astronomy

Planetary series

Planetary series 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 Planetary series rather than just read about it. In short: The Planetary series of stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum is a series of short stories, published in Wonder Stories and Astounding Stories in the 1930s, which are set upon various planets and moons of the Solar System.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Planetary series of stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum is a series of short stories, published in Wonder Stories and Astounding Stories in the 1930s, which are set upon various planets and moons of the Solar System. The stories are marked by attention to the detail of the alien ecosystems with which Weinbaum equips his planets. Though only a few of the stories share protagonists, there is enough shared detail between the stories to show that they belong to a common fictional universe. The birdlike Martians of "A Martian Odyssey" and "Valley of Dreams", for instance, are mentioned in "Redemption Cairn", and "The Red Peri" and the Venusian trioptes of "Parasite Planet" and "The Lotus Eaters" are mentioned in "The Mad Moon". In Weinbaum's Solar System, in accordance with the then-current near-collision hypothesis, the gas giants radiate heat, enough to warm their satellites to Earthlike temperatures, allowing for Earthlike environments on Io, Europa, Titan, and even Uranus. Mars is also sufficiently Earthlike to allow humans to walk its surface (with training in thin-air chambers) unprotected. The series includes the following ten titles, in publication order:

Chronology Less than 20 years before "A Martian Odyssey" – "Atomic blast" perfected by Doheny. (A Martian Odyssey) 10 years before "A Martian Odyssey" – First Moon expedition by Cardoza, followed by half-a-dozen others and the failed de Lancey expedition to Venus.(A Martian Odyssey) Early 2000s – Events of "A Martian Odyssey" and "Valley of Dreams" 2000-2005 - Colonization of Venus (The Red Peri) 2020 – International Congress at Lisle apportions the British and American claims to Venus (The Lotus Eaters) 2030* – Hocken rocket developed, followed by Russian annexation of the Moon and travel to Mars and Venus (Flight on Titan) 2059 – Council of Berne limits extent of planetary claims made by discoverers. (The Planet of Doubt) 2060 – Young expedition to Uranus (The Planet of Doubt) c. 2067 — Perry Maclane invents the thermoid expansion chamber (The Red Peri) c. 2065-2061 — Legal battle between Perry Maclane and Interplanetary (The Red Peri) c. 2061 — Peri Maclane born (The Red Peri) c. 2064 — Perry Maclane sets up a pirate base on Pluto with the advance ship Red Peri (The Red Peri) c. 2070 — Pacific War (Redemption Cairn) c. 2077 — Death of Perry Maclane in a raid on the Lucrece (The Red Peri) c. 2079 — The Red Peri takes and loots the Aardkin c. 2080 – Events of "The Red Peri" 2083 — Events of "Tidal Moon" 2090s – Events of "Parasite Planet" and "The Lotus Eaters" 2100 – Events of "The Planet of Doubt" 2110 – Gold crisis (The Mad Moon); Gunderson expedition to Europa (Redemption Cairn) 2111 - Events of "Redemption Cairn" 2112 – Events of "The Mad Moon" 2137* — Human settlement on Titan initiated (Flight on Titan) 2140-2142* — Financial speculation in trading with Venus (Flight on Titan) 2142* – Failure of the Planetary Trading Corporation (Flight on Titan) 2143* – Events of "Flight on Titan" *Dates in Flight on Titan are inconsistent with themselves and the rest of Weinbaum's planetary stories. The principal date given is 2142, and the main story takes place in the following year; however, 2030 is referred to within the story as if it were a recent date, and references to the events in Flight on Titan in other stories indicate that they must have taken place before both The Lotus Eaters and The Mad Moon, i.e. in the 21st and not the 22nd century.

Solar System Weinbaum's Solar System corresponds to the scientific Solar System as envisioned in the mid-1930s, with details supplied from Weinbaum's imagination. By 1934, the Solar System was known to consist of the Sun, nine planets, 26 moons, and a few thousand asteroids and comets. Unlike the Solar System as known today, Weinbaum's Solar System was full of life-forms, many of them intelligent; however, only the humans of Earth possessed the capacity for spaceflight (though there is evidence the Martians may have had it in the past). Weinbaum limited himself to planets and moons as settings, naming the following:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Planetary series

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Planetary series 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 Planetary series 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 Planetary series 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 Planetary series

In research: Planetary series 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 Planetary series 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: Planetary series is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930s short stories, English-language short stories, Fiction about the Solar System, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Planetary series 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.

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How to study Planetary series in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Planetary series 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 Planetary series out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Planetary series in simple terms?

Why does Planetary series 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 Planetary series?

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 Planetary series.