nightside n.
that part of an astronomical body facing away from the nearest star; cf. darkside n. 1, farside n.
-
1914
The day side of the Moon is exposed to the Sun’s intense heat for a fortnight at a stretch, the temperature rising very high, probably reaching the boiling point, whilst through the long lunar night of a fortnight, the surface freezes in the icy cold, the temperature of the night side of the Moon falling very low, perhaps to 200 or 250 below zero.
Call of Stars 334 -
1935
page image
Stanley G. Weinbaum
bibliography
He mused; his shack had been situated rather nearer the hot edge of the twilight zone; it was a trifle over two hundred and fifty miles to the shadow line, though of course that varied with the libration. But one couldn’t approach the line too closely, anyway, because of the fierce, almost inconceivable, storms that raged where the hot upper winds encountered the icy blasts of the night side, giving rise to the birth throes of the ice barrier.
Parasite Planet in Astounding Stories Feb. 54/1 -
1935
page image
A. M. Phillips
bibliography
Only to the astronomer, ic Dalfca, did the unbroken darkness of Earth’s night-side have a sad significance.
Martian Gesture in Wonder Stories Oct. 624/1 -
1941
page image
C. M. Kornbluth
bibliography
They must have landed on the night[-]side of the artificial asteroid, for he could see the blazing corona of the sun eclipsed by the sphere on which he was standing.
Return from M-15 in Cosmic Stories Mar. 63/1 -
1955
page image
Eric Frank Russell
bibliography
The Thunderer went up, came down four hundred miles within the night-side. The tactic, decided Leigh, represented a right smart piece of figuring. Aroused aliens on the day-side would now require about twelve days to reach them.
Waitabits in Astounding Science Fiction July 73/1 -
1986
Arthur C. Clarke
We saw the lights of their cities—towns, at least—as soon as we had a good view of the nightside.
Songs of Distant Earth 34 -
1988
Arthur C. Clarke
Coming in from the nightside—heading straight for Mount Zeus.
2061: Odyssey Three 53 -
1989
David Dvorkin
Daniel Dvorkin
bibliography
City lights glittering on the nightside and winking out as daylight raced across the planetary surface.
Star Trek: Next Generation: Captains’ Honor i. 19 -
1993
Kevin J. Anderson
Doug Beason
bibliography
New windows opened to display telemetry, a CAD animation showing the attitude of the hopper and a rotating globe of the Moon displaying trajectories with a targeting cross over Daedalus Crater on the nightside.
Assemblers of Infinity ii.23 -
2008
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Jason Stoddard
bibliography
Dayside showed grasslands and deep-green forests, punctuated by bright blue lakes. Nightside showed frozen lakes and dead gray forest.
Far Horizon in Interzone (#214) Feb. 20/2
Research requirements
antedating 1914
Earliest cite
John R. Kippax, 'The Call of the Stars'
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a cite for "night-side" from a 1964 reprint of Eric Frank Russell's 1955 story "The Waitabits".Fred Galvin submitted a cite for "night side" from a 1949 reprint of Stanley G. Weinbaum's "Parasite Planet"; Jesse Sheidlower verified this in its original publication (Astounding Stories, February 1935): this source also used "night-side" as an adjective
Fred Galvin submitted an October 1935 cite from Alexander M. Phillips' "Martian Gesture"
Fred Galvin submitted a 1914 cite for "night side" from John R. Kippax's "The Call of the Stars".
Last modified 2023-11-11 14:23:58
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