page_title: Stars and planetary systems in fiction
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Stars and planetary systems in fiction / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1950. First issue. Artist: David Stone Web source: http://www.noosfere.com Used in Galaxy Science Fiction, which evidently contracted for artwork on a Work for hire basis (see, e.g., Vincent di Fate, Infinite Worlds [1997], p. 160), meaning the copyright resided with the publisher rather than the artist. Works copyrighted before 1964 had to have the copyright renewed sometime in the 28th year. If the copyright was not renewed the work is in the public domain. These records are in the online catalog found here: http://www.copyright.gov/records . The copyright registration for the October 1950 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction is B00000262888 on September 8,1950. Two stories in this issue were renewed but the magazine was not. "The Stars are the Styx" by Theodore Sturgeon (RE0000031280 / 1978-03-03) and "The Last Martian" by Fredric Brown (RE0000010133 / 1978-12-19). The copyright on this magazine was not renewed and it is in the public domain.
context_page_description: The planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple element in many works of the science fiction genre.
context_section_description: The notion that there might be inhabited extrasolar planets can be traced at least as far back as Giordano Bruno who, in his De l'infinito, universo e mondi (On the Infinite, Universe and Worlds, 1584), declared that "There are then innumerable suns, and an infinite number of earths revolve around those suns, [These worlds are inhabited] if not exactly as our own, and if not more nobly, at least no less inhabited and no less nobly." Allusions to inhabitants of other stars' planetary systems remained rare in literature for some centuries thereafter. One of these is found in Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), which features a traveller from Sirius.
  As science fiction became established in the early 20th century, destinations such as the Moon, Mars, Venus, and other bodies within the Solar System began to seem stale. Authors invoked a variety of mechanisms for superluminal travel (or generation starships) and placed their stories on worlds in planetary systems around other stars, an innovation that gave them the freedom to construct exotic fictional planets and themes. This tendency became predominant once the exploration of the Solar System was complete enough to conclusively demonstrate the unlikelihood of any highly developed form of extraterrestrial life here, aside from humans on Earth.
  Although some of the stars named in works of science fiction are purely imaginary, many authors and artists have preferred to use the names of real stars that are well known to astronomers, and indeed the lay public, either because they are notably bright in the sky or because they are relatively close to Earth.
caption: Time Quarry, a Clifford D. Simak novel serialised in Galaxy Science Fiction Novels
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