Fictional planets of the Solar System

{{Short description|none}} {{good article}} [[File:Fictional Planets of the Solar System.svg|alt=Diagram of the Sun and the planets of the Solar System up to Jupiter, including three fictional planets: Vulcan, inside the orbit of Mercury; Counter-Earth, on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth in the same orbit; and Phaëton, between Mars and Jupiter in the location of the asteroid belt.|thumb|upright=1.35|Schematic diagram of the orbits of the fictional planets Vulcan, Counter-Earth, and Phaëton in relation to the five innermost planets of the Solar System.]] Fictional planets of the Solar System have been depicted since the 1700s—often but not always corresponding to hypothetical planets that have at one point or another been seriously proposed by real-world astronomers, though commonly persisting in fiction long after the underlying scientific theories have been refuted. Vulcan was a planet hypothesized to exist inside the orbit of Mercury between 1859 and 1915 to explain anomalies in Mercury's orbit until Einstein's theory of general relativity resolved the matter; it continued to appear in fiction as late as the 1960s. Counter-Earth—a planet diametrically opposite Earth in its orbit around the Sun—was originally proposed by the ancient Greek philosopher Philolaus in the fifth century BCE (albeit in a pre-heliocentric framework), and has appeared in fiction since at least the late 1800s. It is sometimes depicted as very similar to Earth and other times very different, often used as a vehicle for satire, and frequently inhabited by counterparts of the people of Earth.

Following the discovery of the first asteroids in the early 1800s, it was suggested that the asteroid belt might be the remnants of a planet predicted by the Titius–Bode law to exist between Mars and Jupiter that had somehow been destroyed; this hypothetical former fifth planet is known as Phaëton in astronomy and often dubbed "Bodia" (after Johann Elert Bode) in science fiction. Bodia was popular in the pulp era of science fiction, where it was often depicted as similar to Earth and inhabited by humans who might occasionally be the ancestors of humans on Earth, and stories about its destruction became increasingly common following the invention of the atomic bomb in 1945.

Additional planets in the outer reaches of the Solar System, such as a ninth planet beyond Neptune or especially a tenth beyond Pluto (between the 1930 discovery of Pluto and its reclassification from planet to dwarf planet in 2006), appear regularly. Many different names for this hypothetical outermost planet have been used, the most common being "Persephone". Some stories depict so-called rogue planets that do not orbit any star entering the Solar System from without, typically on a collision course with Earth. Less frequently, fictional planets appear in other locations, such as between Venus and Earth or inside a hollow Earth. Similarly, fictional moons appear in some works; fictional additional moons of the Earth largely fell out of favour with the advent of the Space Age.

== Vulcan == {{Further|Vulcan (hypothetical planet)}} Anomalies in Mercury's orbit around the Sun led Urbain Le Verrier to propose the existence of an unseen planet with an orbit interior to Mercury's exerting gravitational influence in 1859, similar to how irregularities in Uranus' orbit had led to his mathematical prediction of Neptune and its subsequent discovery in 1846.<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="SFEVulcan" /><ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom">{{Cite web |last=Stanway |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |date=2025-08-24 |title=The Fiery Phantom |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/the_fiery_phantom |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250824133549/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/the_fiery_phantom |archive-date=2025-08-24 |access-date=2025-08-24 |website=Warwick University |series=Cosmic Stories Blog}}</ref> This hypothesized planet was dubbed "Vulcan", and it subsequently made several appearances in works of fiction.<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="SFEVulcan" /><ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> It has typically been depicted as an extremely hot place.<ref name="SFEVulcan" /> In {{Interlanguage link|Donald Horner|qid=Q63226558}}'s 1910 novel ''By Aeroplane to the Sun'', Vulcan is spotted by spacefarers en route to the Sun, but not visited.<ref name="SFEVulcan" /><ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bleiler |first=Everett Franklin |author-link=E. F. Bleiler |title=Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes |date=1990 |publisher=Kent State University Press |others=With the assistance of Richard J. Bleiler |isbn=978-0-87338-416-2 |pages=371–372 |language=en |chapter=Horner, Donald [William] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEZxhkG5eikC&pg=PA371}}</ref> Mercury's orbital anomalies are now understood to be caused by the effects of general relativity, and Vulcan was thus conclusively dismissed as a serious scientific theory in 1915, having by then already largely fallen out of favour as a result of extensive search failing to result in direct observation of the planet to confirm its existence.<ref name="WestfahlMercury">{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Westfahl |title=Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia |date=2021 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-6617-3 |pages=443 |language=en |chapter=Mercury |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WETPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA443}}</ref><ref name="SFEVulcan">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2019 |title=Vulcan |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/vulcan |access-date=2021-11-27 |edition=4th |author1-last=Westfahl |author1-first=Gary |author1-link=Gary Westfahl |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /><ref name="GreenwoodMercury">{{Cite book |last=Gillett |first=Stephen L. |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32952-4 |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |pages=514 |language=en |chapter=Mercury |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greenwoodencyclo0002unse_f3t4/page/514/mode/2up}}</ref>

