Stars and Garters: Stellar Cartography in SFR - guest post by @ChristieMeierz

My education in science is on the light side—I took a number of intro courses in high school and college, but nothing in-depth. Armed with the received wisdom that a little knowledge is more dangerous than a thorough grounding, when I set out to write SF romance, the science part intimidated me.
You can get away with a lot as long as you keep the reader entertained. After all, you don’t need to know how an internal combustion engine works in order to drive a car, and you don’t even need to know that much to be a passenger. When the heroine of my first novel took a trip in faster-than-light ships from Earth to Beta Hydri IV, with a layover at Tau Ceti Station, she didn’t know how a Kline-Thompson-Nishida engine works.
And neither do I.
But I did need to put the destinations in the right places, or anyone with a little knowledge of astronomy would be bumped right out of their willing suspension of disbelief. I could, of course, have set my novel in a galaxy far, far away and not had to worry about any of this, but… Marianne Woolsey insisted that she was born in Casey, Iowa, and who was I to argue? Near-Earth space it was.Wikipedia will tell you almost everything you want to know about all but the most obscure stars. Beta Hydri, then, is about 24.3 light-years away from Earth; Tau Ceti lies about 11.9 light-years away.
But how far is Beta Hydri from Tau Ceti? Enter the Internet Stellar Database. I can do the math, but the ISDB saves me the work: I put the name of a star in the search field (Tau Ceti, say), and at the top of that star’s database page, click the button that says Find all stars within 25 light years. Voila! Beta Hydri is 21.5538 light years from Tau Ceti (N.B.—it only lists the first 100 results).
Space being 3D, these numbers didn’t give me a good mental picture of where everything was. For that, the 3D Galaxy Map is invaluable; at a glance—well, a glance plus some mouse-clicking—I can tell which stars are nearby. It didn’t take very long for me to get a very good feel for what’s where out there in our stellar neighborhood. But which stars might have habitable planets? Again, Wikipedia is a handy place to look, or you can use NASA’s archive.What color is a class K star, anyway? The two best sources I found to understand the information on those pages were Coursera (free! and there’s an app for that!) and The Great Courses (inexpensive when on sale, or check your local library). Both have excellent astronomy courses. I highly recommend them.

Bio:

Award-winning author Christie Meierz writes space opera and science fiction romance set in an empathic civilization. Her published works include her PRISM award-winning novel, The Marann, its sequel Daughters of Suralia, both now available from Sky Warrior Books, and two prequel short stories published in Into Tolari Space ~ The First Contact Stories.

Christie now lives in Pittsburgh with her mathematician husband and an assortment of stuffies. When she’s not writing, she writes about writing on her blog, Meierz Musings, and Facebook, where she welcomes comments and friend requests.

Purchase links (latest work—Daughters of Suralia):

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JQUBW7A/

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/daughters-of-suralia-christie-meierz/1115165073

Blurb (Daughters of Suralia):

Three women, two planets, and a whale...

For Marianne Woolsey, linguist and tutor, being empathically bonded to the leader of the Tolari turns out to be a bed of roses - complete with thorns. Especially thorns.

With diplomatic relations severed and humans kicked out of Tolari space, the Earth Fleet ship Alexander is gone ... for now ... but Earth Central Command hasn't given up trying to get Marianne back. As she struggles with surprises, nightmares, and a bond-partner who can't be tamed, she just wants to figure out where she fits in a society that isn't quite human.

Laura Howard, the Admiral's widow, only desires to be left in peace to gather the fragments of a shattered heart, but Central Command has plans for her, too.

Meanwhile, the Sural's apothecary is a serene and gifted healer who knows what - and who - she wants. Circumstances have conspired to deny her the man she's always loved, but in the pursuit of his heart, she finds an unexpected ally.

Social Media links:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Christie.Meierz & http://www.facebook.com/TolariSpace (fan page)

Blog: http://christiemeierz.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/christiemeierz

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/christiemeierz

Have We Lost the Desire for Space Travel?

It seems like every week now scientists are discovering new alien worlds in our galaxy. Diamond planets. Exo planets. Planetary systems with binary suns like Tattoine. There’s no definite proof if any of them are inhabitable, or perhaps even already inhabited, but will we ever find out for sure?

Since the US space program was cancelled, I’ve been wondering if humanity will ever venture any further into space. As a science fiction writer I’ve imagined exploring new worlds. As a child I dreamt of being a companion in Doctor Who and exploring all of time and space - I even wrote my first complete novel based on those wishes! I’d hoped at least to see a manned mission to Mars in my lifetime.

