, Poul Anderson's 1974 novel ''
Fire Time ''Fire Time'' is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson, first published in 1974. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1975. Plot introduction ''Fire Time'' takes place on the planet Ishtar in the "Anubelea" system, located 300 ...
'' portrays a planet where the majority of the surface becomes uninhabitable approximately once a millennium when it makes a close approach to one of its stars and
mass migration Mass migration refers to the migration of large groups of people from one geographical area to another. Mass migration is distinguished from individual or small-scale migration; and also from seasonal migration, which may occur on a regular basis ...
of the native lifeforms ensues, and Brian Aldiss's 1982–1985 ''
Helliconia The Helliconia trilogy is a series of science fiction books by British writer Brian W. Aldiss, set on the Earth-like planet Helliconia. It is an epic chronicling the rise and fall of a civilisation over more than a thousand years as the pla ...
'' trilogy is set on a planet where the orbital mechanics lead to century-long seasons and there are two distinct
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
s—one adapted to the short period around the closer star and another adapted to the long year around the more distant one. A similar effect appears in Aldiss's 1977 short story " Creatures of Apogee", albeit here as a result of a highly
eccentric Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a v ...
orbit around a single star where the distance to the star thus varies greatly between the nearest and farthest points in the orbit. The 1985 anthology '' Medea: Harlan's World'' is a collaborative effort between
Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...
and several other science fiction writers consisting of several stories set on the same planet in a multiple star system. The 2002 television series ''
Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'' is set in a system of five stars each orbited by its own
planetary system A planetary system is a set of gravitationally In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interacti ...
, all close enough to each other to permit easy travel between the worlds.


Rogue planets

Planets that do not orbit any star, known as rogue planets, appear in several works. In the 1977 novel '' Dying of the Light'' by
George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...
, such a planet becomes a temporary
tourist destination A tourist attraction is a place of interest that Tourism, tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of ...
as it passes by a star before leaving the star's vicinity and becoming uninhabitable again. Hal Clement's 1974 short story " The Logical Life" explores what kind of life could exist on a planet without a star, while the 2002 '' Star Trek: Enterprise'' episode " Rogue Planet" depicts how the lifeforms on a world of perpetual night might be exploited by outsiders. Earth is threatened by impact with a rogue planet in the 1933 novel ''
When Worlds Collide ''When Worlds Collide'' is a 1933 science fiction novel co-written by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie; they also co-authored the sequel ''After Worlds Collide'' (1934). It was first published as a six-part monthly serial (September 1932 through Fe ...
'' by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie and its 1951 film adaptation, and becomes a rogue planet itself in
Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...
's 1951 short story " A Pail of Air". A rogue planet on a collision course with a star-orbiting planet also appears in
Neil R. Jones Neil Ronald Jones (May 29, 1909 – February 15, 1988) was an American writer who worked for the state of New York. Not prolific, and little remembered today, Jones was ground-breaking in science fiction. His first story, "The Death's Head Meteo ...
's 1934 short story "
The Sunless World ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
", though here the rogue planet is the inhabited one.


Physical environment

Portraying planets with conditions that differ significantly from Earth's in terms of physical environment has been a recurring practice since the middle of the 1900s. Many of these stories imagine how indigenous lifeforms might be adapted to those conditions, with Hal Clement and Poul Anderson being particularly prolific exponents of this craft. The high gravity of Mesklin in Clement's ''Mission of Gravity'' thus results in its inhabitants having a centipede-like body structure, while the low gravity yet dense atmosphere in Anderson's 1958 novel '' War of the Wing-Men'' ( ''The Man Who Counts'') makes it possible for humanoid creatures to fly using their own wings. Desert planets are common; astrophysicist posits that this is because the setting strikes the right balance between novelty and familiarity to most audiences, in addition to the relative inhospitality providing a survival aspect to the narrative. One of the most prominent examples thereof is Arrakis in
Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel '' Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...
's 1965 novel ''
Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
'', where the extreme scarcity of water influences all aspects of the planet's ecology and society. Less extreme desert conditions are found on the ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' planet
Tatooine Tatooine () is a fictional desert planet that appears in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first ...
, with more plentiful and varied lifeforms as a result. At the other end of the spectrum are planets covered entirely by water, an early example of which appears in Neil R. Jones's 1933 short story " Into the Hydrosphere".
Joan Slonczewski Joan Lyn Slonczewski is an American microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer who explores biology and space travel. Their books have twice earned the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel: ''A Door i ...
's 1986 novel ''
A Door into Ocean ''A Door into Ocean'' is a 1986 feminist science fiction novel by Joan Slonczewski. The novel's themes include ecofeminism and nonviolent revolution, as well as Slonczewski's own knowledge in the field of biology. Premise The novel is set in the f ...
'' is a piece of
feminist science fiction Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction (abbreviated "SF") focused on theories that include feminist themes including but not limited to gender inequality, sexuality, race, economics, reproduction, and environment. Feminist ...
set on an ocean world with an all-female population, while
Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...
's 1969 novel ''
The Left Hand of Darkness ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' is a science fiction novel by U.S. writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Published in 1969, it became immensely popular, and established Le Guin's status as a major author of science fiction. The novel is set in the fictiona ...
'' is set on a frigid world of perpetual winter where the inhabitants do not have a fixed sex. One of the planets in the 2014 film '' Interstellar'' is covered by a shallow ocean and orbits so closely around a
black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
that there are both tidal waves the height of mountains and extreme time dilation. Other fictional planets differ in their chemical rather than physical environment. Chlorine planets appear in Isaac Asimov's 1951 short story " C-Chute" and the 1976 '' Space: 1999'' episode " The AB Chrysalis", while
C. J. Cherryh Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942), better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 80 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award-winning novels '' Downbelo ...
's 1988 novel ''
Cyteen ''Cyteen'' (1988) science fiction novel by American writer C. J. Cherryh, set in her Alliance-Union universe. The murder of a major Union politician and scientist has deep, long-lasting repercussions. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 198 ...
'' depicts a planet dominated by
silicon-based life Hypothetical types of biochemistry are forms of biochemistry agreed to be scientifically viable but not proven to exist at this time. The kinds of living organisms currently known on Earth all use carbon compounds for basic structural and metab ...
whose
biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
creates byproducts extremely hazardous to human health.


