title: History of astronomy

text: The Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek astronomical observational device for calculating the movements of the Sun and the Moon, possibly the planets, dates from about 150–100 BC, and was the first ancestor of an astronomical computer. It was discovered in an ancient shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete. The device became famous for its use of a differential gear, previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century, and the miniaturization and complexity of its parts, comparable to a clock made in the 18th century. The original mechanism is displayed in the Bronze collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, accompanied by a replica.


title: History of astronomy

text: Depending on the historian's viewpoint, the acme or corruption of physical Greek astronomy is seen with Ptolemy of Alexandria, who wrote the classic comprehensive presentation of geocentric astronomy, the "Megale Syntaxis" (Great Synthesis), better known by its Arabic title "Almagest", which had a lasting effect on astronomy up to the Renaissance. In his "Planetary Hypotheses", Ptolemy ventured into the realm of cosmology, developing a physical model of his geometric system, in a universe many times smaller than the more realistic conception of Aristarchus of Samos four centuries earlier.


title: History of astronomy

text: The precise orientation of the Egyptian pyramids affords a lasting demonstration of the high degree of technical skill in watching the heavens attained in the 3rd millennium BC. It has been shown the Pyramids were aligned towards the pole star, which, because of the precession of the equinoxes, was at that time Thuban, a faint star in the constellation of Draco. Evaluation of the site of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, taking into account the change over time of the obliquity of the ecliptic, has shown that the Great Temple was aligned on the rising of the midwinter Sun. The length of the corridor down which sunlight would travel would have limited illumination at other times of the year. The Egyptians also found the position of Sirius (the dog star) who they believed was Anubis, their Jackal headed god, moving through the heavens. Its position was critical to their civilisation as when it rose heliacal in the east before sunrise it foretold the flooding of the Nile. It is also the origin of the phrase 'dog days of summer' from.


title: History of astronomy

text: Astronomy played a considerable part in religious matters for fixing the dates of festivals and determining the hours of the night. The titles of several temple books are preserved recording the movements and phases of the Sun, Moon and stars. The rising of Sirius (Egyptian: Sopdet, Greek: Sothis) at the beginning of the inundation was a particularly important point to fix in the yearly calendar.


title: History of astronomy

text: Writing in the Roman era, Clement of Alexandria gives some idea of the importance of astronomical observations to the sacred rites:


title: History of astronomy

text: And after the Singer advances the Astrologer (ὡροσκόπος), with a "horologium" (ὡρολόγιον) in his hand, and a "palm" (φοίνιξ), the symbols of astrology. He must know by heart the Hermetic astrological books, which are four in number. Of these, one is about the arrangement of the fixed stars that are visible; one on the positions of the Sun and Moon and five planets; one on the conjunctions and phases of the Sun and Moon; and one concerns their risings.


title: History of astronomy

text: The Astrologer's instruments ("horologium" and "palm") are a plumb line and sighting instrument. They have been identified with two inscribed objects in the Berlin Museum; a short handle from which a plumb line was hung, and a palm branch with a sight-slit in the broader end. The latter was held close to the eye, the former in the other hand, perhaps at arm's length. The "Hermetic" books which Clement refers to are the Egyptian theological texts, which probably have nothing to do with Hellenistic Hermetism.


title: History of astronomy

text: From the tables of stars on the ceiling of the tombs of Rameses VI and Rameses IX it seems that for fixing the hours of the night a man seated on the ground faced the Astrologer in such a position that the line of observation of the pole star passed over the middle of his head. On the different days of the year each hour was determined by a fixed star culminating or nearly culminating in it, and the position of these stars at the time is given in the tables as in the centre, on the left eye, on the right shoulder, etc. According to the texts, in founding or rebuilding temples the north axis was determined by the same apparatus, and we may conclude that it was the usual one for astronomical observations. In careful hands it might give results of a high degree of accuracy.


title: History of astronomy

text: The astronomy of East Asia began in China. Solar term was completed in Warring States period. The knowledge of Chinese astronomy was introduced into East Asia.


title: History of astronomy

text: Astronomy in China has a long history. Detailed records of astronomical observations were kept from about the 6th century BC, until the introduction of Western astronomy and the telescope in the 17th century. Chinese astronomers were able to precisely predict eclipses.


title: History of astronomy

text: Much of early Chinese astronomy was for the purpose of timekeeping. The Chinese used a lunisolar calendar, but because the cycles of the Sun and the Moon are different, astronomers often prepared new calendars and made observations for that purpose.


title: History of astronomy

text: Astrological divination was also an important part of astronomy. Astronomers took careful note of "guest stars"(Chinese: 客星; pinyin: "kèxīng"; lit.: 'guest star') which suddenly appeared among the fixed stars. They were the first to record a supernova, in the Astrological Annals of the Houhanshu in 185 AD. Also, the supernova that created the Crab Nebula in 1054 is an example of a "guest star" observed by Chinese astronomers, although it was not recorded by their European contemporaries. Ancient astronomical records of phenomena like supernovae and comets are sometimes used in modern astronomical studies.


title: History of astronomy

text: Maya astronomical codices include detailed tables for calculating phases of the Moon, the recurrence of eclipses, and the appearance and disappearance of Venus as morning and evening star. The Maya based their calendrics in the carefully calculated cycles of the Pleiades, the Sun, the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and also they had a precise description of the eclipses as depicted in the Dresden Codex, as well as the ecliptic or zodiac, and the Milky Way was crucial in their Cosmology. A number of important Maya structures are believed to have been oriented toward the extreme risings and settings of Venus. To the ancient Maya, Venus was the patron of war and many recorded battles are believed to have been timed to the motions of this planet. Mars is also mentioned in preserved astronomical codices and early mythology.


title: History of astronomy

text: Although the Maya calendar was not tied to the Sun, John Teeple has proposed that the Maya calculated the solar year to somewhat greater accuracy than the Gregorian calendar. Both astronomy and an intricate numerological scheme for the measurement of time were vitally important components of Maya religion.


title: History of astronomy

text: The Maya believed that the Earth was the center of all things, and that the stars, moons, and planets were gods. They believed that their movements were the gods traveling between the Earth and other celestial destinations. Many key events in Maya culture were timed around celestial events, in the belief that certain gods would be present.


