Inspired by science, edited for drama.

In yesterday’s update, Danica’s means of gathering speed to catch up to the Void Archons was inspired by a gravitational slingshot.  It’s a method used by NASA to increase the speed of its satellites on their trips to distant planets and beyond.  Most famously, the Voyager space probe used this method to become not only the farthest object humans have ever launched, but also the fastest.

Much like Danica’s means of searching for the Void Archons with the Renzalon Telescope, the scene was inspired by the actual science of the Kepler Space Telescope, but edited for drama.  The physics of these methods are fascinating, but we chose to fudge them a little to make for more dramatic (and quicker) superhero storytelling.  Artistic license is a wonderful thing.

In both of those instances, however, we received emails explaining the actual physics of both methods from well-informed readers, and how the scenes would have changed (or not worked at all) were we to follow the science to the letter.  I’ve never been so happy to be corrected, as each email (very politely written, I must add) educated me about the cosmos.

Garth and I are space enthusiasts, not experts, and we often admit that we still have a lot to learn.  We’re still going to use artistic license whenever we can, but we’re also grateful for each new lesson.