Vulcan nevertheless remained popular in pulp science fiction.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan">{{Cite book |last=Ashley |first=Mike |author-link=Mike Ashley (writer) |title=Born of the Sun: Adventures in Our Solar System |date=2020 |publisher=British Library |isbn=978-0-7123-5356-4 |editor-last=Ashley |editor-first=Mike |editor-link=Mike Ashley (writer) |series=Science Fiction Classics |pages=41 |language=en |chapter=Vulcan |quote=There was no Vulcan. But for fifty years or more there just might have been, and its possibility continued to linger in the imaginations of many. The astronomer and meteorologist Donald Horner included Vulcan in his fanciful tour of the heavens ''By Aeroplane to the Sun'' (1910), but said nothing about it. The pulp writers took it to their heart, though.}}</ref> It was often depicted as small and dense, explaining how it could have gone undetected telescopically despite being massive enough to alter Mercury's orbit.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> A high density also allowed for surface gravity similar to Earth gravity and a thick atmosphere, as in Ray Cummings's 1943 short story "The Flame Breathers".<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> As a planet close to the Sun, Vulcan was expected to be metal-rich, and it became a recurring motif that it constituted an abundant source of some rare and valuable material.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> In Leslie F. Stone's 1932 short story "The Hell Planet", Vulcan is investigated to be mined for resources,<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /> while in Harl Vincent's 1932 short story "Vulcan's Workshop", it has been turned into a prison colony for the purpose.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /> At the opposite end of the density spectrum, Vulcan has also repeatedly been portrayed as a hollow planet.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> In Ross Rocklynne's 1936 short story "At the Center of Gravity" characters become stuck at the midpoint of this vast cavity;<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /><ref name="DictionaryOfScienceFictionPlacesVulcan">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Stableford |title=The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places |date=1999 |publisher=Wonderland Press |isbn=978-0-684-84958-4 |pages=336 |chapter=Vulcan |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofscie0000unse/page/336/mode/2up}}</ref> in Leigh Brackett's 1942 short story "Child of the Sun", the interior is inhabited by an intelligent lifeform;<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /> and in Edmond Hamilton's 1946 Captain Future short story "Outlaw World", the inner surface is covered by tropical vegetation.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /> Another property that Vulcan was expected to have due to its proximity to the Sun was tidal locking, whereby the same side always faces the Sun and sees a perpetual daytime while the other side experiences an unending night—seen in works such as John Russell Fearn's 1940 short story "The Flat Folk of Vulcan", Albert dePina and Henry Hasse's 1943 short story "Alcatraz of the Starways", and Rocklynne's 1946 short story "The Bottled Men". Astrophysicist {{Interlanguage link|Elizabeth Stanway|qid=Q127710708}} comments that the regular depiction of Vulcan as tidally locked, as well as the recurring use of libration as a plot element in works like "Vulcan's Workshop" and "The Bottled Men", indicates that the science fiction writers of the time took some interest in the scientific plausibility of their stories.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> More exotic visions of Vulcan appear in Fearn's 1936 short story "Mathematica", where it is found to be an entirely artificial planet,<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /> and Rocklynne's "Beyond the Boiling Zone", where the immense gravity of the Sun distorts spacetime to the point that Vulcan does not exist in the normal three-dimensional space.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> A Vulcan-equivalent planet called "Aryl" inside the orbit of Mercury appears in Roman Frederick Starzl's 1931 short story "The Terrors of Aryl".<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="SFEVulcan" />

After the 1940s, Vulcan made only rare appearances in fiction, and mostly in works for younger audiences.<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> A late appearance of Vulcan is found in Hugh Walter's 1965 juvenile novel ''Mission to Mercury'',<ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /> and a variation on the theme appears in Poul Anderson's 1983 short story "Vulcan's Forge", where an asteroid orbits so close to the Sun that it is partially molten.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /><ref name="AshleyVulcan" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicoll |first=James |author-link=James Nicoll |date=2020-05-11 |title=So Crazy for Books |url=https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-crazy-for-books |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512183545/https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-crazy-for-books |archive-date=2023-05-12 |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=James Nicoll Reviews}}</ref> The name "Vulcan" has continued to be used in science fiction to refer to other celestial objects as in the 1966 ''Doctor Who'' serial "The Power of the Daleks", and has come to be most associated with the extrasolar planet Vulcan in the ''Star Trek'' franchise.<ref name="WestfahlMercury" /><ref name="SFEVulcan" /><ref name="StanwayTheFieryPhantom" /> == Counter-Earth == {{Further|Counter-Earth}} [[File:Gor-orbit-diagram.svg|alt=Refer to caption|thumb|Schematic diagram of the shared orbit of Earth and the fictional Counter-Earth (Gor). The two planets are always hidden from each other's view by the Sun. In reality, this orbital arrangement would not be stable.<ref name="SFECounterEarth">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2022 |title=Counter-Earth |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/counter-earth |access-date=2023-04-10 |author1-link=David Langford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |edition=4th |author1-last=Langford |author1-first=David |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref name="BloomMirrorUniversesAndReversedTimeUniverses" />]] The most popular hypothetical planet in fiction is Counter-Earth—a planet diametrically opposite Earth in its orbit around the Sun.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /> The underlying concept was originally proposed by the ancient Greek philosopher Philolaus in the fifth century BCE, working in a pre-heliocentric framework where the Earth, Sun, and Counter-Earth (called ''Antichthon'') all revolve around a "Central Fire" and Counter-Earth is perpetually hidden from Earth's view.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="BloomMirrorUniversesAndReversedTimeUniverses">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Steven D. |title=The Physics and Astronomy of Science Fiction: Understanding Interstellar Travel, Teleportation, Time Travel, Alien Life and Other Genre Fixtures |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7053-2 |pages=104–106 |language=en |chapter=Mirror Universes and Reversed Time Universes |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8NbIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104}}</ref>