title: History of astronomy

text: The Arabic and the Persian world under Islam had become highly cultured, and many important works of knowledge from Greek astronomy and Indian astronomy and Persian astronomy were translated into Arabic, used and stored in libraries throughout the area. An important contribution by Islamic astronomers was their emphasis on observational astronomy. This led to the emergence of the first astronomical observatories in the Muslim world by the early 9th century. Zij star catalogues were produced at these observatories.


title: History of astronomy

text: In the 10th century, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) carried out observations on the stars and described their positions, magnitudes, brightness, and colour and drawings for each constellation in his "Book of Fixed Stars". He also gave the first descriptions and pictures of "A Little Cloud" now known as the Andromeda Galaxy. He mentions it as lying before the mouth of a Big Fish, an Arabic constellation. This "cloud" was apparently commonly known to the Isfahan astronomers, very probably before 905 AD. The first recorded mention of the Large Magellanic Cloud was also given by al-Sufi. In 1006, Ali ibn Ridwan observed SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, and left a detailed description of the temporary star.


title: History of astronomy

text: In the late 10th century, a huge observatory was built near Tehran, Iran, by the astronomer Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi who observed a series of meridian transits of the Sun, which allowed him to calculate the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the Sun. He noted that measurements by earlier (Indian, then Greek) astronomers had found higher values for this angle, possible evidence that the axial tilt is not constant but was in fact decreasing. In 11th-century Persia, Omar Khayyám compiled many tables and performed a reformation of the calendar that was more accurate than the Julian and came close to the Gregorian.


title: History of astronomy

text: Other Muslim advances in astronomy included the collection and correction of previous astronomical data, resolving significant problems in the Ptolemaic model, the development of the universal latitude-independent astrolabe by Arzachel, the invention of numerous other astronomical instruments, Ja'far Muhammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir's belief that the heavenly bodies and celestial spheres were subject to the same physical laws as Earth, and the introduction of empirical testing by Ibn al-Shatir, who produced the first model of lunar motion which matched physical observations.


title: History of astronomy

text: Natural philosophy (particularly Aristotelian physics) was separated from astronomy by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in the 11th century, by Ibn al-Shatir in the 14th century, and Qushji in the 15th century.


title: History of astronomy

text: After the significant contributions of Greek scholars to the development of astronomy, it entered a relatively static era in Western Europe from the Roman era through the 12th century. This lack of progress has led some astronomers to assert that nothing happened in Western European astronomy during the Middle Ages. Recent investigations, however, have revealed a more complex picture of the study and teaching of astronomy in the period from the 4th to the 16th centuries.


title: History of astronomy

text: Western Europe entered the Middle Ages with great difficulties that affected the continent's intellectual production. The advanced astronomical treatises of classical antiquity were written in Greek, and with the decline of knowledge of that language, only simplified summaries and practical texts were available for study. The most influential writers to pass on this ancient tradition in Latin were Macrobius, Pliny, Martianus Capella, and Calcidius. In the 6th century Bishop Gregory of Tours noted that he had learned his astronomy from reading Martianus Capella, and went on to employ this rudimentary astronomy to describe a method by which monks could determine the time of prayer at night by watching the stars.


title: History of astronomy

text: In the 7th century the English monk Bede of Jarrow published an influential text, "On the Reckoning of Time", providing churchmen with the practical astronomical knowledge needed to compute the proper date of Easter using a procedure called the "computus". This text remained an important element of the education of clergy from the 7th century until well after the rise of the Universities in the 12th century.


title: History of astronomy

text: The range of surviving ancient Roman writings on astronomy and the teachings of Bede and his followers began to be studied in earnest during the revival of learning sponsored by the emperor Charlemagne. By the 9th century rudimentary techniques for calculating the position of the planets were circulating in Western Europe; medieval scholars recognized their flaws, but texts describing these techniques continued to be copied, reflecting an interest in the motions of the planets and in their astrological significance.


title: History of astronomy

text: Building on this astronomical background, in the 10th century European scholars such as Gerbert of Aurillac began to travel to Spain and Sicily to seek out learning which they had heard existed in the Arabic-speaking world. There they first encountered various practical astronomical techniques concerning the calendar and timekeeping, most notably those dealing with the astrolabe. Soon scholars such as Hermann of Reichenau were writing texts in Latin on the uses and construction of the astrolabe and others, such as Walcher of Malvern, were using the astrolabe to observe the time of eclipses in order to test the validity of computistical tables.


title: History of astronomy

text: By the 12th century, scholars were traveling to Spain and Sicily to seek out more advanced astronomical and astrological texts, which they translated into Latin from Arabic and Greek to further enrich the astronomical knowledge of Western Europe. The arrival of these new texts coincided with the rise of the universities in medieval Europe, in which they soon found a home. Reflecting the introduction of astronomy into the universities, John of Sacrobosco wrote a series of influential introductory astronomy textbooks: the Sphere, a Computus, a text on the Quadrant, and another on Calculation.


title: History of astronomy

text: In the 14th century, Nicole Oresme, later bishop of Liseux, showed that neither the scriptural texts nor the physical arguments advanced against the movement of the Earth were demonstrative and adduced the argument of simplicity for the theory that the Earth moves, and "not" the heavens. However, he concluded "everyone maintains, and I think myself, that the heavens do move and not the earth: For God hath established the world which shall not be moved." In the 15th century, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa suggested in some of his scientific writings that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and that each star is itself a distant sun.


title: History of astronomy

text: During the renaissance period, astronomy began to undergo a revolution in thought known as the Copernican Revolution, which gets the name from the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who proposed a heliocentric system, in which the planets revolved around the Sun and not the Earth. His "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" was published in 1543. While in the long term this was a very controversial claim, in the very beginning it only brought minor controversy. The theory became the dominant view because many figures, most notably Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton championed and improved upon the work. Other figures also aided this new model despite not believing the overall theory, like Tycho Brahe, with his well-known observations.


