darkside n. 1

the side of an object in space (as a spaceship, or a moon or planet) that faces away from the closest star; cf. farside n., nightside n.

  • 1939 N. S. Bond Mercurian Menace in Dynamic Science Stories Feb. 62/1 page image Nelson S. Bond bibliography

    ‘The dark side?’ Carson stared at the investigator in amazement; then slowly shook his head. ‘No ma’am! Not Mr. Carson, lady. He stays away from the dark side of Mercury! [...] My dear young lady,’ said Buzz seriously, ‘there are some things that even a space scout doesn’t go out of his way to meet. I mean those things which don’t concern him. Those things that got Henderson and Frizell. The things that destroyed Galactic’s dark[-]side station in two weeks without even leaving a trace behind. The things that flicker through the twilight zone when you’re walking near the border.’

  • 1956 A. Bester Stars My Destination (1996) 17 Alfred Bester bibliography

    Great rents in the hull were blazes of light on the sunside and frosty blotches of stars on the darkside.

  • 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 11 Joe Haldeman bibliography

    The last two weeks of your training will consist of constructing exactly that kind of a base, on darkside.

  • 1998 M. Flynn Rogue Star (1999) 270

    Night lived on Darkside. The sun had not touched it for tens of thousands of years.

  • 2006 J. Sherwood Under the Graying Sea in Asimov’s Science Fiction Feb. 27 page image

    They sat alone…looking out a wide window into the gridwork of the orbiting Darkside Station.

Last modified 2020-12-18 15:17:33
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.