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- This page contains references to the star Altair. For other fictional uses not directly related to the star, see Altair (disambiguation).
Altair (Alpha Aquilae) is a bright white star in the constellation Aquila that features in science fiction:
[edit] Literature
- In the novel Sunstorm, a gas giant fifteen times the mass of Jupiter was launched by the Firstborn alien race from the Altair star system on a collision course with Earth's Sun in order to trigger a devastating solar flare that would completely sterilize the Earth.
- Altair is the home of Ahrian in Leigh Brackett's The Woman from Altair.
- Altair VI is a planet in The Winds of Altair by Ben Bova, a science fiction novel about the colonization and terraforming of this planet, which is home to a race as intelligent as man.
- Angharad Gwyn is born and rescued from the planet Altair in The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey.
- In Stephen King's novel The Tommyknockers, Altair IV is a desolate, nearly airless world where objects from all over the galaxy are stored. The name is most likely a reference to Forbidden Planet below.
- Edmund Cooper's A Far Sunset (Ace Books, 1967) has the starship Gloria Mundi meeting the Bayani race on Altair V in 2028
[edit] Film, television, and drama
- In the game Galactic Civilizations there is a race known as the Altarians.
- Altair is the homeworld of the Ancients, an extinct civilization annihilated by the Shivans eight thousand years ago, in the space-combat simulation game, Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War.
- Altair is the homeworld of the Alkari, one of the alien races in the Master of Orion computer game series.
- The Third Planet from Altair (Choose Your Own Adventure #7, by Edward Packard (author) and Paul Granger (illustrator)) describes in multiple scenarios an expedition to the planet of the namesake to investigate the source of transmitted signals received by Earth.
- In the Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters games, Altair has a habitable world and a profitable tourism industry. It is also a Federation member.