The position of Counter-Earth on the other side of the Sun corresponds to the Sun–Earth L<sub>3</sub> Lagrange point.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /> In reality, the two planets would not remain hidden from each other as the gravitational influence from other planets would perturb their orbits, altering their relative positions.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="BloomMirrorUniversesAndReversedTimeUniverses" /> Conversely, a Counter-Earth of significant mass would reveal its existence indirectly by exerting gravitational influence on other celestial bodies.<ref name="BloomMirrorUniversesAndReversedTimeUniverses" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bova |first1=Ben |author-link1=Ben Bova |title=Space Travel: A Writer's Guide to the Science of Interplanetary and Interstellar Travel |last2=Lewis |first2=Anthony R. |author-link2= |date=1997 |publisher=Writer's Digest Books |isbn=978-0-89879-747-3 |series=Science Fiction Writing |pages=139 |language=en |chapter=Earth II |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/spacetravel00bova/page/138/mode/2up}}</ref>

Counter-Earth is variously depicted as very similar to Earth or very different,<ref name="VisualEncyclopediaFutureAndAlternativeHistories">{{Cite book |title=The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |date=1977 |publisher=Harmony Books |isbn=0-517-53174-7 |editor-last=Ash |editor-first=Brian |editor-link=Brian Ash (bibliographer) |pages=122 |chapter=Future and Alternative Histories |oclc=2984418 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/visualencycloped00ashb/page/122/mode/2up}}</ref> and often employed as a vehicle for satire.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /> Its earliest appearance in fiction may be {{Interlanguage link|D. L. Stump|qid=Q122058110}}'s 1896 novel ''From World to World'' (later expanded into the 1913 novel ''The Love of Meltha Laone'').<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="SFECounterEarth" /> In Paul Capon's 1950 novel ''The Other Side of the Sun'' and its sequels in the ''Antigeos'' trilogy, there are two societies on Antigeos—one of which is utopian—separated by extreme tides caused by the planet's moons.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" /> The ''Doctor Who'' villains Cybermen, first introduced in the 1966 serial "The Tenth Planet", originate from a Counter-Earth known as Mondas.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="BloomMirrorUniversesAndReversedTimeUniverses" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" /> John Norman's ''Gor'' series, starting with the 1966 novel ''Tarnsman of Gor'', uses the titular planet as the setting for planetary romance stories.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="VisualEncyclopediaFutureAndAlternativeHistories" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" />

Counter-Earth being inhabited by counterparts of the people of Earth is a recurring theme.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" /> In Edison Marshall's 1916 short story "Who Is Charles Avison?", the two versions of the title character depart from their respective planets by spaceship but inadvertently both return to the same one.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="VisualEncyclopediaFutureAndAlternativeHistories" /> In Edgar Wallace's 1929 novel ''Planetoid 127'', both individuals and events are identical between the two worlds, though with a slight and variable time difference in either direction that enables the inhabitants to gain foreknowledge by communicating with the other planet.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" /> In Ben Barzman's 1960 novel ''Out of This World'' ({{Aka}} ''Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star''; {{Aka}} ''Echo X''), Counter-Earth displays an alternate history where World War II never happened.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" /> In the 1969 film ''Doppelgänger'' ({{Aka}} ''Journey to the Far Side of the Sun''), Counter-Earth is the mirror reflection of Earth, but is otherwise identical.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /><ref name="BloomMirrorUniversesAndReversedTimeUniverses" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" /> The theme also resurfaced decades later in the 2011 film ''Another Earth''.<ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Westfahl |title=Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia |date=2021 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-6617-3 |pages=492 |language=en |chapter=Parallel Worlds |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WETPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA492}}</ref>

Variations on the concept have also appeared.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /> Extrasolar examples of planets on opposite sides in the same orbit around their star appear in the 1976 episode "The Last Enemy" of the television show ''Space: 1999'', where one planet has an all-female population and the other an all-male one, and the two planets are at war;<ref name="BloomMirrorUniversesAndReversedTimeUniverses" /><ref name="StanwayCounterweightWorlds">{{Cite web |last=Stanway |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |date=2023-09-24 |title=Counterweight Worlds |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/counterweight_worlds/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326225747/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/counterweight_worlds/ |archive-date=2024-03-26 |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=Warwick University |series=Cosmic Stories Blog}}</ref> and {{Interlanguage link|Malcolm MacCloud|qid=Q55749211}}'s 1981 novel ''A Gift of Mirrorvax''.<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /> A planet hidden on the other side of the Moon, rather than Sun, appears in Paul Ernst's 1931 short story "The World Behind the Moon" and W. J. Passingham's 1938 short story likewise titled "The World Behind the Moon".<ref name="SFECounterEarth" /> The Mars equivalent, Counter-Mars, also appears occasionally.<ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem" />

