Sirius in fiction

The planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple element in much science fiction. Sirius, a double star system with the binary designation Sirius AB, is the brightest stellar object in the night sky. Its component stars are Sirius A (the primary—twice as massive and 25 times more luminous than the Sun[1]) and Sirius B (the secondary—a faint white dwarf).

The name "Sirius" is also often applied to people, animals, or things not directly connected with the star. For other uses, see Sirius (disambiguation).

An artist's impression of Sirius A and Sirius B. Sirius A is the larger star, Sirius B the smaller white dwarf. (NASA)

Sirius AB is the alpha star of the constellation Canis Major (the great dog, sometimes styled as Orion's hunting dog[2]), whence its cognomen "the dog star". The most commonly used proper name of this star comes through the Latin Sirius, from the Greek Σείριος (Seirios, glowing or scorcher). The ancient Greeks observed that the appearance of Sirius heralded the hot and dry dog days of summer, and feared that it caused plants to wilt, men to weaken, and women to become aroused.[3] The star was also an important harbinger of winter to Maori and Polynesian cultures, and central to the animist beliefs of the Dogon people of Mali. To this day it is frequently mentioned in science fiction and related popular culture.[4]

General uses

Fictional works that do not refer to Sirius as a location in space or the center of a planetary system include:

• The Iliad (c. eighth cent BCE), epic poem attributed to Homer. Homer describes the final approach of the Greeks' shining warrior, Achilles, toward Troy by comparing him to the dazzling star Sirius.[2] (sky, myth)
• Absalom and Achitophel (1681), satirical poem by John Dryden.[5]
• Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), novel by Thomas Hardy. Sirius makes several appearances in this book as a companion of other prominent stars, then as the follower of the Pleiades l.[6] (sky)
• Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), novel by Thomas Hardy. Tess sits with her new husband Angel before the embers of a fire, and her jewelry sparkles in its crimson glare.[7]
• Dogsbody (1975), juvenile novel by Diana Wynne Jones. The star Sirius (the dog star) is an intelligent being falsely accused by his peers of murdering another star.[8]
• The Silmarillion (1977), compendium of mythopoeic works by J. R. R. Tolkien, including the creation myth limning the origins of the Elvish race: Sirius is called Helluin by the Elves.[9]
• Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (1994), novel by Tom Robbins. The plot refers to the Sirius mysteries and the mythology surrounding the Dogon people of Mali in west Africa.[10][11]