title: History of astronomy

text: Brahe, a Danish noble, was an essential astronomer in this period. He came on the astronomical scene with the publication of "De nova stella", in which he disproved conventional wisdom on the supernova SN 1572 (As bright as Venus at its peak, SN 1572 later became invisible to the naked eye, disproving the Aristotelian doctrine of the immutability of the heavens.) He also created the Tychonic system, where the Sun and Moon and the stars revolve around the Earth, but the other five planets revolve around the Sun. This system blended the mathematical benefits of the Copernican system with the "physical benefits" of the Ptolemaic system. This was one of the systems people believed in when they did not accept heliocentrism, but could no longer accept the Ptolemaic system. He is most known for his highly accurate observations of the stars and the Solar System. Later he moved to Prague and continued his work. In Prague he was at work on the Rudolphine Tables, that were not finished until after his death. The Rudolphine Tables was a star map designed to be more accurate than either the Alfonsine tables, made in the 1300s, and the Prutenic Tables, which were inaccurate. He was assisted at this time by his assistant Johannes Kepler, who would later use his observations to finish Brahe's works and for his theories as well.


title: History of astronomy

text: After the death of Brahe, Kepler was deemed his successor and was given the job of completing Brahe's uncompleted works, like the Rudolphine Tables. He completed the Rudolphine Tables in 1624, although it was not published for several years. Like many other figures of this era, he was subject to religious and political troubles, like the Thirty Years' War, which led to chaos that almost destroyed some of his works. Kepler was, however, the first to attempt to derive mathematical predictions of celestial motions from assumed physical causes. He discovered the three Kepler's laws of planetary motion that now carry his name, those laws being as follows:


title: History of astronomy

text: With these laws, he managed to improve upon the existing heliocentric model. The first two were published in 1609. Kepler's contributions improved upon the overall system, giving it more credibility because it adequately explained events and could cause more reliable predictions. Before this, the Copernican model was just as unreliable as the Ptolemaic model. This improvement came because Kepler realized the orbits were not perfect circles, but ellipses.Galileo Galilei was among the first to use a telescope to observe the sky, and after constructing a 20x refractor telescope. He discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1610, which are now collectively known as the Galilean moons, in his honor. This discovery was the first known observation of satellites orbiting another planet. He also found that the Moon had craters and observed, and correctly explained sunspots, and that Venus exhibited a full set of phases resembling lunar phases. Galileo argued that these facts demonstrated incompatibility with the Ptolemaic model, which could not explain the phenomenon and would even contradict it. With the moons it demonstrated that the Earth does not have to have everything orbiting it and that other parts of the Solar System could orbit another object, such as the Earth orbiting the Sun. In the Ptolemaic system the celestial bodies were supposed to be perfect so such objects should not have craters or sunspots. The phases of Venus could only happen in the event that Venus' orbit is inside Earth's orbit, which could not happen if the Earth was the center. He, as the most famous example, had to face challenges from church officials, more specifically the Roman Inquisition. They accused him of heresy because these beliefs went against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and were challenging the Catholic church's authority when it was at its weakest. While he was able to avoid punishment for a little while he was eventually tried and pled guilty to heresy in 1633. Although this came at some expense, his book was banned, and he was put under house arrest until he died in 1642.Sir Isaac Newton developed further ties between physics and astronomy through his law of universal gravitation. Realizing that the same force that attracts objects to the surface of the Earth held the Moon in orbit around the Earth, Newton was able to explain – in one theoretical framework – all known gravitational phenomena. In his "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica", he derived Kepler's laws from first principles. Those first principles are as follows:


title: History of astronomy

text: Thus while Kepler explained how the planets moved, Newton accurately managed to explain why the planets moved the way they do. Newton's theoretical developments laid many of the foundations of modern physics.


title: History of astronomy

text: Outside of England, Newton's theory took some time to become established. Descartes' theory of vortices held sway in France, and Huygens, Leibniz and Cassini accepted only parts of Newton's system, preferring their own philosophies. Voltaire published a popular account in 1738. In 1748, the French Academy of Sciences offered a reward for solving the perturbations of Jupiter and Saturn which was eventually solved by Euler and Lagrange. Laplace completed the theory of the planets, publishing from 1798 to 1825. The early origins of the solar nebular model of planetary formation had begun.


title: History of astronomy

text: Edmond Halley succeeded Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal in England and succeeded in predicting the return of the comet that bears his name in 1758. Sir William Herschel found the first new planet, Uranus, to be observed in modern times in 1781. The gap between the planets Mars and Jupiter disclosed by the Titius–Bode law was filled by the discovery of the asteroids Ceres and Pallas in 1801 and 1802 with many more following.


title: History of astronomy

text: At first, astronomical thought in America was based on Aristotelian philosophy, but interest in the new astronomy began to appear in Almanacs as early as 1659.


title: History of astronomy

text: Cosmic pluralism is the name given to the idea that the stars are distant suns, perhaps with their own planetary systems.


title: History of astronomy

text: Ideas in this direction were expressed in antiquity, by Anaxagoras and by Aristarchus of Samos, but did not find mainstream acceptance. The first astronomer of the European Renaissance to suggest that the stars were distant suns was Giordano Bruno in his "De l'infinito universo et mondi" (1584). This idea was among the charges, albeit not in a prominent position, brought against him by the Inquisition.


title: History of astronomy

text: The idea became mainstream in the later 17th century, especially following the publication of "Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds" by Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1686), and by the early 18th century it was the default working assumptions in stellar astronomy.


title: History of astronomy

text: The Italian astronomer Geminiano Montanari recorded observing variations in luminosity of the star Algol in 1667. Edmond Halley published the first measurements of the proper motion of a pair of nearby "fixed" stars, demonstrating that they had changed positions since the time of the ancient Greek astronomers Ptolemy and Hipparchus. William Herschel was the first astronomer to attempt to determine the distribution of stars in the sky. During the 1780s, he established a series of gauges in 600 directions and counted the stars observed along each line of sight. From this he deduced that the number of stars steadily increased toward one side of the sky, in the direction of the Milky Way core. His son John Herschel repeated this study in the southern hemisphere and found a corresponding increase in the same direction. In addition to his other accomplishments, William Herschel is noted for his discovery that some stars do not merely lie along the same line of sight, but are physical companions that form binary star systems.


