Orphans of the Sky
Orphans of the Sky is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, consisting of two parts: "Universe" (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1941) and its sequel, "Common Sense" (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1941). The two novellas were first published together in book form in 1963. "Universe" was also published separately in 1951 as a 10¢ Dell paperback. These works contain one of the earliest fictional depictions of a generation ship.
Characters and story
At the beginning of the story, the gigantic, cylindrical generation ship Vanguard, originally destined for Proxima Centauri, is cruising pilotless through the interstellar medium as a result of a mutiny that killed all the piloting officers. Over time, the descendants of the surviving loyal crew have forgotten the purpose and nature of their ship and lapsed into a pre-technological culture marked by superstition, wherein the word "Ship" is become a synonym of "cosmos", so that "To move the ship" is considered an oxymoron, and references to the Ship's "voyage" are interpreted as metaphor. They are ruled by an oligarchy of "Officers" and "Scientists", whose head is the putative heir of or successor to the original captain. Most crew members lead a simple illiterate life of agriculture, seldom or never venturing to the "upper decks" where the "muties" (an abbreviation of "mutants" or "mutineers") dwell.
The story centers upon an intelligent and curious young man, Hugh Hoyland, who is early in adulthood selected as an apprentice of the Scientists, who ritualistically perform the technical tasks operating the Ship (such as entering trash into its energy-converter for lighting and environmental control) while ignorant of their true functions. On a mission to hunt muties, Hugh is captured and becomes the slave of Joe-Jim Gregory, the two-headed leader of a powerful mutie gang, who later reveal the Ship's true nature and purpose to Hugh.
Having become convinced of the Ship's true purpose, Hugh convinces Joe-Jim to complete the Vanguard's mission of reaching its intended destination (preserved in fable as "Far Centaurus"), and returns to the lower levels of the Ship to convince others to help him; but is arrested by his former boss Bill Ertz and sentenced to death. While in his cell, Hugh persuades his old friend Alan Mahoney to enlist Joe-Jim's gang in rescuing him; and sometime after having been rescued, reveals the proof of his assertions to Bill and Alan. Bill then goes to convince the captain's aide, Phineas Narby, to join Hugh's effort.
Inspired by one of Joe-Jim's books, The Three Musketeers, the protagonists create swords superior to any weapons present in the lower Ship and and overthrow the Captain, later to install Phineas as Captain, Joe-Jim as Vice-Captain, Bill as Chief Engineer, and Hugh himself as astrogator. When Phineas is secure in his position, he launches an attack to rid the Ship of muties once and for all. Joe is killed in the fighting; whereupon Jim sacrifices himself to hold off their pursuers long enough for Hugh, Bill, Alan, and their wives to retreat to a lifeboat left by the Ship's builders, wherein they leave the Ship and land on the inhabitable moon of a gas giant, which they explore and colonize.
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Revelation 6:14 - Geneva Study Bible
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;
Revelation 6:14 - NIV
14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up,
gsb.biblecommenter.com...
Revelation 6:14 - Geneva Study Bible
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;
Revelation 6:14 - NIV
14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up,
gsb.biblecommenter.com...
Originally posted by this_is_who_we_are
So I decided to do a little background reading on Sumerian mythology this evening. I started looking in the usual place: Wikipedia. reading through the main article I clicked on the link for Nammu, the Sumerian creation goddess. Reading through this article I found that Nammu was "probably the first personification of the constellation called Tiamat..." what the Greeks called..."Cetus."
Linking on Cetus I started reading through the article and discovered that "Cetus lies far from the galactic plane, so that many distant galaxies are visible, unobscured by dust from the Milky Way. Of these, the brightest is Messier 77 (NGC 1068), a 9th magnitude spiral galaxy near δ Ceti. Recently, the galactic cluster JKCS 041 was confirmed to be the most distant cluster of galaxies yet discovered.[1]"
So, being curious, I opened Google Earth and went to Google Sky to take a look at the most distant galawy clusters we've discovered. While navigating around the area I came upon a "line of stars" extending horizontally through Cetus, and intersectected by a similar vertical "line of stars"
I've drawn red lines in Google earth/sky and posted the picture below.
You may find the point of origin for my cursory Google Earth tour at these coordintes:
2 26 33 -04 41 37
Pan back slightly and you'll see the lines I'm referring to.
Question: What are these.
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edit on 12/13/2010 by this_is_who_we_are because: photo
www.abovetopsecret.com...
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