Literature

• True History (c. second cent CE), travel tale by the Greek-speaking Syrian author Lucian of Samosata.[12] The novel mentions alien Sirian acorn-dogs ("dog-faced men fighting on winged acorns"), who help him carry the day.[13]
• "Micromégas" (1752), short story by Voltaire. The tale recounts the visit to Earth of a giant from a world circling the star Sirius.[14]
• "A Vision of Judgment" (1899), short story by H.G. Wells.[15]
• The Struggle for Empire: A Story of the Year 2236 (1900), novel by Robert William Cole. The story describes a devastating interstellar war between Earth's Anglo-Saxon Empire and the natives of the Sirian planet Kairet.[16]
• "Proof" (1942), short story by Hal Clement published in Astounding Science-Fiction.[17]
• Foundation series (1951- ), novels by Isaac Asimov. The star system 61 Cygni, in the Sirius Sector, is advanced by Lord Dorwin as a potential site for the planet of origin of the human species.[18][19]
• Pebble In The Sky (1950) protagonist is from Sirius - Sirius sector extensively mentioned.[20]
• "Allamagoosa" (1955), short story by Eric Frank Russell published in Astounding Science-Fiction.[21]
• Wasp (1957), novel by Eric Frank Russell. Earth is at war with the crypto-nazi Sirian Empire.[22])
• Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn (1958), sixth and final novel in the juvenile series written by Isaac Asimov as by Paul French. The Sirians have established a colony on Saturn's moon Titan and claimed the moon for their own.[23]
• Seed of Light (1959), novel by Edmund Cooper. The tale concerns the voyage of a generation starship to the Sirius system.[24]
• Unearthly Neighbors (1960), novel by Chad Oliver. The humanoid inhabitants of Sirius A IX have a nature-centered worldview based on intuition and meditation.
• Space Opera (1965), novel by Jack Vance. The characters are to perform Beethoven’s Fidelio for the edification of the byzantaurs of Sirius Planet.[25]
• The Starlight Barking (1967), novel by Dodie Smith.[26]
• "Foeman, Where Do You Flee?" (1969), novelette by Ben Bova published in the collection Maxwell's Demons (1979).[27]
• The Age of the Pussyfoot (1969), novel by Frederik Pohl.
• As on a Darkling Plain (1972), novel by Ben Bova. An interstellar expedition explores the planet Sirius A II.[28]
• "The Borderland of Sol" (1975), Known Space short story by Larry Niven published in the collection Tales of Known Space (1975). JInx is a massive moon of the gas giant Primary in orbit around Sirius A.[29][30][note 1]
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), novel and series by Douglas Adams. Most of the technology mentioned in the Hitchhiker series consists of products of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.
• The Sirian Experiments (1980), third novel in the Canopus in Argos series by literature Nobelist Doris Lessing. The Sirian Empire, centred in the Sirius star system, has advanced technology that makes its citizens effectively immortal and sophisticated machines that do almost everything for them.[31]
• Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1982), Japanese novel series, written by Yoshiki Tanaka. Sirius is the leader of human dissident colonies in the Galaxy.
• The Songs of Distant Earth (1986), novel by Arthur C. Clarke.
• The Garden of Rama (1991), novel written by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee, a sequel to the novels Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II.
• Great North Road (2012), novel by Peter F. Hamilton. The story is set partially on the habitable world of St Libra in the Sirius star system.
• J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series has Harry's godfather named Sirius Black (Sirius B), a character who can turn into a dog.

Film and television

• "Mudd's Passion" (1973), episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series.
• "Frontier in Space" (1973), serial of the British television series Doctor Who.
• V (1983–1985), miniseries and regular television series created by Kenneth Johnson. Carnivorous reptilian humanoids from Sirius IV invade the Earth.[32]
• "The Caves of Androzani" (1984), serial of the British television series Doctor Who. The colonized planets Androzani Major and Androzani Minor are in the Sirius system.
• Children of the Dog Star (1984), New Zealand television program written by Ken Catran and directed by Chris Bailey. Three children on holiday in rural New Zealand find and assemble the parts of what turns out to be a space probe from the Sirius B system.
• Screamers (1995), film set on Sirius B VI, called Sirius 6B.
• Voices of a Distant Star (2002), Japanese original video animation.
• Good Boy! (2003), film
• Power Rangers: S.P.D. (2005–2006). Commander Anubis "Doggie" Cruger, the commander of Space Patrol Delta's Earth Branch, is a Sirian.
• "Last of the Present Sirius" (2006), episode of the Nebulous comedy radio show.
• Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (2012), the Sirius system is the first star system outside our own to be reached by humans when the Yamato warps to that system in the eighth episode, "Wish Upon a Star"

Radio

• Doctor Who audio drama "Dead London"
• Doctor Who audio drama "Max Warp"

Games

• Traveller (1977), tabletop role-playing game.
• Frontier: Elite II (1993), Frontier: First Encounters (1995) and Elite: Dangerous (2014) computer games.
• Star Fox (1993),video game series.
• Independence War (1997–1998), computer game.[33]
• Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War (1998) and FreeSpace 2 (1999), computer games.
• Serious Sam (2001–2002), video game series.
• Freelancer (2003), video game.[34]
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope (2009), anime-flavored video game.
• Earth & Beyond (2002), a MMORPG by Westwood Studios, published by EA Games. Sirius is a system with three sectors: Xipe Totec, Swooping Eagle, and Swooping Eagle Planet.

See also

• Stars and planetary systems in fiction
• Binary stars in fiction

Notes and references

Notes

1. Substantial or passing references to Jinx and its extensively adapted human inhabitants—the Jinxians—appear in almost all of Niven's tales of Known Space.

