3/11/12

Time and Again


Today we moved forward in time one hour. Or we lost an hour of sleep to put it another way.

Still, when I think about time (jumping forward or back) my mind automatically goes to the subject of time travel, rather than setting the clock up or back. If we really had the ability to travel through time, what would it actually be like and how would we do it? 

Figuring out how to make time travel plausible and realistic within a story is not easy. I will admit I love the aspect of time travel. It is exciting. Science fiction has had their characters traveling in time forever. And we've seen a resurgence in books and films lately. Too many to mention here. But some execute it believably well, others don't. 

Although time travel has been a common plot in fiction since the late 19th century, and the theories of spatial and general relativity suggest methods, it is currently unknown whether the laws of physics would allow time travel into the past. Such backward travel would have the potential to introduce paradoxes related to causality. Simply put, by just being there a traveler could altar the past in ways we can't begin to imagine.


I would need sound technological and scientific reasons as to how and why it is done within my stories. So as is usual for me, I did (do) tons of research. Take current science theories and add imagination. Combine the two and I knew that's when ideas that could make time travel possible emerge. And with it stories that contain plausible time travel themes: 

When the heroine steps through a time dilation Portal on the trail of a criminal who is using the Portal for selfish gain, she becomes swept up in the past, loses her prey, and also her connection to her own time. She has to figure how to leave minimal impact on the past, while trying to survive in a primitive environment, and also pick up the trail her quarry. Finally she must find her way back to her own time and try not to fall in love (or become involved) with the handsome knight who gives her aid. She knows without doubt the simple yet unavoidable contact with him has already altered the future. Her future. 

Sound like a plausible idea for a time travel story? I thought so. And I'm now almost finished with the second book in the series.

Do you like writing or reading time travels? Though with any story, well developed characters are important, how much scientific theory or background do you think needs to be in a time travel story to make it realistic?


Kaye

3/7/12

Solar Flares and Science Fiction

It is a belief among fans that reality follows ideas brought forth in Science Fiction. Judging from our Sun's latest solar flare activity this would certainly ring true. 




Researching our Sun’s Solar Flares

It’s interesting to note just how much is going on in the scientific community concerning solar flare activity. It’s true the increased activity from Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) could possibly pose a threat to Earth and what is happening now is not science fiction. 

The sun unleashed a cosmic double whammy Tuesday (March 6), erupting with two major flares to cap a busy day of powerful solar storms. One of the flares is the most powerful solar eruption of the year, so far.

Both of the huge flares ranked as X-class storms, the strongest type of solar flares the sun can have. They followed several weaker, but still powerful, sun storms on Tuesday and came just days after another major solar flare.

The first big solar storm ranked as an X5.4-class flare and the second event occurred just over an hour later, reaching a maximum strength of X1.3. The sun-watching observatories spotted huge clouds of charged particles — called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs — erupting from the solar flares.

When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can endanger astronauts and satellites in orbit, interfere with satellite communications and damage power grids on Earth. Charged particles from the solar storms interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, resulting in a glow that is typically visible to observers at high northern or southern latitudes.  

Astronomers rank solar flares by strength using five categories: A, B, C, M and X. The A-class flares are the weakest sun storms, while the X-class events are the most powerful solar flares.

 This image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the sun as it unleashed an X5.4-class solar flare.

The image of the powerful Class X2 solar flare of Feb. 14, 2011, shows how it appeared to both the Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet light and the SOHO's C2 coronagraph. This was the largest flare in more than four years.



Though I love following the research and wonder where this massive solar activity will lead, for a writer doing research on stories that have that disaster feel, the sun’s overactive solar flare activity can add a lot of fodder to the ‘what if’ imagination.     

What if…

A small orbiting science station whose main goal is to search the deep arenas of space for spatial anomalies and even alien life is suddenly faced with solar mass ejections (CME) of epic proportions directly from their own sun. This puts their little space station as well as their planet in extreme and disastrous danger, even to the point of an extinction level event.

That’s an interesting premise, but what if there is nothing these beings can do to save their world given their present stage of development? How about adding an alien intervention? Now we’ve got a SF, and yes, R story. (Science Fiction Romance)

What are your thoughts on sun's recent CME activity? 

Kaye

Related Post : Catastrophe Looming 
For more information and stunning views of our sun's solar flare activity, visit space.com