== Phaëton == {{Further|Phaeton (hypothetical planet)}} {{See also|Asteroids in fiction}} {{Quote box | quote = How might it be if Ceres and Pallas were just a pair of fragments, or portions of a once greater planet which at one time occupied its proper place between Mars and Jupiter, and was in size more analogous to the other planets, and perhaps millions of years ago, had, either through the impact of a comet, or from an internal explosion, burst into pieces? | source = Letter from Heinrich Olbers to William Herschel, May 17, 1802<ref name="Murdin2016">{{Cite book |last=Murdin |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Murdin |title=Rock Legends: The Asteroids and Their Discoverers |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-31836-3 |pages=42 |language=en |chapter=Pallas: A Second New Planet |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDusDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA42}}</ref> | width = 510px }} A now-superseded theory to explain the existence of the asteroid belt that was popular in the 1800s was that it consists of the remnants of a planet predicted by the Titius–Bode law to exist between Mars and Jupiter that had somehow been destroyed.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" /><ref name="StablefordAsteroid">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |title=Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-97460-8 |pages=40–41 |language=en |chapter=Asteroid |author-link=Brian Stableford |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uefwmdROKTAC&pg=PA40}}</ref><ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /> The idea was originally proposed by German astronomer Heinrich Olbers, who discovered the asteroids Pallas and Vesta in 1802 and 1807, respectively.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" /><ref name="StablefordAsteroid" /><ref name="TheZoneMomentosOfCreation">{{Cite magazine |last=Hampton |first=Steven |date=Summer 2000 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Tony |editor-link= |title=Momentos of Creation: Asteroids & Comets in SF |department=The Planets Project: A Science Fictional Tour of the Solar System |magazine=The Zone |pages=6��7 |issue=9 |issn=1351-5217}}</ref><ref name="WandererAmHimmelSteineVomHimmel" /> In astronomy, this hypothetical former fifth planet is known as Phaëton;<ref name="WandererAmHimmelSteineVomHimmel">{{Cite book |last1=Caryad |first1= |url= |title=Wanderer am Himmel: Die Welt der Planeten in Astronomie und Mythologie |last2=Römer |first2=Thomas |last3=Zingsem |first3=Vera |date=2014 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-642-55343-1 |pages=162–164 |language=de |trans-title=Wanderers in the Sky: The World of the Planets in Astronomy and Mythology |chapter=Steine vom Himmel – und eine Lücke im Sonnensystem |trans-chapter=Rocks from the Sky – and a Gap in the Solar System |author-link2= |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_WJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA162}}</ref> in science fiction, it is often called "Bodia" after Johann Elert Bode.<ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem">{{Cite book |last1=Bleiler |first1=Everett Franklin |title=Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936 |last2=Bleiler |first2=Richard |date=1998 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-604-3 |pages=539 |language=en |chapter=The Science-Fiction Solar System |author-link1=E. F. Bleiler |author-link2=Richard Bleiler |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PA539}}</ref><ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /> An early science fiction work that mentions this explanation for the origin of the asteroids is Robert Cromie's 1895 novel ''The Crack of Doom'', which describes the release of energy stored in atomic nuclei a few thousand years ago as the culprit.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" /><ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /><ref name="SFERobertCromie">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2022 |title=Cromie, Robert |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cromie_robert |access-date=2024-02-18 |edition=4th |author1-last=Clute |author1-first=John |author1-link=John Clute |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref>

By the pulp era of science fiction, Bodia was a recurring theme. In these stories it is typically similar to Earth and inhabited by humans, often advanced humans and occasionally the ancestors of humans on Earth.<ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem" /><ref name="StablefordAsteroid" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bleiler |first1=Everett Franklin |title=Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936 |last2=Bleiler |first2=Richard |date=1998 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-604-3 |pages=xvii |language=en |chapter=Introduction |quote=The "science" in science-fiction of the Gernsback period was not wholly borrowed from the outside world. Some concepts were created on a mythical level. [...] Particularly interesting is the establishment of "Bodia" (according to one cosmology of the day, a former fifth planet whose destruction formed the asteroids) as the ultimate origin of mankind and possessor of a supercivilization. |author-link1=E. F. Bleiler |author-link2=Richard Bleiler |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PR17}}</ref><ref name="GernsbackYearsMotifAndThemeIndex">{{Cite book |last1=Bleiler |first1=Everett Franklin |title=Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936 |last2=Bleiler |first2=Richard |date=1998 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-604-3 |pages=627–628 |language=en |chapter=Motif and Theme Index |quote=Bode's Fifth Planet, "Bodia." (A hypothetical planet between Mars and Jupiter that broke up to form the asteroid belt. It is usually fictionally considered as Earth-like, with a human population.) |author-link1=E. F. Bleiler |author-link2=Richard Bleiler |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PA627}}</ref> Interplanetary warfare with Mars causes the destruction of Bodia—and indirectly, the end of civilization on Mars—in Harl Vincent's 1930 short story "Before the Asteroids".<ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bleiler |first1=Everett Franklin |title=Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936 |last2=Bleiler |first2=Richard |date=1998 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-604-3 |pages=455–456 |language=en |chapter=Vincent, Harl |author-link1=E. F. Bleiler |author-link2=Richard Bleiler |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PA455}}</ref> An internal disaster resulting in the explosion of the planetary core is responsible in John Francis Kalland's 1932 short story "The Sages of Eros".<ref name="StablefordAsteroid" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bleiler |first1=Everett Franklin |title=Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936 |last2=Bleiler |first2=Richard |date=1998 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-604-3 |pages=204 |language=en |chapter=Kalland, John Francis |author-link1=E. F. Bleiler |author-link2=Richard Bleiler |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PA204}}</ref> In Leslie F. Stone's 1934 short story "The Rape of the Solar System", war with Mars over the colonization of then-uninhabited Earth results both in the partial destruction of Bodia, thus creating the asteroids, and the displacement of the largest fragment to a much wider orbit to create Pluto, while the settlers on Earth eventually become humanity.<ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bleiler |first1=Everett Franklin |title=Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936 |last2=Bleiler |first2=Richard |date=1998 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-604-3 |pages=417 |language=en |chapter=Stone, Leslie F. |author-link1=E. F. Bleiler |author-link2=Richard Bleiler |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PA417}}</ref>

