astronomy

One of Our Planets Is Missing

One of Our Planets Is Missing is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand One of Our Planets Is Missing rather than just read about it. In short: "One of Our Planets Is Missing" is the third episode of the first season of the animated American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Animated Series. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on September 22, 1973, and was written by veteran Star Trek director Marc Daniels.

Key takeaways

One of Our Planets Is Missing belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect One of Our Planets Is Missing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of One of Our Planets Is Missing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"One of Our Planets Is Missing" is the third episode of the first season of the animated American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Animated Series. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on September 22, 1973, and was written by veteran Star Trek director Marc Daniels. It was directed by Hal Sutherland. In this episode, the Enterprise must contend with a massive space cloud that eats planets, now targeting a Federation colony of over 82 million inhabitants.

Plot The Enterprise encounters a giant cloud that consumes planets that lie in its path. They determine it is heading for Mantilles, home to a Federation colony governed by retired Starfleet officer Robert Wesley. Captain Kirk contacts Wesley, but he has only enough time and starships to evacuate a tiny fraction of the planet's children. When phasers have no effect, Kirk takes the Enterprise inside the cloud in an attempt to stop it. Avoiding obstacles and proceeding from one chamber to another, the ship begins to lose power. One chamber contains protrusions consisting of pure anti-matter which Chief Engineer Scott beams aboard in a special container and uses to replenish the warp drive engines. Science Officer Spock discovers that the cloud has a brain. Kirk orders preparations be made to self-destruct the Enterprise in the creature's brain in order to kill it. Seeking an alternative to loss of life, however, he suggests Spock use a Vulcan mind meld to communicate with the entity. Since physical contact with the entity is impossible, the ship's sensors are focused on the electrical impulses of the entity's synapses, translating them into thought in order to accomplish the mind meld. Spock tells it that there is life on the planet it plans to consume and allows it to perceive them through Spock's own eyes. Not wanting to kill other life forms, the cloud entity agrees to leave the Enterprise alone and return to its place of origin.

Reception The book TrekNavigator called the episode "one of the best [shows] that animated [Trek] spin-off has to offer" and "a highly satisfying episode that nicely encapsulates the Star Trek philosophy." It praised the animation of the space cloud and the strong logic of the climactic mind-meld. Tor.com rated the episode 7 out of 10.

Notes

References

External links "One of Our Planets Is Missing" at IMDb

"One of Our Planets Is Missing" at Memory Alpha "One of Our Planets Is Missing" at Wayback Machine (archived from the original at StarTrek.com) "One of Our Planets Is Missing" at Curt Danhauser's Guide to the Animated Star Trek

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with One of Our Planets Is Missing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what One of Our Planets Is Missing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to One of Our Planets Is Missing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about One of Our Planets Is Missing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of One of Our Planets Is Missing

In research: One of Our Planets Is Missing appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses One of Our Planets Is Missing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: One of Our Planets Is Missing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1973 American television episodes, Fiction about planets, Star Trek: The Animated Series episodes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for One of Our Planets Is Missing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “One of Our Planets Is Missing” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study One of Our Planets Is Missing in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what One of Our Planets Is Missing means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain One of Our Planets Is Missing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is One of Our Planets Is Missing in simple terms?

Why does One of Our Planets Is Missing matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study One of Our Planets Is Missing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on One of Our Planets Is Missing.