title: History of astronomy

text: Pre-photography, data recording of astronomical data was limited by the human eye. In 1840, John W. Draper, a chemist, created the earliest known astronomical photograph of the Moon. And by the late 19th century thousands of photographic plates of images of planets, stars, and galaxies were created. Most photography had lower quantum efficiency (i.e. captured less of the incident photons) than human eyes but had the advantage of long integration times (100 ms for the human eye compared to hours for photos). This vastly increased the data available to astronomers, which lead to the rise of human computers, famously the Harvard Computers, to track and analyze the data.


title: History of astronomy

text: Scientists began discovering forms of light which were invisible to the naked eye: X-rays, gamma rays, radio waves, microwaves, ultraviolet radiation, and infrared radiation. This had a major impact on astronomy, spawning the fields of infrared astronomy, radio astronomy, x-ray astronomy and finally gamma-ray astronomy. With the advent of spectroscopy it was proven that other stars were similar to the Sun, but with a range of temperatures, masses and sizes.


title: History of astronomy

text: The science of stellar spectroscopy was pioneered by Joseph von Fraunhofer and Angelo Secchi. By comparing the spectra of stars such as Sirius to the Sun, they found differences in the strength and number of their absorption lines—the dark lines in stellar spectra caused by the atmosphere's absorption of specific frequencies. In 1865, Secchi began classifying stars into spectral types. The first evidence of helium was observed on August 18, 1868, as a bright yellow spectral line with a wavelength of 587.49 nanometers in the spectrum of the chromosphere of the Sun. The line was detected by French astronomer Jules Janssen during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India.


title: History of astronomy

text: The first direct measurement of the distance to a star (61 Cygni at 11.4 light-years) was made in 1838 by Friedrich Bessel using the parallax technique. Parallax measurements demonstrated the vast separation of the stars in the heavens. Observation of double stars gained increasing importance during the 19th century. In 1834, Friedrich Bessel observed changes in the proper motion of the star Sirius and inferred a hidden companion. Edward Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary in 1899 when he observed the periodic splitting of the spectral lines of the star Mizar in a 104-day period. Detailed observations of many binary star systems were collected by astronomers such as Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve and S. W. Burnham, allowing the masses of stars to be determined from the computation of orbital elements. The first solution to the problem of deriving an orbit of binary stars from telescope observations was made by Felix Savary in 1827.


title: History of astronomy

text: With the accumulation of large sets of astronomical data, teams like the Harvard Computers rose in prominence which lead to many female astronomers, previously relegated as assistants to male astronomers, gaining recognition in the field. The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) and other astronomy research institutions hired human "computers", who performed the tedious calculations while scientists performed research requiring more background knowledge. A number of discoveries in this period were originally noted by the women "computers" and reported to their supervisors. Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered the cepheid variable star period-luminosity relation which she further developed into a method of measuring distance outside of the Solar System.


title: History of astronomy

text: A veteran of the Harvard Computers, Annie J. Cannon developed the modern version of the stellar classification scheme in during the early 1900s (O B A F G K M, based on color and temperature), manually classifying more stars in a lifetime than anyone else (around 350,000).


title: History of astronomy

text: Karl Schwarzschild discovered that the color of a star and, hence, its temperature, could be determined by comparing the visual magnitude against the photographic magnitude. The development of the photoelectric photometer allowed precise measurements of magnitude at multiple wavelength intervals. In 1921 Albert A. Michelson made the first measurements of a stellar diameter using an interferometer on the Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory.


title: History of astronomy

text: Important theoretical work on the physical structure of stars occurred during the first decades of the twentieth century. In 1913, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram was developed, propelling the astrophysical study of stars.


title: History of astronomy

text: In Potsdam in 1906, the Danish astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung published the first plots of color versus luminosity for these stars. These plots showed a prominent and continuous sequence of stars, which he named the Main Sequence.


title: History of astronomy

text: At Princeton University, Henry Norris Russell plotted the spectral types of these stars against their absolute magnitude, and found that dwarf stars followed a distinct relationship. This allowed the real brightness of a dwarf star to be predicted with reasonable accuracy.


title: History of astronomy

text: Successful models were developed to explain the interiors of stars and stellar evolution. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin first proposed that stars were made primarily of hydrogen and helium in her 1925 doctoral thesis. The spectra of stars were further understood through advances in quantum physics. This allowed the chemical composition of the stellar atmosphere to be determined.


title: History of astronomy

text: As evolutionary models of stars were developed during the 1930s, Bengt Strömgren introduced the term Hertzsprung–Russell diagram to denote a luminosity-spectral class diagram.


title: History of astronomy

text: A refined scheme for stellar classification was published in 1943 by William Wilson Morgan and Philip Childs Keenan.


title: History of astronomy

text: The existence of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as a separate group of stars was only proven in the 20th century, along with the existence of "external" galaxies, and soon after, the expansion of the universe seen in the recession of most galaxies from us. The "Great Debate" between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, in the 1920s, concerned the nature of the Milky Way, spiral nebulae, and the dimensions of the universe.


title: History of astronomy

text: The Sun was found to be part of a galaxy made up of more than 10 stars (10 billion stars). The existence of other galaxies, one of the matters of "the great debate", was settled by Edwin Hubble, who identified the Andromeda nebula as a different galaxy, and many others at large distances and receding, moving away from our galaxy.


title: History of astronomy

text: Physical cosmology, a discipline that has a large intersection with astronomy, made huge advances during the 20th century, with the model of the hot Big Bang heavily supported by the evidence provided by astronomy and physics, such as the redshifts of very distant galaxies and radio sources, the cosmic microwave background radiation, Hubble's law and cosmological abundances of elements.


title: Renee Olstead

text: Renee Olstead (born June 18, 1989) is an American actress and singer. Active since childhood as an actress, she is best known for her roles on the CBS sitcom "Still Standing" and on the ABC Family drama "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" as Madison Cooperstein. In addition, she has recorded four studio albums, primarily of jazz music.


title: Renee Olstead

text: Olstead was born in Kingwood, Texas, to Christopher Eric Olstead and Rebecca Lynn Jeffries. Olstead is of Norwegian ancestry. She also attended Centre Stage theatrical school and is mentioned on their website's list of alumni.