Following the invention of the atomic bomb in 1945, stories of this planetary destruction became increasingly common, encouraged by the advent of a plausible-seeming means of disintegration.<ref name="StablefordPlanet">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Stableford |title=Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-97460-8 |pages=374–376 |language=en |chapter=Planet |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uefwmdROKTAC&pg=PA375}}</ref> Robert A. Heinlein's 1948 novel ''Space Cadet'' thus states that the fifth planet was destroyed as a result of nuclear war, and in Ray Bradbury's 1948 short story "Asleep in Armageddon" ({{Aka}} "Perchance to Dream"), the ghosts of the former warring factions infect the mind of an astronaut stranded on an asteroid.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" /><ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /><ref name="GreenwoodCometsAndAsteroids">{{Cite book |last=Gillett |first=Stephen L. |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32951-7 |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |pages=146–148 |language=en |chapter=Comets and Asteroids |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greenwoodencyclo0000unse_k2b9/page/146/mode/2up}}</ref> Several works of the 1950s reused the idea to warn of the dangers of nuclear weapons, including Lord Dunsany's 1954 Joseph Jorkens short story "The Gods of Clay" and James Blish's 1957 novel ''The Frozen Year'' ({{Aka}} ''Fallen Star'').<ref name="SFEAsteroids">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2023 |title=Asteroids |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/asteroids |access-date=2023-10-06 |edition=4th |author1-last=Stableford |author1-first=Brian |author1-link=Brian Stableford |author2-last=Langford |author2-first=David |author2-link=David Langford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref name="WestfahlAsteroids">{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia |date=2021 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-6617-3 |pages=139–141 |language=en |chapter=Asteroids |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WETPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA139}}</ref><ref name="TheZoneMomentosOfCreation" /> In Jack Williamson's 1942–1951 ''Seetee'' series an antimatter explosion is to blame,<ref name="VisualEncyclopediaTechnologiesAndArtefacts" /> and in Theodore Cogswell's 1955 short story "Test Area", the destruction results from a nuclear test conducted by the inhabitants of Mars, while in Heinlein's 1951 novel ''Between Planets'' the technology that caused the destruction has been lost to time.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" /> The planet's destruction by Martians is also mentioned in Heinlein's 1961 novel ''Stranger in a Strange Land'', and implied to have been caused using supernatural powers.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" /><ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /><ref name="WandererAmHimmelAsteroids" /> The 1977 novel ''Inherit the Stars'', the first in James P. Hogan's ''Giants'' series, revisits the theme of the fifth planet—here called "Minerva"—being destroyed by war fought with advanced weapons.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" /><ref name="WestfahlAsteroids" /><ref name="WandererAmHimmelAsteroids" />

