Supernovae in fiction
Encyclopedia
In works of fiction, supernova
e are often used as plot devices.
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
e are often used as plot devices.
- In the 1999 RTS game HomeworldHomeworldHomeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...
, one of the missions take place in a dust belt near an active supernova. The protagonists' target is a nearby research station observing the event. Despite the supernova being located lightyears from the mission area, its intense radiation is highly dangerous to ships wandering outside the dust banks. - In the Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
universe, trilithium-based weapons can cause starStarA star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s to go supernova by inhibiting their fusionNuclear fusionNuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
processes. - In the Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
universe, the Sun Crusher can cause stars to go supernova with its resonance torpedoes. In addition, Centerpoint Station can cause supernovae. - In the mythos of the comic book character SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
, his home planet of KryptonKrypton (comics)Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman and, in some tellings, Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog. Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of...
is destroyed. Some interpretations of this origin story, such as the 2006 film Superman ReturnsSuperman ReturnsSuperman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
depict the destruction of Krypton as being caused by its sun (identified in the comics by the name Rao) going supernova. - In the Justice League UnlimitedJustice League UnlimitedJustice League Unlimited is an American animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and specifically based on the Justice League superhero team, it is a direct sequel to the...
episode Patriot Act, many League members are away trying to prevent or smother a supernova explosion threatening a distant star system. - In the 2000 film Supernova, the crew of the Nightingale is threatened by a blue giant that can explode at any moment; the star is later destroyed, but by a 9th-dimensional bomb rather than a supernova.
- The 2005 film Supernova deals with the possibility of the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
exploding. - The 2009 direct-to-videoDirect-to-videoDirect-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
film 2012: Supernova2012: Supernova2012: Supernova is a 2009 direct-to-video science fiction disaster film by The Asylum. The film is a mockbuster of the Columbia Pictures film 2012, which was released a month later. It is the second film in the Asylum's 2012 "Trilogy" though the films have nothing to do with the other...
is about life on Earth potentially being destroyed by a nearby supernova. - The FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
episode Roswell That Ends Well involves the main characters being sent back in time after radiation from a nearby supernova interacts with radiation produced by metal being heated in the ship's microwave. - The Algae Planet in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series is destroyed by its star going nova.
- In the PC-game FreeSpace 2FreeSpace 2FreeSpace 2 is a 1999 space combat simulation computer game developed by Volition, Inc. as the sequel to Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War. It was completed ahead of schedule in less than a year, and released to great critical acclaim...
, the crucial Battle of Capella ends in the explosion of the starCapella (star)Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, the sixth brightest star in the night sky and the third brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus and Vega. Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, it is actually a star system of four stars in...
in a supernova. - In Antonella Gambotto-BurkeAntonella Gambotto-BurkeAntonella Gambotto-Burke is an Australian author and journalist.Gambotto-Burke has written one novel, The Pure Weight of the Heart, two anthologies, Lunch of Blood and An Instinct for the Kill, and a memoir, The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide, which has been published in four languages...
's novel The Pure Weight of the HeartThe Pure Weight of the HeartThe Pure Weight of the Heart is Antonella Gambotto-Burke's first novel and third book. It peaked at number six on The Sydney Morning Herald bestseller list. Published by Orion Publishing in London in 1998, it was translated into German by Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag in 2000...
, Angelica, the protagonist, gets stoned with William Grieve, the famous novelist, and says: “The first known galactic supernovae were seen in - were seen in Lupus in 1006. And . . . then . . . in, um . . . in 1054 in Taurus . . . and then in . . . was it 1572 or 1575? One or the other. At any rate, they were observed in Cassiopeia. And then . . . then . . . um, then . . . did I mention Taurus? I did? Excellent. But there were more. More Supernovae. More supernovae in Serpens. Fifteenth century. Which is interesting. I think so, don’t you? Because I do. Think so. Supernovae in Serpens. Supernovae everywhere.” Grieve narrows his eyes and replies: “No supernovae in here.” As Angelica is an astrophysicist, there are mentions of supernovae throughout the book. - On Star Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
several stars had exploded at one time. It later turned out that this was caused by the QQ (Star Trek)Q is a fictional character who appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as in related products. In all of these programs, he is played by John de Lancie....