title: Renee Olstead

text: As a child actress, she made films and commercials from age eight onwards. From 2002 to 2006, she appeared in the TV sitcom "Still Standing" as middle sister Lauren Miller. Olstead was presented with the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy) - Supporting Young Actress for "Still Standing" in 2002. She also had a small part in the 2004 film "13 Going on 30". She co-starred in the ABC Family series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", about fifteen-year-old Amy Juergens's struggle through her unexpected pregnancy and how it affected her peers. Olstead played the character Madison Cooperstein, one of Amy's best friends.


title: Renee Olstead

text: In 2004, Olstead released a self-titled album of jazz songs and pop standards for Warner Bros. Records to good reviews. Since her previous releases had limited distribution, this album was considered her official debut. She subsequently performed in Berlin during the Live 8 concert on July 2, 2005.


title: Renee Olstead

text: Olstead also recorded with trumpeter Chris Botti on his 2005 album "" and appeared on the 2006 DVD "Chris Botti Live with Orchestra and Special Guests". Her singing style is influenced by such great jazz vocalists as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Reportedly, her musical talent was discovered by composer David Foster, who produced her 2004 album. She later performed with him on "The Oprah Winfrey Show".


title: Renee Olstead

text: A follow-up album entitled Skylark, also produced by Foster, was originally announced for release in 2005, but it was subsequently pushed back several times, with release dates in the summer of 2006 and early 2007 being mentioned on online retailers such as Amazon.com. It was then scheduled for a June 2008 release, but was delayed once again. It was finally released on January 27, 2009, nearly four years after it was originally announced.


title: Renee Olstead

text: Olstead most recently starred as Kaitlan in the 2013 supernatural thriller "The Midnight Game" and as Jess Felton in the 2014 technology-themed thriller film "Unfriended".


title: Renee Olstead

text: On November 30, 2020, Renee announced that she was launching an Onlyfans page. Her introductory subscription fee was set at $9.99 per month.


title: Renee Olstead

text: Renee was married to pianist Tommy King, and legally took his last name. The two divorced in 2020. As Renee King, she was crowned Ms. West Coast at the Miss West Coast pageant in 2016.


title: Renee Olstead

text: Olstead is a vegan. She appeared in a PETA ad, "Fish Are Friends Not Food", urging her fans to become vegan themselves. In 2012, Olstead joined PETA's campaign to free the elephant Mali from captivity at the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden, where she has been alone for the last three decades.


title: Renee Olstead

text: On September 14, 2011, as the result of a criminal complaint initially made by actress Scarlett Johansson, the FBI announced it was investigating the alleged hacking of celebrity cellphone and email accounts and the dissemination of explicit nude photographs of Johansson and approximately 50 other celebrities, including Olstead. As a result of the investigation, 35-year-old Christopher Chaney of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested in October 2011. During the trial, Olstead testified that she attempted suicide after the nude photographs were leaked, adding that she had never before considered suicide before the hacking. Chaney was sentenced to 10 years in prison in December 2012.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: A ground source heat pump (also geothermal heat pump) is a heating/cooling system for buildings that uses a type of heat pump to transfer heat to or from the ground, taking advantage of the relative constancy of temperatures of the earth through the seasons. Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) – or geothermal heat pumps (GHP) as they are commonly termed in North America – are among the most energy-efficient technologies for providing HVAC and water heating, using far less energy than can be achieved by burning a fuel in a boiler/furnace or by use of resistive electric heaters.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Efficiency is given as a coefficient of performance (CoP) which is typically in the range 3 – 6, meaning that the devices provide 3 – 6 units of heat for each unit of electricity used. Setup costs are higher than for other heating systems due to the requirement to install ground loops over large areas or drill bore holes, and for this reason air source heat pumps are often used instead.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Ground-source heat pumps take advantage of the difference between the ambient temperature and the temperature at various depths in the ground.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The "penetration depth" is defined as the depth at which the temperature variable is less than 0.01 of the variation at the surface, and this depends on the type of soil:


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The heat pump was described by Lord Kelvin in 1853 and developed by Peter Ritter von Rittinger in 1855. Heinrich Zoelly had patented the idea of using it to draw heat from the ground in 1912.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: After experimenting with a freezer, Robert C. Webber built the first direct exchange ground source heat pump in the late 1940s; however, sources disagree as to the exact timeline of his invention The first successful commercial project was installed in the Commonwealth Building (Portland, Oregon) in 1948, and has been designated a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by ASME. Professor Carl Nielsen of Ohio State University built the first residential open loop version in his home in 1948.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: As a result of the 1973 oil crisis, ground source heat pumps became popular in Sweden and has been growing slowly in worldwide acceptance since then. Open loop systems dominated the market until the development of polybutylene pipe in 1979 made closed loop systems economically viable.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: As of 2004, there are over a million units installed worldwide providing 12 GW of thermal capacity with a growth rate of 10% per year. Each year (as of 2011/2004, respectively), about 80,000 units are installed in the US and 27,000 in Sweden. In Finland, a geothermal heat pump was the most common heating system choice for new detached houses between 2006 and 2011 with market share exceeding 40%.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: A heat pump is the central unit for the building's heating and cooling. It usually comes in two main variants:


title: Ground source heat pump

text: "Liquid-to-water" heat pumps (also called "water-to-water") are hydronic systems that carry heating or cooling through the building through pipes to conventional radiators, underfloor heating, baseboard radiators and hot water tanks. These heat pumps are also preferred for pool heating. Heat pumps typically only heat water to about efficiently, whereas boilers typically operate at . The size of radiators designed for the higher temperatures achieved by boilers may be too small for use with heat pumps, requiring replacement with larger radiators when retrofitting a home from boiler to heat pump. When used for cooling, the temperature of the circulating water must normally be kept above the dew point to ensure that atmospheric humidity does not condense on the radiator.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: "Liquid-to-air" heat pumps (also called "water-to-air") output forced air, and are most commonly used to replace legacy forced air furnaces and central air conditioning systems. There are variations that allow for split systems, high-velocity systems, and ductless systems. Heat pumps cannot achieve as high a fluid temperature as a conventional furnace, so they require a higher volume flow rate of air to compensate. When retrofitting a residence, the existing ductwork may have to be enlarged to reduce the noise from the higher air flow.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Ground source heat pumps employ a ground heat exchanger in contact with the ground or groundwater to extract or dissipate heat. Incorrect design can result in the system freezing after a number of years or very inefficient system performance; thus accurate system design is critical to a successful system