In Raymond Z. Gallun's 1950 short story "A Step Farther Out", valuables from the destroyed civilization are recovered,<ref name="VisualEncyclopediaTechnologiesAndArtefacts">{{Cite book |title=The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |date=1977 |publisher=Harmony Books |isbn=0-517-53174-7 |editor-last=Ash |editor-first=Brian |editor-link=Brian Ash (bibliographer) |pages=163–164 |chapter=Technologies and Artefacts |oclc=2984418 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/visualencycloped00ashb/page/163/mode/2up}}</ref> and in Harry Harrison's 1969 novel ''Plague Ship'', an ancient virus is found in the asteroid remnants.<ref name="VisualEncyclopediaExplorationAndColonies">{{Cite book |title=The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |date=1977 |publisher=Harmony Books |isbn=0-517-53174-7 |editor-last=Ash |editor-first=Brian |editor-link=Brian Ash (bibliographer) |pages=82, 84 |chapter=Exploration and Colonies |oclc=2984418 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/visualencycloped00ashb/page/82/mode/2up}}</ref> Paul Preuss's 1985 short story "Small Bodies", where fossils are found on an asteroid, is a late example of the destroyed planet theme;<ref name="GreenwoodCometsAndAsteroids" /><ref name="FraknoiAsteroids">{{Cite web |last=Fraknoi |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Fraknoi |date=January 2024 |title=Science Fiction Stories with Good Astronomy & Physics: A Topical Index |url=https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/7b5edc23-7a89-46c1-a6b3-33a30ed4c876 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210011957/https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/7b5edc23-7a89-46c1-a6b3-33a30ed4c876 |archive-date=2024-02-10 |archive-format=PDF |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=Astronomical Society of the Pacific |pages=2, 7–8 |format=PDF |edition=7.3}}</ref> it has otherwise largely been relegated to deliberately retro works such as the 1989 tabletop role-playing game ''Space: 1889''.<ref name="WandererAmHimmelAsteroids">{{Cite book |last1=Caryad |first1= |url= |title=Wanderer am Himmel: Die Welt der Planeten in Astronomie und Mythologie |last2=Römer |first2=Thomas |last3=Zingsem |first3=Vera |date=2014 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-642-55343-1 |pages=170–172 |language=de |trans-title=Wanderers in the Sky: The World of the Planets in Astronomy and Mythology |chapter=Science vs. Fiction: der ganz andere Asteroidengürtel aus Roman und Film |trans-chapter=Science vs. Fiction: The Entirely Different Asteroid Belt from Novel and Film |author-link2= |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_WJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA170}}</ref> A variation on the theme appears in Clifford D. Simak's 1973 short story "Construction Shack", where the asteroids are leftover material originally intended for the construction of a fifth planet.<ref name="SFEAsteroids" />

== Trans-Neptunian planets == {{Redirect|Persephone (planet)|the asteroid|399 Persephone}} {{About|fictional planets beyond Neptune|historical speculation about hypothesized real planets|Planets beyond Neptune|section=yes}} Planets beyond the orbit of Neptune, or even Pluto, appear in several works of science fiction.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="VisualEncyclopediaExplorationAndColonies" /><ref name="SFEOuterPlanets">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2021 |title=Outer Planets |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/outer_planets |access-date=2024-03-20 |edition=4th |author1-last=Langford |author1-first=David |author1-link=David Langford |author2-last=Stableford |author2-first=Brian |author2-link=Brian Stableford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref name="WestfahlOuterPlanets">{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia |date=2021 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-6617-3 |pages=485–487 |language=en |chapter=Outer Planets |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WETPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA486}}</ref> Pluto was held to be the ninth and outermost planet of the Solar System from its 1930 discovery until its reclassification from planet to dwarf planet in 2006;<ref name="SFEOuterPlanets" /> some works from before the discovery of Pluto imagine a ninth planet beyond the orbit of Neptune,<ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem" /> and many works from when Pluto was counted as the ninth portray a hypothetical tenth planet even further out.<ref name="SFEOuterPlanets" /> A contributing factor to the popularity of such a tenth planet was that the search that led to the discovery of Pluto had been motivated by unexplained aberrations in the orbit of Uranus, yet Pluto with its diminutive size seemed insufficient to account for these without another, still-undetected planet causing additional perturbations.{{Efn|The flyby of Neptune by Voyager 2 in 1989 resolved the question by revealing that the previous estimate for the mass of Neptune was slightly too high; using the more accurate mass provided by the data from the probe in the orbital models eliminated the discrepancies and thus the need for any additional celestial bodies to explain the planetary motion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Standage |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Standage |title=The Neptune File: A Story of Astronomical Rivalry and the Pioneers of Planet Hunting |date=2001 |publisher=Berkley Books |isbn=978-0-425-18173-7 |pages=188 |chapter=Shots in the Dark |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/neptunefile00toms/page/188/mode/2up}}</ref>}}<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="SFEOuterPlanets" /><ref name="StablefordPluto">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Stableford |title=Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-97460-8 |pages=381–382 |language=en |chapter=Pluto |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uefwmdROKTAC&pg=PA381}}</ref>