But now it seems like that dream is over. There are no more flights into space by the US. I watched Space: 1999 as a child, but that year has come and gone without any sign of a potential MoonbaseAlpha. Will it ever happen? In regards to the Moon is it too much a case of “been there, done that”?

Of course there are commercial plans for flights into space as part of the tourism industry. Virgin Galactic for one. Perhaps a research base on the Moon is unlikely, but maybe there’ll be a hotel? A luxury lunar resort? Perhaps private enterprise will take us back into space and beyond.

I heard on the news today that Newt Gingrich is proposing to reinstate the space program and build a lunar base. Of course, I always take promises from a politician with a big dose of skepticism, especially from one yet to be in the position to keep such promises. Perhaps it’s not just a lack of funds, but a lack of desire to go back into space. I hope not. I still hope to see that mission to Mars. “To infinity, and beyond!” as Buzz Lightyear would say. 

Have we lost the drive to be a space-traveling species? What do you think?

The Best Day Job in the Universe - The Joy of Teaching

Last week I introduced you to the fun of my job. Playing with starship simulators is definitely entertaining, but the real power of my job comes from the teaching. It's a lot like writing except the payoff is more immediate.

How do you feel when a fan contacts you to tell you they loved your book? Warm fuzzies all over. Knowing you have touched a child's mind is powerful. We as writers are long-distance teachers. We say we're just providing entertainment, but think about what's buried in your story. What lessons are you teaching your readers? Compassion? Loyalty? Persistence? Look at what your characters value. Look at what they do to finally win against the odds. Those are the lessons you teach through your writing.

I'm a teacher, by training and profession. At the space center, I run our planetarium and write the lesson plans we use for the field trip groups. The best pay for my job is hearing the kids whispering in the planetarium, pointing out the stars to their friends. I love sharing my passion for astronomy. It's powerful when you make a connection with someone. Listen to the awe in their voices on their first time seeing the wonders of space, finding a constellation, or just plain looking up at night. I'm opening their eyes to the glory and beauty that exists all around us.

Three of us teach at the center. We had a huge discussion a couple years ago about the objective of our lessons. Teachers usually teach for comprehension and understanding. Repetition is key to that kind of teaching. We had an epiphany as we discussed our upcoming lesson for the school year. We weren't teaching for comprehension. Our whole objective was to throw information at the children as fast as we could. We wanted even the brightest student in the class to leave with more questions than answers. We wanted them to glimpse how much we didn't know yet about space and time and physics. We pushed those little 5th and 6th graders clear into college physics on a regular basis. With only 45 minutes at best, we can't teach a topic for comprehension. But we can raise questions and introduce concepts.

We pull out all the stops, producing a multimedia presentation with as many experiments and demonstrations and eye-catching decorations as we can finagle. We have to at least pretend to compete with the simulators. Some days, it falls flat. The kids are bored and restless or rude and obnoxious. It happens. But if I touch even one young mind, I have succeeded.

With my writing, it's the same way. We as authors touch one mind at a time. We aren't going to win over every person who reads, but we can touch those who resonate with our stories. We can make a difference one life at a time.

This turned into more of an essay about the power of teaching than one about the space center, but teaching and education are central to what we do at the space center. Even the simulators exist as teaching tools. Most of our staff and customers don't realize it; they think they are there for entertainment. But I know better.

To borrow a quote from Christa McAuliffe, the teacher the center is named after, "I touch the future. I teach."

Counting Stars

Every once in awhile during a story, my characters stop and count the stars. It's a way to keep from taking the backdrop of space for granted. Think of your last road trip. Did it really pass in a blur? Or was there something, no matter how tiny, that made you catch in your breath for a second? When I need something for a space-faring hero to show a heroine or other way around, I go to Hubble Telescope site, and to the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day. The Astronomy Picture of the Day isn't strictly photos of celestial phenomena as evidenced by a spectacular shot of lightning generated from volcanic ash clouds. In that photo, you're seeing something that science cannot fully explain, yet. Theory has it that static builds up in the dust, gas and heat, thereby generating the lightning, but research to verify the hypothesis is ongoing. Where am I headed with this? What's out there between the stars? Dust and gas. Suppose your spaceship passes near a dense, dark nebula that's thick with dust. A nearby star has been exhibiting an upswing in radiation emissions, exciting that dust and gas. If lightning doesn't require oxygen in order to fire, a hero and/or heroine could catch a deep space lightning storm. Or perhaps a spaceship cuts through a patch of dust and the static generated by the dust passing over the hull leads to new adventure? Do they glow and give away their position? Does the static blow their electrical grid? Or short their onboard computers? How many ways do you want your characters to survive by the skin of their teeth just after they've paused to count the stars?