Starship Asterisk*

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Wed Mar 04, 2020 5:58 am

SpaceCadet wrote: ↑Wed Mar 04, 2020 5:48 am

wildespace wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:59 pm
Some forms of like don't require oxygen (or any atmosphere really). Thermal vents, even solid rocks. There are organisms feeding off chemical composition.

But wouldn't the lifeform need protection from the solar elements,like radiation? An atmosphere isn't just about providing possible nutrition or an energy source.

You're assuming it lives on the surface. It could be under rock, under ice, underwater. It could also be very tolerant of radiation.

Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation

TheArtofWalls wrote: ↑Fri Mar 06, 2020 10:19 am

Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation

Well, it is a hole in the ground and the ground is made of sand, so I think it is obvious that sand has fallen down the hole. This would explain the perfect conical shape of the crater, the circular border and the absence of ejecta.

If this has still no proper name, I vote for PIT OF CARKOON

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarlacc wrote:

The Great Pit of Carkoon

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<<The sarlacc (plural sarlacci) first appeared in the film Return of the Jedi (1983) as a multi-tentacled alien beast whose immense, gaping maw is lined with several rows of sharp teeth. The sarlacc in the film inhabits the Great Pit of Carkoon, a hollow in the sand of the desert planet Tatooine. In the original Return of the Jedi, the sarlacc is simply a barbed hole in the desert sand which characters fall into and are consumed; some are pulled into the sarlacc's mouth by its tentacles. In the 1997 Special Edition of the film, computer-generated tentacles and a beak emerge from the opened mouth. Besides Return of the Jedi, the creature and others like it are featured in Star Wars literature.

According to the Star Wars Databank, the sarlacci inhabit remote, inhospitable locations in the galaxy, but defies taxonomic classification, in so far as most texts claim that the sarlacc is an arthropod (as in The Essential Guide to Alien Species and The Wildlife of Star Wars), while its anchored root system and spore-based method of reproduction suggest a plant origin. A sarlacc reproduces by releasing spores through outer space, which arrive on a planet or asteroid, and there excavate a pit to capture prey.

Steve Sansweet's Star Wars Encyclopedia describes the sarlacc as an "omnivorous, multi-tentacled creature with needle-sharp teeth and a large beak". The sarlacc rests at the base of a giant pit where the entirety of its body is buried except for the gaping mouth, which may reach three meters in diameter. The sarlaac uses its four legs to anchor itself underground. Astrophysicist and science fiction author Jeanne Cavelos compares the sarlacc's hunting method to that of the antlion. The sarlacc's mouth also has similarities with that of the lamprey.

Because most sarlacci inhabit isolated environments and rely on prey to stumble into their pit, they rarely feed; the digestive system dissolves prey into nutrients over a period of several thousand years. If no living prey is available, a sarlacc relies on its root system to absorb nutrients. One sarlacc located on an airless moon feeds on cometary material rich in oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen.

The sarlacc's stomach is lined with vessels that attach themselves to a swallowed victim and maws for quick digestion or breaking apart large prey. The maws close when exposed to bright lights. The stomach also contains neurotoxins, which induce hallucinations in prey which "suggest that the sarlacc somehow absorbs the intelligence of all its victims, who live on in disembodied torment". A sarlacc can communicate with its victims through this stolen consciousness: In one Star Wars short story, an unnamed Jedi explains that "sarlacci do interesting things with messenger RNA: over the course of millennia, they can attain a sort of group consciousness, built out of the remains of people they've digested. I talked to such a sarlacc, once a few decades ago.">>

fertooos wrote: ↑Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:26 am Who was the first to suggest that life on Mars is possible? I remember times when this topic was very popular and discussed on every corner. If it is at least 1% realistic, I would immediately move there from Leeds ... Crazy idea, but sometimes it is useful to imagine mad things. Can you recommend some books to read about Mars and the idea of creating living conditions there?