Planets of the Known Galaxy: Fact and Fiction About the Nearest Stars and Their Worlds

This book offers a tour of “the known galaxy”, here defined as the region of interstellar space closest to Earth. The phrase “the known galaxy” has a particular resonance in science fiction, as it refers to the part of the Milky Way that from the perspective of a point in time centuries from now may have been explored and settled by human beings. In the known galaxy, there are gloomy ocean worlds illuminated by the light of exploding stars. There are worlds where precious gems could be as c...