Orbit Unlimited

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Orbit Unlimited is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson, first published in 1961 ^[1]. Essentially a linked group of short stories, it recounts the colonisation of the planet Rustum, a fictional terrestrial world orbiting e Eridani, by a group of refuges from an authoritarian planet Earth. Although habitable, Rustum's atmospheric pressure is so great that only its mountains and high plateaus are suitable for human settlement. The novel, like much of Anderson's work, has a libertarian subtext as the colonists free the oppression on their home planet.

[edit] Allusions to actual history, geography and current science

Although Anderson had no way of knowing this at the time of writing, a planet is now known to orbit around Eridani, a star only 10.5 light years from earth. It is a gas giant, similar to Jupiter, and orbits its star at a distance of 3.2 A.U. every seven years. Gravitational irregularities show that at least one other planet orbits the star.