The most common name for this hypothetical outermost planet is "Persephone",{{Efn|Persephone, in Greek mythology, is a goddess who is the companion of the god Hades. Her counterpart in Roman mythology is Proserpina (sometimes spelled "Proserpine"), companion of the god Pluto. Because of this relationship with Pluto, both the Greek and Roman names have been favoured as names for a trans-Plutonian planet in fiction and the real world alike. It was one of the suggested names for the dwarf planet Eris, and had earlier been used for the asteroid 399 Persephone.<ref name="StanwayPlanetX" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Sean |author-link= |date=2005-08-08 |title=Your top 10 names for the tenth planet |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7811-your-top-10-names-for-the-tenth-planet/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251116150135/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7811-your-top-10-names-for-the-tenth-planet/ |archive-date=2025-11-16 |access-date=2026-03-22 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}</ref>}} as in Jack Williamson's 1937 short story "The Blue Spot" and several works by Arthur C. Clarke such as the 1946 short story "Rescue Party" and the 1973 novel ''Rendezvous with Rama'', though many other names{{Efn|Including "Cerberus" in Raymond Z. Gallun's 1934 short story "The World Wrecker", "Euthan" in {{Interlanguage link|J. Harvey Haggard|qid=Q29043349}}'s 1936 short story "A Little Green Stone", and "Mephisto" in George O. Smith's 1945 novel ''Nomad''.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" />}} appear as well.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="WestfahlOuterPlanets" /><ref name="StanwayPlanetX" /> In Jules Verne's 1889 short story "In the Year 2889",{{Efn|Originally published under the name Jules Verne, though now believed to have been largely or entirely written by his son Michel Verne.<ref name="EvansTheNewJulesVerne" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bleiler |first=Everett Franklin |author-link=E. F. Bleiler |title=Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes |date=1990 |publisher=Kent State University Press |others=With the assistance of Richard J. Bleiler |isbn=978-0-87338-416-2 |pages=770 |language=en |chapter=Verne, Jules [and Michel Verne] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEZxhkG5eikC&pg=PA770}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bleiler |first=E. F. |title=Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day |date=1999 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=0-684-80593-6 |editor-last=Bleiler |editor-first=Richard |editor-link=Richard Bleiler |edition=2nd |pages=843 |chapter=Jules Verne |oclc=40460120 |author-link=E. F. Bleiler |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sciencefictionwr0000unse/page/843/mode/2up}}</ref>}} the discovery of a planet beyond Neptune called "Olympus" is mentioned.<ref name="WestfahlOuterPlanets" /><ref name="EvansTheNewJulesVerne">{{Cite journal |last=Evans |first=Arthur B. |author-link= |date=March 1995 |title=The 'New' Jules Verne |url=https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/65/evans65art.htm |url-status=live |journal=Science Fiction Studies |volume=22 |issue=1 |issn=0091-7729 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718212154/https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/65/evans65art.htm |archive-date=2024-07-18 |via=DePauw University}}</ref> Two 1931 short stories by Victor Rousseau Emanuel feature such planets: "Outlaws of the Sun", where the planet Circe has low gravity and is inhabited by primitive giants, and "Revolt on Inferno", where the planet Inferno has a hostile environment and is used as a remote penal colony.<ref name="WestfahlOuterPlanets" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bleiler |first1=Everett Franklin |author-link1=E. F. Bleiler |title=Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936 |last2=Bleiler |first2=Richard |author-link2=Richard Bleiler |date=1998 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-604-3 |pages=350–351 |language=en |chapter=Rousseau, Victor |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PA350}}</ref> In terms of the physical environment, astrophysicist {{Interlanguage link|Elizabeth Stanway|qid=Q127710708}} comments that many stories, especially in the planetary romance genre, portray the fictional planet as largely Earth-like.<ref name="StanwayPlanetX" /> In Henry Kuttner's 1942 short story "We Guard the Black Planet!", the titular tenth planet is inhabited by winged humanoids identified with the Valkyries of Norse mythology.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="SFEOuterPlanets" /><ref name="StanwayPlanetX">{{Cite web |last=Stanway |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |date=2026-03-08 |title=Planet X |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/planet-x/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260308155749/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/planet-x/ |archive-date=2026-03-08 |access-date=2026-03-08 |website=Warwick University |series=Cosmic Stories Blog}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Stableford |title=The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places |date=1999 |publisher=Wonderland Press |isbn=978-0-684-84958-4 |pages=46 |chapter=Black Planet, The |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofscie0000unse/page/46/mode/2up}}</ref> It becomes the destination for those fleeing Earth in Philip K. Dick's 1955 novel ''Solar Lottery'' ({{Aka}} ''World of Chance'') and Edmund Cooper's 1973 novel ''The Tenth Planet''.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="VisualEncyclopediaExplorationAndColonies" /><ref name="SFEOuterPlanets" /> Larry Niven's 1975 short story "The Borderland of Sol" describes four additional planets in the outer reaches of the Solar System.<ref name="VisualEncyclopediaExplorationAndColonies" /><ref name="StanwayPlanetX" /> A very distant gas giant appears in Niven and Jerry Pournelle's 1977 novel ''Lucifer's Hammer'', where its gravitational influence alters the trajectory of a comet and puts it on a collision course with Earth, and another appears in Peter Watts' 2006 novel ''Blindsight''.<ref name="SFEOuterPlanets" />

== Elsewhere in the Solar System == {{Further|Solar System in fiction#Fictional components}} Science fiction bibliographers E. F. Bleiler and Richard Bleiler, in the 1998 reference work ''Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years'', list various imaginary constituents of the pre-modern "science-fiction Solar System". Among these are planets between Venus and Earth, planets on the inside of a hollow Earth, and a planet "behind the Earth".<ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem" /> Brian Stableford, in the 2006 reference work ''Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia'', writes that fictional planets have appeared both in fiction and speculative nonfiction since the 1700s, and points to Ludvig Holberg's 1741 work ''Niels Klim's Underground Travels'' as unusual in placing such a planet inside the hollow Earth rather than a more distant location.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /> The Bleilers' list also includes various fictional moons that have been depicted;<ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem" /> astrophysicist {{Interlanguage link|Elizabeth Stanway|qid=Q127710708}} notes that stories about additional moons of the Earth typically provide some explanation for why these moons have not been detected earlier, such as being very small or only having entered orbit around the Earth recently, and that they largely fell out of favour with the advent of the Space Age.<ref name="StanwaySecondSatellites">{{Cite web |last=Stanway |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |date=2024-07-28 |title=Second Satellites |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/second_satellites |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806041224/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/second_satellites |archive-date=2024-08-06 |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Warwick University |series=Cosmic Stories Blog |quote=In all of the stories mentioned above, explanations are provided for why the second moon has never been seen: it may be tiny, may not exist in our space time, may be newly brought into orbit, or may exist only for a few brief weeks or months before orbital decay.}}</ref>