Living

Planets themselves being portrayed as alive, while relatively rare (especially compared to stars receiving the same treatment), is a recurring theme. Sentient planets appear in
Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...
's 1951 short story "
Here There Be Tygers "Here There Be Tygers" is a short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, originally published in the anthology '' New Tales of Space and Time'' in 1951. It was later collected in Bradbury's short story collections '' R is for Rocket'' and ''The ...
", Stanisław Lem's 1961 novel ''
Solaris Solaris may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...
'', and Terry Pratchett's 1976 novel '' The Dark Side of the Sun''. Ego the Living Planet is a recurring character in
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
. The related concept known as the
Gaia hypothesis The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that help ...
—an entire planetary ecosphere functioning as a single organism, often but not always imbued with a planet-wide
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
—is more common; examples include Murray Leinster's 1949 short story " The Lonely Planet", Isaac Asimov's 1982 novel ''
Foundation's Edge ''Foundation's Edge'' (1982) is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the fourth book in the ''Foundation'' Series. It was written more than thirty years after the stories of the original ''Foundation'' trilogy, due to years ...
'', and the 2009 film ''
Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
''.


List

The following are fictional extrasolar planets with stand-alone Wikipedia articles.


See also

File:Solar system.jpg, alt=A photomontage of the eight planets and the Moon, Clicking on a planet leads to the article about its depiction in fiction. circle 1250 4700 650
Neptune in fiction Neptune was discovered in 1846 and has only made occasional appearances in fiction since then. The first time it was mentioned, then called "Urbain Le Verrier, Leverrier's planet", was in the 1848 novel ''The Triumphs of Woman'' by Charles Rowcrof ...
circle 2150 4505 525
Uranus in fiction Uranus was discovered in 1781 and has comparatively rarely been featured in fiction since then. The earliest such works, such as Stanley G. Weinbaum's 1935 short story " The Planet of Doubt" and Clifton B. Kruse's 1936 short story " Code of the Spa ...
circle 2890 3960 610 Saturn in fiction circle 3450 2880 790
Jupiter in fiction Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, has appeared in works of fiction across several centuries. The way the planet has been depicted has evolved as more has become known about its composition; it was initially portrayed as being entir ...
circle 3015 1770 460
Mars in fiction Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a Setting (narrative), setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. ...
circle 2370 1150 520
Earth in science fiction An overwhelming majority of fiction is set on or features the Earth. This also holds true of science fiction, despite perceptions to the contrary. Counterfactual depictions of the shape of the Earth, be it flat or hollow, occasionally are feature ...
circle 3165 590 280
Moon in science fiction The Moon has appeared in fiction as a setting since at least classical antiquity. Throughout most of literary history, a significant portion of works depicting lunar voyages has been satirical in nature. From the late 1800s onwards, science fic ...
circle 1570 785 475 Venus in fiction circle 990 530 320
Mercury in fiction Fictional depictions of Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System, have gone through three distinct phases. Before much was known about the planet, it received scant attention. Later, when it was incorrectly believed that it was tidally ...
* Stars in fiction *
Fictional planets of the Solar System The fictional portrayal of the Solar System has often included planets, moons, and other celestial objects which do not actually exist in reality. Some of these objects were, at one time, seriously considered as List of hypothetical Solar System o ...
*List of Star Wars planets and moons, List of ''Star Wars'' planets and moons


Notes


References


Further reading

* {{Science fiction Fiction about planets,