References

1. Liebert, J; Young, P A; Arnett, D; Holberg, J B; Williams, K A; Arnett, David; Holberg, J. B.; Williams, Kurtis A. (2005). "The Age and Progenitor Mass of Sirius B". The Astrophysical Journal. 630 (1): L69–L72. arXiv:astro-ph/0507523. Bibcode:2005ApJ...630L..69L. doi:10.1086/462419.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
2. Homer (1962). Iliad. 22:25. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 435–436. ISBN 0-226-46940-9.
3. Holberg, J B (2007). Sirius: Brightest Diamond in the Night Sky. Chichester, UK: Praxis Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 0-387-48941-X.
4. The editors of Analog and Asimov's Science Fiction (1993). Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-312-08926-9.
5. Dryden, John (1681). "Absalom And Achitophel". Read Book Online. pp. [etext: search on quotation]. Retrieved 2012-04-18.
6. Hardy, Thomas (2000). Far from the Madding Crowd. London: Penguin Classics. pp. 9, 12. ISBN 978-0-14-143965-5.
7. Hardy, Thomas (2009). Tess of the d'Urbervilles. London: Arcturus. p. 218. ISBN 978-1-84837-322-8.
8. Jones, Diana Wynne (1975). Dogsbody. New York: Greenwillow Books. p. 5. ISBN 0-06-441038-2.
9. Tolkien, J R R (1977). The Silmarillion. ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-547-95198-0.
10. Hoyser, Catherine E; Lorena Laura Stookey (1997). Tom Robbins: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 9, 150. ISBN 0-313-29418-6. Retrieved 2012-04-21. Tom Robbins: A Critical Companion.
11. Temple, Robert (1998). The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence of Alien Contact 5,000 Years Ago. passim. Merrimac, MA: Destiny Books. ISBN 0-89281-750-X.
12. Fredericks, S C (1976). "Lucian's "True History" as SF". Science Fiction Studies. 3 (1): 49–60. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
13. Reardon, B P (2008). Collected Ancient Greek Novels. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 619–622. ISBN 0-520-25655-7.
14. Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1993). "Voltaire". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St Martin’s Griffin. pp. 1287–1288. ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
15. Wells, H G (1927). "A Vision of Judgment—§9". The Short Stories of H.G. Wells. London: Ernest Benn. p. 114.
16. Cole, Robert (1900). "Bibliography: The Struggle for Empire". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
17. Clement, Hal (1942). "Bibliography: Proof". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
18. Asimov, Isaac (2008). Foundation. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. p. 23. ISBN 0-7653-1912-8.
19. Isaac Asimov. Foundation's Edge, Del Rey/Ballantine Books, New York, ç1982 p.218
20. Isaac Asimov. Pebble in the Sky, Fawcett Crest, Grenwich, 1950 p.28
21. Asimov, Isaac (1962). The Hugo Winners. 1. Robbinsdale, MN: Fawcett Crest. p. 86.
22. Russell, E F (2007). Wasp. London: Pollinger. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-905665-45-7.
23. Asimov, Isaac (1958). Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn. New York: Doubleday. p. 8.
24. Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1993). "Cooper, Edmund". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St Martin’s Griffin. p. 263. ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
25. Vance, Jack (2005). Space Opera. 18. Multiple editors. Oakland, CA: The Vance Integral Edition. pp. 54–74. ISBN 0-9712375-1-4.
26. Smith, Dodie (1997). The Starlight Barking. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 111, 115. ISBN 0-312-15664-2.
27. "Bibliography: Foeman, Where Do You Flee?". The Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
28. Bova, Ben (1972). As on a Darkling Plain. New York: Dell. p. 86.
29. Niven, Larry (1975). Tales of Known Space. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 157. ISBN 0-345-24563-6.
30. O'Neill, Brian (2011). "Jinx". Encyclopedia of Known Space. p. [etext: search on Jinx]. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
31. Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1993). "Lessing, Doris". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St Martin’s Griffin. p. 714. ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
32. Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1993). "V". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St Martin’s Griffin. p. 1263. ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
33. "Independence War Deluxe". CodeWeavers. p. click on ellipsis for full review. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
34. Sulic, Ivan (2003-01-07). "Freely Lancing". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2012-05-07.