Cumaean???

Todd · 14 Dec 2007, 20:28 · from 2007-December.txt.gz

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From: heliumhead at charter.net (Todd)
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:28:40 -0600
Subject: (urth) Cumaean???
In-Reply-To: <BAY106-W34FB3C9388BC95D059EC6E85670 at phx.gbl>
References: <4E82554550FE5149AD4B30A4FEA22492BFB7C4 at xchange.briercrest.ca>
	<1197651438.5684.25.camel@todd-desktop>
	<BAY106-W34FB3C9388BC95D059EC6E85670 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <1197664120.5684.69.camel@todd-desktop>

On Fri, 2007-12-14 at 21:07 +0200, Pedro Pereira wrote:
> Could not that be the star that Severian brings as the New Sun? He
> seems to be "in touch" with it in Urth of the New Sun, so its not a
> big stretch to assume that it has a "mind". On the other hand a Wolfe
> interview I read makes allusions to the new sun brough by Severian to
> be a white hole...
>  
> > The star is likely Fomalhaut, or "mouth of the whale" is a bright >
> > white star in the constellation of Pisces. It is roughly 25 > > >
> > light-years away and the eighteenth brightest star in the night sky.
> > It is thought to be only about 200-300 million years old, though > >
> > being about 1.7 times the mass of the sun, it will age more rapidly.
> > Certainly, it would not be unreasonable to assume that by Severian's
> > time it too has left the main sequence.
> 
>  
> You seem to assume that our Sun as aged naturaly and so is "dying". I
> don't think thats the reason why the Sun is dying. Severian time can
> be from 100.000 years to 1 million years in the future, but the Sun at
> that time will be as "healthy" as it is now. I think the reason behind
> the "dying Sun" is artificial. Maybe something done by the
> Hierogrammates or by Tartaros (black hole in the hearth of the Sun?).
> 

I think had this been "Severian's Star,"  it would neither have been
described as red nor would it be so close in our time.

Pardon me,  it was not my intent to make such an assumption.  However,
the determination of Fomalhaut being as young as it is was only done in
1998.  When Wolfe was writing "TBotNS,"  it would have been just a
relatively close A class star that is currently somewhere in the middle
of its' billion years on the main sequence.  Had he decided,  in the
lack of information to the contrary,  to think of it as being near the
end of its' time on the main sequence,  it would have not been
unreasonable for it to have been a red giant whenever Severian is
writing.

Or,  since it is known that there is an intelligence in the system,
alternative reasons may be arrived at.

Todd

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