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Pipework for the ground loop is typically made of high-density polyethylene pipe and contains a mixture of water and anti-freeze (propylene glycol, denatured alcohol or methanol). Monopropylene glycol has the least damaging potential when it might leak into the ground, and is, therefore, the only allowed anti-freeze in ground sources in an increasing number of European countries.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: A horizontal closed loop field is composed of pipes that are arrayed in a plane in the ground. A long trench, deeper than the frost line, is dug and U-shaped or slinky coils are spread out inside the same trench. Shallow horizontal heat exchangers experience seasonal temperature cycles due to solar gains and transmission losses to ambient air at ground level. These temperature cycles lag behind the seasons because of thermal inertia, so the heat exchanger will harvest heat deposited by the sun several months earlier, while being weighed down in late winter and spring, due to accumulated winter cold. Systems in wet ground or in water are generally more efficient than drier ground loops since water conducts and stores heat better than solids in sand or soil. If the ground is naturally dry, soaker hoses may be buried with the ground loop to keep it wet.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: A vertical system consists of a number of boreholes some deep fitted with U-shaped pipes through which a heat-carrying fluid that absorbs (or discharges) heat from (or to) the ground is circulated. Bore holes are spaced at least 5–6 m apart and the depth depends on ground and building characteristics. Alternatively, pipes may be integrated with the foundation piles used to support the building. Vertical systems rely on migration of heat from surrounding geology, unless recharged during the summer and at other times when surplus heat is available. Vertical systems are typically used where there is insufficient available land for a horizontal system.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Pipe pairs in the hole are joined with a U-shaped cross connector at the bottom of the hole or comprises two small-diameter high-density polyethylene (HDPE) tubes thermally fused to form a U-shaped bend at the bottom. The space between the wall of the borehole and the U-shaped tubes is usually grouted completely with grouting material or, in some cases, partially filled with groundwater. For illustration, a detached house needing 10 kW (3 ton) of heating capacity might need three boreholes deep.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: As an alternative to trenching, loops may be laid by mini horizontal directional drilling (mini-HDD). This technique can lay piping under yards, driveways, gardens or other structures without disturbing them, with a cost between those of trenching and vertical drilling. This system also differs from horizontal & vertical drilling as the loops are installed from one central chamber, further reducing the ground space needed. Radial drilling is often installed retroactively (after the property has been built) due to the small nature of the equipment used and the ability to bore beneath existing constructions.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: In an open-loop system (also called a groundwater heat pump), the secondary loop pumps natural water from a well or body of water into a heat exchanger inside the heat pump. Since the water chemistry is not controlled, the appliance may need to be protected from corrosion by using different metals in the heat exchanger and pump. Limescale may foul the system over time and require periodic acid cleaning. This is much more of a problem with cooling systems than heating systems. A standing column well system is a specialized type of open-loop system where water is drawn from the bottom of a deep rock well, passed through a heat pump, and returned to the top of the well. A growing number of jurisdictions have outlawed open-loop systems that drain to the surface because these may drain aquifers or contaminate wells. This forces the use of more environmentally sound injection wells or a closed-loop system.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: A closed pond loop consists of coils of pipe similar to a slinky loop attached to a frame and located at the bottom of an appropriately sized pond or water source. Artificial ponds are used as heat storage (up to 90% efficient) in some central solar heating plants, which later extract the heat (similar to ground storage) via a large heat pump to supply district heating.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The direct exchange geothermal heat pump (DX) is the oldest type of geothermal heat pump technology where the refrigerant itself is passed through the ground loop. Developed during the 1980s, this approach faced issues with the refrigerant and oil management system, especially after the ban of CFC refrigerants in 1989 and DX systems now are infrequently used.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Because of the technical knowledge and equipment needed to design and size the system properly (and install the piping if heat fusion is required), a GSHP system installation requires a professional's services. Several installers have published real-time views of system performance in an online community of recent residential installations. The International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA), Geothermal Exchange Organization (GEO), the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition and the Ground Source Heat Pump Association maintain listings of qualified installers in the US, Canada and the UK. Furthermore, detailed analysis of Soil thermal conductivity for horizontal systems and formation thermal conductivity for vertical systems will generally result in more accurately designed systems with a higher efficiency.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Cooling performance is typically expressed in units of BTU/hr/watt as the energy efficiency ratio (EER), while heating performance is typically reduced to dimensionless units as the coefficient of performance (COP). The conversion factor is 3.41 BTU/hr/watt. Since a heat pump moves three to five times more heat energy than the electric energy it consumes, the total energy output is much greater than the electrical input. This results in net thermal efficiencies greater than 300% as compared to radiant electric heat being 100% efficient. Traditional combustion furnaces and electric heaters can never exceed 100% efficiency. Ground source heat pumps can reduce energy consumption – and corresponding air pollution emissions – up to 72% compared to electric resistance heating with standard air-conditioning equipment.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Efficient compressors, variable speed compressors and larger heat exchangers all contribute to heat pump efficiency. Residential ground source heat pumps on the market today have standard COPs ranging from 2.4 to 5.0 and EERs ranging from 10.6 to 30. To qualify for an Energy Star label, heat pumps must meet certain minimum COP and EER ratings which depend on the ground heat exchanger type. For closed-loop systems, the ISO 13256-1 heating COP must be 3.3 or greater and the cooling EER must be 14.1 or greater.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Standards ARI 210 and 240 define Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) and Heating Seasonal Performance Factors (HSPF) to account for the impact of seasonal variations on air source heat pumps. These numbers are normally not applicable and should not be compared to ground source heat pump ratings. However, Natural Resources Canada has adapted this approach to calculate typical seasonally adjusted HSPFs for ground-source heat pumps in Canada. The NRC HSPFs ranged from 8.7 to 12.8 BTU/hr/watt (2.6 to 3.8 in nondimensional factors, or 255% to 375% seasonal average electricity utilization efficiency) for the most populated regions of Canada.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: For the sake of comparing heat pump appliances to each other, independently from other system components, a few standard test conditions have been established by the American Refrigerant Institute (ARI) and more recently by the International Organization for Standardization. Standard ARI 330 ratings were intended for closed-loop ground-source heat pumps, and assume secondary loop water temperatures of for air conditioning and for heating. These temperatures are typical of installations in the northern US. Standard ARI 325 ratings were intended for open-loop ground-source heat pumps, and include two sets of ratings for groundwater temperatures of and . ARI 325 budgets more electricity for water pumping than ARI 330. Neither of these standards attempts to account for seasonal variations. Standard ARI 870 ratings are intended for direct exchange ground-source heat pumps. ASHRAE transitioned to ISO 13256-1 in 2001, which replaces ARI 320, 325 and 330. The new ISO standard produces slightly higher ratings because it no longer budgets any electricity for water pumps.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Soil without artificial heat addition or subtraction and at depths of several metres or more remains at a relatively constant temperature year round. This temperature equates roughly to the average annual air temperature of the chosen location, usually at a depth of in the northern US. Because this temperature remains more constant than the air temperature throughout the seasons, Ground source heat pumps perform with far greater efficiency during extreme air temperatures than air conditioners and air-source heat pumps.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: A challenge in predicting the thermal response of a ground heat exchanger (GHE) is the diversity of the time and space scales involved. Four space scales and eight time scales are involved in the heat transfer of GHEs. The first space scale having practical importance is the diameter of the borehole (~ 0.1 m) and the associated time is on the order of 1 hr, during which the effect of the heat capacity of the backfilling material is significant. The second important space dimension is the half distance between two adjacent boreholes, which is on the order of several meters. The corresponding time is on the order of a month, during which the thermal interaction between adjacent boreholes is important. The largest space scale can be tens of meters or more, such as the half-length of a borehole and the horizontal scale of a GHE cluster. The time scale involved is as long as the lifetime of a GHE (decades).


