Atmospheric beast
Encyclopedia
Atmospheric beasts are hypothetical non-winged organism
s which could live in the atmosphere
of planet
s. These could fly
(or float) without wing
s as they weigh less than air
. The term is also used to describe some cryptid
s, for example the Crawfordsville monster
.
proposed, albeit offhandedly, that this kind of creature could live in the atmosphere of a gas giant
, such as Jupiter
. Illustrations of atmospheric beasts have appeared in books, exhibiting speculation as to the exotic forms extraterrestrial life
might take. Descriptions of this sort often portray these beings as living balloon
s, filled with lighter than air gases. In the context of a Jupiter-like planet with a hydrogen
atmosphere, such an organism would have to be a hot hydrogen balloon, since there is no other lighter gas
.
and UFO-related contexts. Through ufology
history, many authors wondered if the purported spaceships they were allegedly investigating could be some kind of animals living in Earth's atmosphere
.
Early UFO writer Trevor James Constable
believed that the UFO phenomenon was best explained by the presence of large amoeba
-like animals inhabiting Earth's atmosphere. He called these hypothetical creatures "critters." Constable speculated that they spent most of their time in an invisible low-density state and propelled themselves through the air with "orgonic energy, a force common to all living creatures". When they increased their density, the animals became visible. He thought that "critters" were carnivores and the mutilated animal carcasses
and unexplained disappearances
were evidence that they sometimes preyed on humans and livestock. The implementation of radar
was theorized to be the reason that the critters were being seen more often, as Constable imagined that it disturbs them out of hiding.
have served as the premise of several science-fiction stories since the early 20th century, though all of these refer to atmospheric beasts on Earth, not the Sagan hypothesis of creatures living in the atmospheres of gas giants.
The first occurrence of such creatures in science fiction was in Will A. Page's 1911 short story "The Air Serpent", which, as the title implies, was about a flying, reptilian-looking creature. Arthur Conan Doyle
elaborated upon the idea in his 1913 story "The Horror of the Heights
", which portrayed an entire ecosystem of semi-solid beasts living at previously undiscovered heights in the atmosphere, as did Ray Bradbury
in The Martian Chronicles
.
Spider Robinson
's novel Telempath
features such animals called "Muskys", which attacked the Earth when large amounts of pollution
began to affect the air.
Kenneth Oppel
's Airborn series take place in an alternate history in which a number of atmospheric beasts exist.
James Blish
's Cities in Flight
makes mention of a bioluminescent, jellyfish-like beast which exists as the only life form on the planet Jupiter, making its home strictly within the atmosphere.
The game Star Control II
includes a race of balloon-like aliens called the "Slylandro", who are native to a distant gas giant, living only within a certain air density. While intelligent and long lived, they have little technology and no means of travelling beyond their planet, as all material beyond a certain density sinks to levels of their atmosphere they cannot survive in.
In the game City of Heroes
, Kheldians are energy beings that can bond with living creatures in a symbiotic relationship, and after generations are able to 'memorize' their 'host pattern' to transform to one of these species at will. One of the species they can transform into is a tentacled, squid-like creature that is said to have lived in the atmosphere of a gas giant.
The game franchise Pokemon
features several of these, such as Rayquaza
, an enormous dragon that flies through the ozone layer
without ever needing to touch the ground.
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
s which could live in the atmosphere
Atmosphere
An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
of planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s. These could fly
Flight
Flight is the process by which an object moves either through an atmosphere or beyond it by generating lift or propulsive thrust, or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement....
(or float) without wing
Wing
A wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid...
s as they weigh less than air
Lighter than air
Lighter than air refers to gases that are buoyant in air because they have densities lower than that of air .Some of these gases are used as lifting gases in lighter-than-air aircraft, which include free balloons, moored balloons, and airships, to make the whole craft, on average, lighter than air...
. The term is also used to describe some cryptid
Cryptid
In cryptozoology and sometimes in cryptobotany, a cryptid is a creature or plant whose existence has been suggested but is unrecognized by scientific consensus and often regarded as highly unlikely. Famous examples include the Yeti in the Himalayas and the Loch Ness Monster in...
s, for example the Crawfordsville monster
Crawfordsville monster
The Crawfordsville monster refers to an alleged creature reported by residents of Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1891 and subsequently identified as a flock of killdeer.-History:...
.
In astrobiological speculation
Carl SaganCarl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
proposed, albeit offhandedly, that this kind of creature could live in the atmosphere of a gas giant
Gas giant
A gas giant is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. There are four gas giants in the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune...
, such as Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
. Illustrations of atmospheric beasts have appeared in books, exhibiting speculation as to the exotic forms extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
might take. Descriptions of this sort often portray these beings as living balloon
Balloon
A balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...
s, filled with lighter than air gases. In the context of a Jupiter-like planet with a hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
atmosphere, such an organism would have to be a hot hydrogen balloon, since there is no other lighter gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
.
