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Prof. Sam Lawler
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 6 hours ago

In 1964, the first simulation showing that Pluto is in a mean-motion resonance with Neptune was published: https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1965Obs....85...43C

They ran a 120,000 year simulation that showed libration of the resonant angle for the first time. This must have been terrifyingly hard to do. Punch cards, vacuum tubes, FORTRAN? I don't even know how they did this, but it was run on the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator

This was the first time Pluto's orbital stability was explained.

A figure from a paper showing Pluto's motion relative to Neptune's over 120,000 years.  Pluto makes almost a circle, but with two little loops 90 degrees from Neptune's position.
A figure from a paper showing Pluto's motion relative to Neptune's over 120,000 years. Pluto makes almost a circle, but with two little loops 90 degrees from Neptune's position.
A figure from a paper showing Pluto's motion relative to Neptune's over 120,000 years. Pluto makes almost a circle, but with two little loops 90 degrees from Neptune's position.
A man is retired.
A man is retired.
@Photo55@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 hours ago

@sundogplanets
In 1966 #LarryNiven a SciFi author in #WorldOfPtavvs had #Pluto a moon of Neptune, long previously hit by a spaceship at relativistic speed aimed at #Neptune An artifact protected by a plot device remained on it.

He would have been aware of that work I think.

Good story, although the usual elements wouldn't do this century.

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Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan
@MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art  ·  activity timestamp 7 months ago

FOOTFALL (1984)
Acrylic - 29" x 19"

This Larry Niven cover is the only painting done for Del Rey Books in which I was “art-directed” into doing something I did not want to do. 1/5

#sciencefiction#scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #larryniven

An elephant-like alien with multiple branching trunks hides behind the wood framed wreckage of a building. The tentacles of one trunk holds a mirror to peer around the corner. Another trunk holds a machine gun with curved magazine and bayonet. A man in drab military fatigues approaches with rifle in hand. The mirror isn't fixed on him but rather a woman in a tattered pink dress standing on the hill behind. She is pointing toward where the alien huddles. A red jacket is strapped to the alien's back along with a satchel that contained a teddy bear. Across a field of wheat and a foreground strewn with household wreckage that includes a water heater, bicycle, and wooden ladder, we can see the remains of a house that is only partially standing.
An elephant-like alien with multiple branching trunks hides behind the wood framed wreckage of a building. The tentacles of one trunk holds a mirror to peer around the corner. Another trunk holds a machine gun with curved magazine and bayonet. A man in drab military fatigues approaches with rifle in hand. The mirror isn't fixed on him but rather a woman in a tattered pink dress standing on the hill behind. She is pointing toward where the alien huddles. A red jacket is strapped to the alien's back along with a satchel that contained a teddy bear. Across a field of wheat and a foreground strewn with household wreckage that includes a water heater, bicycle, and wooden ladder, we can see the remains of a house that is only partially standing.
An elephant-like alien with multiple branching trunks hides behind the wood framed wreckage of a building. The tentacles of one trunk holds a mirror to peer around the corner. Another trunk holds a machine gun with curved magazine and bayonet. A man in drab military fatigues approaches with rifle in hand. The mirror isn't fixed on him but rather a woman in a tattered pink dress standing on the hill behind. She is pointing toward where the alien huddles. A red jacket is strapped to the alien's back along with a satchel that contained a teddy bear. Across a field of wheat and a foreground strewn with household wreckage that includes a water heater, bicycle, and wooden ladder, we can see the remains of a house that is only partially standing.
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Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan
@MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art  ·  activity timestamp 7 months ago

FOOTFALL (1984)
Acrylic - 29" x 19"

This Larry Niven cover is the only painting done for Del Rey Books in which I was “art-directed” into doing something I did not want to do. 1/5

#sciencefiction#scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #larryniven

An elephant-like alien with multiple branching trunks hides behind the wood framed wreckage of a building. The tentacles of one trunk holds a mirror to peer around the corner. Another trunk holds a machine gun with curved magazine and bayonet. A man in drab military fatigues approaches with rifle in hand. The mirror isn't fixed on him but rather a woman in a tattered pink dress standing on the hill behind. She is pointing toward where the alien huddles. A red jacket is strapped to the alien's back along with a satchel that contained a teddy bear. Across a field of wheat and a foreground strewn with household wreckage that includes a water heater, bicycle, and wooden ladder, we can see the remains of a house that is only partially standing.
An elephant-like alien with multiple branching trunks hides behind the wood framed wreckage of a building. The tentacles of one trunk holds a mirror to peer around the corner. Another trunk holds a machine gun with curved magazine and bayonet. A man in drab military fatigues approaches with rifle in hand. The mirror isn't fixed on him but rather a woman in a tattered pink dress standing on the hill behind. She is pointing toward where the alien huddles. A red jacket is strapped to the alien's back along with a satchel that contained a teddy bear. Across a field of wheat and a foreground strewn with household wreckage that includes a water heater, bicycle, and wooden ladder, we can see the remains of a house that is only partially standing.
An elephant-like alien with multiple branching trunks hides behind the wood framed wreckage of a building. The tentacles of one trunk holds a mirror to peer around the corner. Another trunk holds a machine gun with curved magazine and bayonet. A man in drab military fatigues approaches with rifle in hand. The mirror isn't fixed on him but rather a woman in a tattered pink dress standing on the hill behind. She is pointing toward where the alien huddles. A red jacket is strapped to the alien's back along with a satchel that contained a teddy bear. Across a field of wheat and a foreground strewn with household wreckage that includes a water heater, bicycle, and wooden ladder, we can see the remains of a house that is only partially standing.
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