Jupiter in fiction

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Skeleton Men of Jupiter
".

pulp era of science fiction. Life on the planet
has variously been depicted as identical to humans, larger versions of humans, and non-human. Non-human life on Jupiter has been portrayed as primitive in some works and more advanced than humans in others.

The moons of Jupiter have also been featured in a large number of stories, especially the four Galilean moons—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Common themes include terraforming and colonizing these worlds.

Jupiter

Early depictions

An illustration of life on Jupiter
Prehistoric life on Jupiter in A Journey in Other Worlds

Jupiter was long believed, incorrectly, to be a

Earth-like world and depicted it accordingly.[4][5][6] In the 1886 novel Aleriel, or A Voyage to Other Worlds by W. S. Lach-Szyrma, the planet is covered in an ocean with a few islands and primitive aquatic humanoids living there.[4][7] Jupiter resembles prehistoric Earth with a rich fauna full of lifeforms such as dinosaurs and mastodons in the 1894 novel A Journey in Other Worlds by John Jacob Astor IV.[4][6][8][9] A few utopian works of fiction of the early 1900s are set on Jupiter, including the anonymously published 1908 novel To Jupiter Via Hell and the 1922 novel The Perfect World by Ella Scrymsour.[4][6][10][11]

Jovians

Most writers portrayed the inhabitants of Jupiter as being human, including

heavier-than-air aircraft.[4][12] Some portrayed Jovians as giant humans, including Albert Waldo Howard in the c. 1895 novel The Milltillionaire and William Shuler Harris in the 1905 novel Life in a Thousand Worlds.[1][13] In the satirical 1886 novel A Fortnight in Heaven by Harold A. Brydges, an Earthling who visits Jupiter finds a futuristic version of America and discovers that the planet is populated by giant counterparts of Earth persons.[4][14][15] Others took different approaches to portraying the natives, such as Fred H. Brown in the 1893 short story "A Message from the Stars", where the planet is inhabited by the spirits of the dead, and Homer Eon Flint in the 1918 short story "The King of Conserve Island", where Jovians are winged.[1][16][17]

Pulp era

Jupiter made appearances in several

Skeleton Men of Jupiter".[1][4][6] The 1932 short story "A Conquest of Two Worlds" by Edmond Hamilton depicts a human invasion of a peaceable civilization on Jupiter, which leads an Earthling to rebel against the humans and side with the Jovians.[4][6][18][19] In the 1933 short story "The Essence of Life" by Festus Pragnell, a social scientist is visited by human-looking beings from Jupiter who reveal that they have a kind of elixir of life that they are willing to share, but also that they are ruled by octopus-like beings who keep them as pets.[1][20][21] Jupiter's Great Red Spot is imagined as a landmass of shifting solidity which is mined for radioactive deposits in the 1936 short story "Red Storm on Jupiter" by Frank Belknap Long, and it leaves Jupiter entirely in the 1937 short story "Life Disinherited" by Eando Binder.[4][22]

Surface

As the conditions of Jupiter became better understood in the 1930s and onward, several stories emerged where the planet was portrayed as having a solid surface underneath a high-pressure atmosphere.

remotely controlled artificial creature explores the Jovian surface.[1][6][23]

Atmosphere

By the late 1950s, it was generally accepted that the

Soviet science fiction authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, the 1972 novel As on a Darkling Plain by Ben Bova, and the 1977 novel If the Stars are Gods by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund.[4][6] The Jovian atmosphere also becomes a location for racing in the 1996 short story "Primrose and Thorn" by Bud Sparhawk.[4]

Modern depictions

Jupiter is the destination of an expedition in the 1968 film

The Golden Age.[4][5][6] The 2015 film Jupiter Ascending is a space opera set partially on the planet.[27][28]

Moons

Once it was understood that Jupiter itself is a

gaseous planet, its moons became more popular settings for stories featuring human or alien life.[1] Occasionally, the entire satellite system has been the focus collectively, such as in the 1984 short story "Promises to Keep" by Jack McDevitt.[4] The four Galilean moons—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—have all been colonized in the 1956 novel The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.[6]

Io

Refer to caption
"Life on Io" by Frank R. Paul. Back cover of Fantastic Adventures, May 1940.

Io has a tropical climate in the 1935 short story "

mined for resources in the 1981 film Outland, a science-fiction version of the 1952 Western High Noon.[1][5][30] In the 1998 short story "The Very Pulse of the Machine" by Michael Swanwick, Io is implied to be sentient.[1][4][5] The 2019 film Io depicts the satellite as humanity's refuge after Earth has become near-uninhabitable due to pollution.[27][31]

Europa

Europa is depicted as having a breathable atmosphere and native lifeforms on the side of the planet tidally locked towards Jupiter in the 1936 short story "Redemption Cairn" by Stanley G. Weinbaum.[6] The 1992 novel Cold as Ice by Charles Sheffield focuses on a conflict about whether or not Europa should be terraformed.[5][32] Since scientists started hypothesizing that Europa may have water oceans that could harbour life under its surface of ice, several stories have explored the idea, including the 2008 novel The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley, the 2013 film Europa Report, and the 2016 novel Europa's Lost Expedition: A Scientific Novel by Michael Carroll.[1][6][33]

Ganymede

Ganymede has domed cities in the 1901 novel A Honeymoon in Space by George Griffith.[4] It is terraformed in the 1950 novel Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein.[1][5] The 1950 short story "The Dancing Girl of Ganymede" by Leigh Brackett is another early work set on the satellite.[1][6] The colonization of Ganymede has been depicted in numerous works, including the 1964 novel Three Worlds to Conquer by Poul Anderson, the 1975 novel Jupiter Project by Gregory Benford, and the 1997 short story "The Flag in Gorbachev Crater" by Charles L. Harness.[1][4][6]

Callisto

Callisto is colonized in the 1950 short story "U-Turn" by Eric Frank Russell.[6] The 1970s Callisto series by Lin Carter, starting with the 1972 novel Jandar of Callisto, is a planetary romance set on the satellite and an homage to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.[1][6][34]

Other moons

Jupiter IX and Adrastea.[1][35]

See also

A photomontage of the eight planets and the MoonNeptune in fictionUranus in fictionSaturn in fictionJupiter in fictionMars in fictionEarth in science fictionMoon in science fictionVenus in fictionMercury in fiction
Clicking on a planet leads to the article about its depiction in fiction.

References

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    . Cold as Ice focuses on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, and on the struggle between those who with it made suitable for human habitation and those who wish it to remain pristine.
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    • Further reading

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