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The short-term hourly temperature response of the ground is vital for analyzing the energy of ground-source heat pump systems and for their optimum control and operation. By contrast, the long-term response determines the overall feasibility of a system from the standpoint of the life cycle. Addressing the complete spectrum of time scales require vast computational resources.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The main questions that engineers may ask in the early stages of designing a GHE are (a) what the heat transfer rate of a GHE as a function of time is, given a particular temperature difference between the circulating fluid and the ground, and (b) what the temperature difference as a function of time is, given a required heat exchange rate. In the language of heat transfer, the two questions can probably be expressed as


title: Ground source heat pump

text: where "T" is the average temperature of the circulating fluid, "T" is the effective, undisturbed temperature of the ground, "q" is the heat transfer rate of the GHE per unit time per unit length (W/m), and "R" is the total thermal resistance (mK/W)."R"("t") is often an unknown variable that needs to be determined by heat transfer analysis. Despite "R"("t") being a function of time, analytical models exclusively decompose it into a time-independent part and a time-dependent part to simplify the analysis.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Various models for the time-independent and time-dependent R can be found in the references. Further, a Thermal response test is often performed to make a deterministic analysis of ground thermal conductivity to optimize the loopfield size, especially for larger commercial sites (e.g., over 10 wells).


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The efficiency of ground source heat pumps can be greatly improved by using seasonal thermal energy storage and interseasonal heat transfer. Heat captured and stored in thermal banks in the summer can be retrieved efficiently in the winter. Heat storage efficiency increases with scale, so this advantage is most significant in commercial or district heating systems.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Geosolar combisystems have been used to heat and cool a greenhouse using an aquifer for thermal storage. In summer, the greenhouse is cooled with cold ground water. This heats the water in the aquifer which can become a warm source for heating in winter. The combination of cold and heat storage with heat pumps can be combined with water/humidity regulation. These principles are used to provide renewable heat and renewable cooling to all kinds of buildings.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Also the efficiency of existing small heat pump installations can be improved by adding large, cheap, water-filled solar collectors. These may be integrated into a to-be-overhauled parking lot, or in walls or roof constructions by installing one-inch PE pipes into the outer layer.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called ground source heat pumps the most energy-efficient, environmentally clean, and cost-effective space conditioning systems available. Heat pumps offer significant emission reductions potential, particularly where they are used for both heating and cooling and where the electricity is produced from renewable resources.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: GSHPs have unsurpassed thermal efficiencies and produce zero emissions locally, but their electricity supply includes components with high greenhouse gas emissions unless the owner has opted for a 100% renewable energy supply. Their environmental impact, therefore, depends on the characteristics of the electricity supply and the available alternatives.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The GHG emissions savings from a heat pump over a conventional furnace can be calculated based on the following formula:


