Asteroids have appeared in fiction since at least the late 1800s,[a] the first one—Ceres—having been discovered in 1801. They were initially only used infrequently as writers preferred the planets as settings. The once-popular Phaëton hypothesis, which states that the asteroid belt consists of the remnants of the former fifth planet that existed in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter before somehow being destroyed, has been a recurring theme with various explanations for the planet's destruction proposed. This hypothetical former planet is in science fiction often called "Bodia" in reference to Johann Elert Bode, for whom the since-discredited Titius–Bode law that predicts the planet's existence is named.
By the early 1900s, the asteroids started making more regular appearances. The asteroid field has often been depicted as having asteroids so close together as to impede travel, though this became less common later in the century as writers started portraying a more realistic density. Because the asteroids are so small, they are usually not depicted as inhabited—though in some works they are nevertheless habitable. In other works they are made so by human activity, be it terraforming or hollowing out to create habitats on the inside. The latter concept has also been used for turning asteroids into spacecraft. Human activity in the asteroid belt has featured frequently since the pulp era of science fiction, particularly in the form of asteroid mining. Space piracy also debuted as a theme around the same time. In works where the asteroid belt is settled by humans, it is often conceptually similar to the Wild West.
The threat of impact events by asteroids has been a recurring theme. It received successive boosts in popularity following the end of World War II (possibly as a result of nuclear anxiety), the 1980 publication of the Alvarez hypothesis about the extinction of the dinosaurs, and the 1994 impact of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 on Jupiter. Many stories involve attempts to alter asteroid trajectories to avert such collisions, while in some stories they are instead caused intentionally.
^Bleiler, Everett Franklin (1990). "Motif and Theme Index". Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes. With the assistance of Richard J. Bleiler. Kent State University Press. p. 864. ISBN 978-0-87338-416-2.
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