Civil War. - In the Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
episode All Our Yesterdays, the EnterpriseUSS Enterprise (NCC-1701)The USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, is a fictional starship in the Star Trek media franchise. The original Star Trek series depicts her crew's mission "to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before" under the command of Captain James...
attempts to evacuate a planet before its sun becomes a supernova. - In the Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
season two episode "A Matter of Time", SG-10 travelled to the planet P3W-451, observing a binary star where one of the stars is an active supernova. As they were watching, the supernova collapsed into a black hole dangerously close to the planet, the team being stranded by time dilation.- In the season four closer "Exodus" the team, working with the Tok'ra, force a star to go nova. They do this by dialing a Stargate to P3W-451 and sending the gate into the star, protected by a force field. When the Stargate entered the star in question, the shield collapsed, and a good deal of stellar matter was sucked through the gate, disrupting the star and forcing it to nova. The Supernova affected the hyperspace windows of escaping ships in such a way that they accelerated out of control and emerged four million light-years away.
- There is also a short story, ASOV, from the 1960s, which tells the story of an Automated (or Automatic) Stellar Observation Vehicle (hence the name ASOV). One of thousand of millions produced by civilisations strung throughout the galaxyGalaxyA galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
, it observes stars, sending data back 'home'. A chance hit from a passing rock diasables 'our' ASOV. It drifts, seemingly for ever, for aeons at least, to a time when the galaxy is clearly dying; ASOV is re-awakened by the energy of a nearby supernova. - In the 2009 movie Star Trek, a supernova destroys the RomulanRomulanThe Romulans are a fictional alien race in the Star Trek universe. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in the 1966 episode "Balance of Terror", they have since made appearances in all the main later Star Trek series: The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager...
home planet. - The Christopher RowleyChristopher RowleyChristopher Rowley is an American writer of both science fiction and fantasy novels.Rowley was born in 1948 in Lynn, Massachusetts to an American mother and an English father. Educated for the most part at Brentwood School, Essex, England, he became a London-based journalist in the 1970s...
novel Starhammer sees the Laowon Empire brought to its knees with the said weapon which induces a Supernova. - In the Fantastic Four (movie), Johnny Storm, the Human Torch is said to create temperatures near to those measured in supernovae.
- In the 1952 novel The Currents of SpaceThe Currents of SpaceThe Currents of Space is a science fiction novel by the American writer Isaac Asimov. It is the second of three books labeled the Galactic Empire series, though it was the last of the three he wrote...
by Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, a scientist is assaulted when he predicts a star will go supernova. Although the orbiting planet Florinia is inhabited, it is also an important source of raw materials. A humanitarian crisis is averted when the colonial powers are convinced to evacuate the planet. - In the 2002 Disney film Treasure PlanetTreasure PlanetTreasure Planet is a 2002 animated science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 27, 2002...
, the crew of the Legacy encounters a supernova on their travels, as well as the resulting black holeBlack holeA black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
. During the supernova, Jim HawkinsJim Hawkins (character)James "Jim" Hawkins is a fictional character in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. He is both the protagonist and narrator of the story.-Appearances:...
(Joseph Gordon-LevittJoseph Gordon-LevittJoseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt is an American actor whose career as both a child and adult has included television series and theatrical films....
) saves the life of Long John SilverLong John SilverLong John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
(Brian Murray) when he falls overboard. - In the Poul AndersonPoul AndersonPoul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
short story Supernova, part of his Technic History sequence, published in Analog science-fiction magazine January 1967 with a Chesley BonestellChesley BonestellChesley Bonestell was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings were a major influence on science fiction art and illustration, and he helped inspire the American space program...
cover illustration, the homeworld of the reptilian Merseians is threatened by a nearby supernova. Nicolas Falkayn of the Solar Spice and Liquor company, negotiates a trade deal that provides them with the technology to survive the event, but also overturns their social structures. The Merseians do not forget, and figure prominenently as inveterate enemies of the Terran empire in the Dominic FlandryDominic FlandryDominic Flandry is the central character in the second half of Poul Anderson's Technic History science fiction. He first appeared in 1951.The space opera series is set in the 31st century, during the waning days of the Terran Empire...
stories, later in the sequence. - In the Arthur C. Clarke short story 'The Star' (Infinity Science Fiction, 1955) an earth spaceship finds a museum of a people whose star went supernova. A priest officer wonders why God chose their sun as the Star of Bethlehem.