==Rogue planets== {{Further|Rogue planet}} {{See also|Extrasolar planets in fiction#Rogue planets}} So-called rogue planets, those that do not orbit the Sun nor any other star, occasionally turn up in the Solar System in works of fiction.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem" /><ref name="StanwayRoguePlanets">{{Cite web |last=Stanway |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |date=2022-03-20 |title=Rogue Planets |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/rogue_planets |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330111420/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/rogue_planets/ |archive-date=2023-03-30 |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Warwick University |series=Cosmic Stories Blog}}</ref> Such a planet colliding with Earth, or threatening to do so, is a recurring motif in apocalyptic fiction.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /> Examples include Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie's 1933 novel ''When Worlds Collide'', which was adapted to film in 1951, and the 2011 film ''Melancholia''.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="StanwayRoguePlanets" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lynskey |first=Dorian |date=2021-12-20 |title=Don't Look Up: The stories that reflect our oldest fear |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211215-dont-look-up-the-fiction-that-reflects-our-greatest-fear |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922061154/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211215-dont-look-up-the-fiction-that-reflects-our-greatest-fear |archive-date=2023-09-22 |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> A rogue planet that enters the Solar System without threatening impact with other celestial objects appears in Ross Rocklynne's 1938 short story "The Men and the Mirror".<ref name="VisualEncyclopediaExplorationAndColonies" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicoll |first=James |author-link=James Nicoll |date=2024-03-10 |title=So Alone Without You |url=https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-alone |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515125449/https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-alone |archive-date=2024-05-15 |access-date=2024-07-31 |website=James Nicoll Reviews}}</ref> Similarly, some stories depict additional stars entering the Solar System from without, as in Isaac Asimov's 1989 novel ''Nemesis'', where the errant star is orbited by planets of its own.<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="GernsbackYearsScienceFictionSolarSystem" /><ref name="SFEOuterPlanets" /><ref name="BloomWeirdPlanets">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Steven D. |title=The Physics and Astronomy of Science Fiction: Understanding Interstellar Travel, Teleportation, Time Travel, Alien Life and Other Genre Fixtures |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7053-2 |pages=55–57 |language=en |chapter=Weird Planets |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8NbIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA57}}</ref> Another variation on the rogue planet motif involves planets in the Solar System leaving their orbit around the Sun and becoming rogue planets drifting through space, as happens to the Earth by chance in Fritz Leiber's 1951 short story "A Pail of Air" and by design in Liu Cixin's 2000 short story "The Wandering Earth" and its 2019 film adaptation; the same fate befalls the Moon in the 1975–1977 television series ''Space: 1999'' and all of the planets in Edmond Hamilton's 1934 short story "Thundering Worlds".<ref name="StablefordPlanet" /><ref name="StanwayRoguePlanets" /><ref name="NicollFarFromAnyStar">{{Cite web |last=Nicoll |first=James Davis |author-link=James Nicoll |date=2020-04-30 |title=Far From Any Star: Five Stories About Rogue Worlds |url=https://reactormag.com/far-from-any-star-five-stories-about-rogue-worlds/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416212524/https://reactormag.com/far-from-any-star-five-stories-about-rogue-worlds/ |archive-date=2024-04-16 |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=Reactor |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also== <imagemap> File:Solar system.jpg|alt=A photomontage of the eight planets and the Moon|thumb|Clicking on a planet leads to the article about its depiction in fiction. circle 1250 4700 650 Neptune in fiction circle 2150 4505 525 Uranus in fiction circle 2890 3960 610 Saturn in fiction circle 3450 2880 790 Jupiter in fiction circle 3015 1770 460 Mars in fiction circle 2370 1150 520 Earth in science fiction circle 3165 590 280 Moon in science fiction circle 1570 785 475 Venus in fiction circle 990 530 320 Mercury in fiction </imagemap> * Extrasolar planets in fiction * Solar System in fiction * Sun in fiction * List of hypothetical Solar System objects ** {{Annotated link|Nemesis (hypothetical star)|Nemesis}} ** {{Annotated link|Planet Nine}} ** {{Annotated link|Theia (planet)|Theia}} ** {{Annotated link|Tyche (hypothetical planet)|Tyche}} * Planetary objects proposed in religion, astrology, ufology and pseudoscience

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Astronomical locations in fiction}} {{Portal bar|Astronomy|Stars|Spaceflight|Outer space|Solar System}} Category:Fictional planets Solar System planets, Fictional * Solar System planets, Fictional +