In cryptozoology and fringe research
Atmospheric beasts also appear in cryptozoologyCryptozoology
Cryptozoology refers to the search for animals whose existence has not been proven...
and UFO-related contexts. Through ufology
Ufology
Ufology is a neologism coined to describe the collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of unidentified flying objects . UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years by governments, independent groups, and scientists...
history, many authors wondered if the purported spaceships they were allegedly investigating could be some kind of animals living in Earth's atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
.
Early UFO writer Trevor James Constable
Trevor James Constable
Trevor James Constable was an early UFO writer who believed that the UFO phenomenon was best explained by the presence of enormous amoeba-like animals inhabiting earth's atmosphere...
believed that the UFO phenomenon was best explained by the presence of large amoeba
Amoeba
Amoeba is a genus of Protozoa.History=The amoeba was first discovered by August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof in 1757. Early naturalists referred to Amoeba as the Proteus animalcule after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his shape...
-like animals inhabiting Earth's atmosphere. He called these hypothetical creatures "critters." Constable speculated that they spent most of their time in an invisible low-density state and propelled themselves through the air with "orgonic energy, a force common to all living creatures". When they increased their density, the animals became visible. He thought that "critters" were carnivores and the mutilated animal carcasses
Cattle mutilation
Cattle mutilation is the apparent killing and mutilation of cattle under unusual or anomalous circumstances...
and unexplained disappearances
Unexplained disappearances
Unexplained disappearance is the physical disappearance of people or other objects without apparent cause or reason.-Notable disappearances:-Benjamin Bathurst:...
were evidence that they sometimes preyed on humans and livestock. The implementation of radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
was theorized to be the reason that the critters were being seen more often, as Constable imagined that it disturbs them out of hiding.
In fiction
Atmospheric creatures on EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
have served as the premise of several science-fiction stories since the early 20th century, though all of these refer to atmospheric beasts on Earth, not the Sagan hypothesis of creatures living in the atmospheres of gas giants.
The first occurrence of such creatures in science fiction was in Will A. Page's 1911 short story "The Air Serpent", which, as the title implies, was about a flying, reptilian-looking creature. Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
elaborated upon the idea in his 1913 story "The Horror of the Heights
The Horror of the Heights
"The Horror of the Heights" is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle. It was first published in Strand Magazine in 1913.-Sypnosis:The story is told through a blood-stained notebook discovered on the edge of a farm in Withyham. The notebook is written by a Mr...
", which portrayed an entire ecosystem of semi-solid beasts living at previously undiscovered heights in the atmosphere, as did Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
in The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles is a 1950 science fiction short story collection by Ray Bradbury that chronicles the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing from a troubled and eventually atomically devastated Earth, and the conflict between aboriginal Martians and the new colonists...
.
Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author.- Biography :Born in the Bronx, New York City, Robinson attended Catholic high school, spending his junior year in a seminary, followed by two years in a Catholic college, and five years at the State...
's novel Telempath
Telempath
Telempath is a science fiction novel by Spider Robinson set in a dystopian near-future in which human cities have fallen into ruin and the population has been sharply reduced. The novel, Robinson's first, is an expansion of his 1977 Hugo Award-winning novella By Any Other Name. It was first...
features such animals called "Muskys", which attacked the Earth when large amounts of pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
began to affect the air.
Kenneth Oppel
Kenneth Oppel
Kenneth Oppel is a Canadian author. Born in Port Alberni, British Columbia, he spent his childhood in Victoria, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has also lived in Newfoundland and Labrador, England and Ireland....
's Airborn series take place in an alternate history in which a number of atmospheric beasts exist.
James Blish
James Blish
James Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling, Jr.-Biography:...
's Cities in Flight
Cities in Flight
Cities in Flight is an omnibus volume of four novels written by James Blish, originally published between 1955 and 1962, which became known over time collectively as the 'Okie' novels. The novels feature entire cities that are able to fly through space using an anti-gravity device, the spindizzy...
makes mention of a bioluminescent, jellyfish-like beast which exists as the only life form on the planet Jupiter, making its home strictly within the atmosphere.
The game Star Control II
Star Control II
Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters is a critically acclaimed science fiction computer game, the second game in the Star Control trilogy. It was developed by Toys for Bob and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for PC; it was later ported to the 3DO with an enhanced multimedia presentation,...
includes a race of balloon-like aliens called the "Slylandro", who are native to a distant gas giant, living only within a certain air density. While intelligent and long lived, they have little technology and no means of travelling beyond their planet, as all material beyond a certain density sinks to levels of their atmosphere they cannot survive in.
In the game City of Heroes
City of Heroes
City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...
, Kheldians are energy beings that can bond with living creatures in a symbiotic relationship, and after generations are able to 'memorize' their 'host pattern' to transform to one of these species at will. One of the species they can transform into is a tentacled, squid-like creature that is said to have lived in the atmosphere of a gas giant.
The game franchise Pokemon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
features several of these, such as Rayquaza
Rayquaza
is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Rayquaza first appeared in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated, printed, and film adaptations of the franchise. Rayquaza also appears on the cover...
, an enormous dragon that flies through the ozone layer
Ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
without ever needing to touch the ground.