Category Archives: Geology

Gliese 581g (Hámnù, Pedak, Gaustan, or Estivama)

Posted on 24 January 2016 by Joseph Shoer

I finished a big new map! You can purchase a print here. (Link to larger image) The world known to humankind as Zarmina (catalog identifier Gliese 581g) is a habitable planet orbiting a red dwarf star. It is tidally locked to … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Concepts, Fantasy, Geology, Maps, Science Fiction | 2 Comments

On the World Zarmina

Posted on 7 April 2013 by Joseph Shoer

2014 update! You can now buy prints of this map! …Preliminary report on image data from the LongShot-2 mission… The planet Gliese 581g – also known as Zarmina – is a circular world. It is not circular in the literal … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Concepts, Geology, Maps, Original fiction, Science Fiction, Space | 6 Comments

Shifts in the Bedrock

Posted on 23 August 2011 by Joseph Shoer

I was standing in my office, trying to deconstruct some spacecraft sensor processing algorithms on my whiteboard. I had pages of code printouts in one hand and a marker in the other. As I turned back to my computer to … Continue reading →

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The Map

Posted on 7 August 2011 by Joseph Shoer

I have come into the possession of a most extraordinary object, which I procured rather fortuitously before the auction of goods from an insolvent boutique on the East Boulevard. I do not know how long it lay, disused and uncared-for, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Fantasy, Geology, Maps, Oghura, Original fiction | 3 Comments

The Dark Planets

Posted on 19 May 2011 by Joseph Shoer

An article appeared today on NASA.gov about the detection of “free-floating planets.” These planets may have formed around a central star, like the planets in our Solar System did, but due to some gravitational interaction during their star system’s formation … Continue reading →

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World-Building and the Real Universe

Posted on 20 October 2010 by Joseph Shoer

(Pardon me for the hiatus. Had to fly to Houston to do some flight testing at NASA.) I spent a pretty good weekend doing some world-building. Since discovering the maps in the first pages of The Lord of the Rings, … Continue reading →

Posted in Concepts, Geology, Maps, Science, Science Fiction, Space, The Cathedral Galaxy | 10 Comments

NASA went where I’ve gone!

Posted on 9 September 2010 by Joseph Shoer

This year’s NASA Desert RATS exercise is taking place near Flagstaff, AZ. Here’s the view from inside one of the rovers after a traverse: RATS is a program in which NASA engineers, scientists, and astronauts take prototype equipment into remote … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, Graduate school, NASA, Photography, Science, Space, Travel | Leave a comment