We call the heavens “the firmament” for good reason. It’s the one thing about the physical universe that is supposedly immovable and unchangeable – the dark tapestry against which all existence is set, like precious jewels on a velvet background. We then reminded about universal harmony and order, how galaxies appear to radiate from a central point of origin, how stars move away at certain distances, planets obediently circling them like courtiers in a 16th century dance. But there are those who say that the universe is not quite so harmonious – galaxies crash into each other, offering the telescope astounding visuals; stars go nova and supernova, and there may be “orphan” stars and planets wandering the universe.
It is this latter, wayward group that interests us here.
My personal interest in these subjects comes from a deep-rooted interest in science fiction since very early childhood. Classic space opera gives us the notion of dark planets employed as lairs by galactic villains, or entire worlds hurled against the enemy as weapons of war. But pride of place in the displacement of celestial orbs goes to the Gerry Anderson TV series “Space:1999”, set on our very own and familiar Moon, only this time ripped away from Earth by explosions in nuclear waste dumps on the satellite’s dark side. This wandering moon encounters other itinerant worlds (the giant planet Arra among them, from the Collision Course episode, 1975) as part of its highly fanciful but no less entertaining intersterllar adventures.
Arthur C. Clarke’s wonderful books gave us the mysterious asteroid Rama, entering our solar system only as a refueling point before continuing its journey to parts unknown; others authors have speculated about “neutron stars” entering our solar system and causing planetary mayhem. H.G. wells had a comet strike our world and snatch entire segments of our population into space, giving them a tour of the outer planets.
Rogue planets – the easiest “handle” to give these worlds – were best articulated to science fiction opus “When Worlds Collide” (1951), presenting an Earth destroyed by not one, but two wandering planets: Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta. Luckily for our species, a group of humans manage to escape the second of these aboard a classic, needle-nosed rocket ship (the book offers a bonus: ruins of a native civilzation are found on Bronson Beta, so the space refugees can move right in). The actual blasting off to the new world occupies only a few minutes of screen time – the rest of the film concentrates on the more pressing question of who would be allowed to be among the lucky few to leave our dying world. Fritz Leiber delighted science fiction readers with “The Wanderer” (1964) a complex, multiple point-of-view space opera about a rogue planet that materializes in our solar system and pulverizes our moon for fuel, just as a larger world appears out of nowhere: a “law enforcement” planet chasing the miscreant denizens of the “Wanderer” across the galaxy.In more recent years, big-screen thrillfests like “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact” delighted and terrified thousands of viewers all over the world.
Thrilling stuff for sure, to be enjoyed in book form or on the silver screen, but is it really possible that planet-sized intruders could disrupt our solar system? What are we to make of the psychics and paranormalists who have forecast spatial events that are every bit as chilling as those featured in works of fiction?
Rack ‘em Up!
An interesting and eminently factbook compiled by David Wallace and David Wallechinsky (“The People’s Almanac”, 1975) included a prophecy by the notorious T.V. psychic Criswell that proved less-than-accurate: in the year 1982, according to the seer, a dying rogue planet known as Bullanon would enter our solar system and come so close to our planet that it would “affect Earth’s gravity, shifting the poles.” This would in turn result in the rising of a lost continent that would serve as a bridge between the hump of Africa and southeastern South America.
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