I was having a discussion with some of my students yesterday about black holes, the speed of light, and astronomy in general, and I thought of something rather interesting that might be helpful in fantasy and sci-fi world building.

Because of the speed of light, and the distances of the sun, moon, and earth from one another, the light we receive from the sun is said to be light that left the sun thousands of years before we actually see it. Now, if you give those times some astrological or astronomical significance (perhaps light carries information that the sun is intentionally sending us, or the light of the sun and stars somehow plays into events that occur whether personally or ecologically), then eclipses are a break in that cycle. Either it is an intentional break in the communication--for protection or for harm--or it is a natural disaster that causes disaster as well as rejuvenation for the world it affects.

This might play into the origin of werewolves or mess up their natural transformation cycle. It might be a complex sort of Morse code from other beings, or it might be static on the radio. And that is just the sun. The possibilities go on and on.

me likes dis.

Actually, no. Because of the speed of light, light reaches us from the sun in minutes, and from the moon in less than two seconds. Light from stars is years, sometimes many years, old, but not anything from the inner solar system.

My bad.

But the characters in the story don't have to know that.

The sun is hidden behind another planet. They get light by a huge and complex matrix of reflective satellites. Or their sun is much bigger and much further away. Or their sun is caught in a seasonal time loop or is somehow out of sync with the rest of the world.

And then everybody dies!

Ooh, what if there were two small suns and the planet did a figure eight in its orbiting? o.o talk about wacky seasons...

Or maybe a world has a worm hole near it, so they get light from the wrong sun now.

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!! So Wendi-like.


Kitra: I likes, the idea. So awesome and intriguing.

at least I'm consistent