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01-020 "Eta Cassiopeiae: Ultima Thule"
2001, digital

We have not yet detected any worlds orbiting the two-sun star system of Eta Cassiopeiae. If any such exist, they will have one brilliant yellow sun (out of view to lower left) and a diminutive orange sun (at right). The yellow star is much like our own, and perhaps we will find a world like Earth there, as we see in this imaginary view. At first glance, the planet may seem alien, but it boasts oceans of water just like ours. The only problem is that this planet orbits just a fraction too far from its sun, lowering the surface temperature enough that pack ice caps the vast seas. Such conditions would likely preclude life, as life-giving sunlight would not penetrate to the seas where we suspect biology gets its start. The correctly distorted star field shows us Scorpius the scorpion just below the planet, and fairly familiar despite our vantage 18 light years from Earth. One of the stars in the scorpion's curving tail is Altair, however, which Earthlings see in a different constellation. Also intruding into the scene is brilliant blue Vega, well out of place at top center.

Chris Butler