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Ground-source heat pumps always produce fewer greenhouse gases than air conditioners, oil furnaces, and electric heating, but natural gas furnaces may be competitive depending on the greenhouse gas intensity of the local electricity supply. In countries like Canada and Russia with low emitting electricity infrastructure, a residential heat pump may save 5 tons of carbon dioxide per year relative to an oil furnace, or about as much as taking an average passenger car off the road. But in cities like Beijing or Pittsburgh that are highly reliant on coal for electricity production, a heat pump may result in 1 or 2 tons more carbon dioxide emissions than a natural gas furnace. For areas not served by utility natural gas infrastructure, however, no better alternative exists.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The fluids used in closed loops may be designed to be biodegradable and non-toxic, but the refrigerant used in the heat pump cabinet and in direct exchange loops was, until recently, chlorodifluoromethane, which is an ozone-depleting substance. Although harmless while contained, leaks and improper end-of-life disposal contribute to enlarging the ozone hole. For new construction, this refrigerant is being phased out in favor of the ozone-friendly but potent greenhouse gas R410A. The EcoCute water heater is an air-source heat pump that uses carbon dioxide as its working fluid instead of chlorofluorocarbons. Open-loop systems (i.e. those that draw ground water as opposed to closed-loop systems using a borehole heat exchanger) need to be balanced by reinjecting the spent water. This prevents aquifer depletion and the contamination of soil or surface water with brine or other compounds from underground.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Before drilling, the underground geology needs to be understood, and drillers need to be prepared to seal the borehole, including preventing penetration of water between strata. The unfortunate example is a geothermal heating project in Staufen im Breisgau, Germany which seems the cause of considerable damage to historical buildings there. In 2008, the city centre was reported to have risen 12 cm, after initially sinking a few millimeters. The boring tapped a naturally pressurized aquifer, and via the borehole this water entered a layer of anhydrite, which expands when wet as it forms gypsum. The swelling will stop when the anhydrite is fully reacted, and reconstruction of the city center "is not expedient until the uplift ceases". By 2010 sealing of the borehole had not been accomplished. By 2010, some sections of town had risen by 30 cm.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Ground source heat pumps are characterized by high capital costs and low operational costs compared to other HVAC systems. Their overall economic benefit depends primarily on the relative costs of electricity and fuels, which are highly variable over time and across the world. Based on recent prices, ground-source heat pumps currently have lower operational costs than any other conventional heating source almost everywhere in the world. Natural gas is the only fuel with competitive operational costs, and only in a handful of countries where it is exceptionally cheap, or where electricity is exceptionally expensive. In general, a homeowner may save anywhere from 20% to 60% annually on utilities by switching from an ordinary system to a ground-source system.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Capital costs and system lifespan have received much less study until recently, and the return on investment is highly variable. The most recent data from an analysis of 2011–2012 incentive payments in the state of Maryland showed an average cost of residential systems of $1.90 per watt, or about $26,700 for a typical (4 ton/14 kW) home system. An older study found the total installed cost for a system with 10 kW (3 ton) thermal capacity for a detached rural residence in the US averaged $8000–$9000 in 1995 US dollars. More recent studies found an average cost of $14,000 in 2008 US dollars for the same size system. The US Department of Energy estimates a price of $7500 on its website, last updated in 2008. One source in Canada placed prices in the range of $30,000–$34,000 Canadian dollars. The rapid escalation in system price has been accompanied by rapid improvements in efficiency and reliability. Capital costs are known to benefit from economies of scale, particularly for open-loop systems, so they are more cost-effective for larger commercial buildings and harsher climates. The initial cost can be two to five times that of a conventional heating system in most residential applications, new construction or existing. In retrofits, the cost of installation is affected by the size of the living area, the home's age, insulation characteristics, the geology of the area, and the location of the property. Proper duct system design and mechanical air exchange should be considered in the initial system cost.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Capital costs may be offset by government subsidies; for example, Ontario offered $7000 for residential systems installed in the 2009 fiscal year. Some electric companies offer special rates to customers who install a ground-source heat pump for heating or cooling their building. Where electrical plants have larger loads during summer months and idle capacity in the winter, this increases electrical sales during the winter months. Heat pumps also lower the load peak during the summer due to the increased efficiency of heat pumps, thereby avoiding the costly construction of new power plants. For the same reasons, other utility companies have started to pay for the installation of ground-source heat pumps at customer residences. They lease the systems to their customers for a monthly fee, at a net overall saving to the customer.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: The lifespan of the system is longer than conventional heating and cooling systems. Good data on system lifespan is not yet available because the technology is too recent, but many early systems are still operational today after 25–30 years with routine maintenance. Most loop fields have warranties for 25 to 50 years and are expected to last at least 50 to 200 years. Ground-source heat pumps use electricity for heating the house. The higher investment above conventional oil, propane or electric systems may be returned in energy savings in 2–10 years for residential systems in the US. If compared to natural gas systems, the payback period can be much longer or non-existent. The payback period for larger commercial systems in the US is 1–5 years, even when compared to natural gas. Additionally, because geothermal heat pumps usually have no outdoor compressors or cooling towers, the risk of vandalism is reduced or eliminated, potentially extending a system's lifespan.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Ground source heat pumps are recognized as one of the most efficient heating and cooling systems on the market. They are often the second-most cost-effective solution in extreme climates (after co-generation), despite reductions in thermal efficiency due to ground temperature. (The ground source is warmer in climates that need strong air conditioning, and cooler in climates that need strong heating.) The financial viability of these systems depends on the adequate sizing of ground heat exchangers (GHEs), which generally contribute the most to the overall capital costs of GSHP systems.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Commercial systems maintenance costs in the US have historically been between $0.11 to $0.22 per m per year in 1996 dollars, much less than the average $0.54 per m per year for conventional HVAC systems.


title: Ground source heat pump

text: Governments that promote renewable energy will likely offer incentives for the consumer (residential), or industrial markets. For example, in the United States, incentives are offered both on the state and federal levels of government. In the United Kingdom the Renewable Heat Incentive provides a financial incentive for the generation of renewable heat based on metered readings on an annual basis for 20 years for commercial buildings. The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive is due to be introduced in Spring 2014 for seven years and be based on deemed heat.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: We Were Here is a franchise of cooperative first-person adventure video games, created by the Dutch studio Total Mayhem Games.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: The "We Were Here" games are cooperative first-person adventure games with puzzle elements. In each game there are two players who take on a different role. They must work together to solve puzzles, generally while in different rooms and unable to see the other. Each player has a walkie-talkie to communicate with the other, which is what allows them to solve the puzzles they face.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: The first "We Were Here" was developed by Dutch studio Total Mayhem Games as part of a student project while studying at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. It was a student entrant for the Independent Games Festival 2018, and won the Best Indie Game Award in 2017 at the Indigo showcase in the Netherlands. It was released for free on Steam in February 2017


title: We Were Here (series)

text: The original "We Were Here" was first released on PC on February 3, 2017, with the sequel "We Were Here Too" releasing on February 2, 2018. An Xbox One version of "We Were Here" released in September 2019, and "We Were Here Too" for Xbox One was released on October 2, 2019. The third game "We Were Here Together" was released on PC on October 10, 2019, and Xbox One on June 5, 2020.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: A PlayStation 4 release of the series was announced on September 24, 2020, and all three games were released on February 23, 2021. "We Were Here" was released as a free to download on PlayStation Store from February 9, 2021, until February 22, as part of the release date announcement.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: "We Were Here" is a cooperative first-person puzzle video game developed by Total Mayhem Games from The Netherlands, released for free on February 3, 2017, on Steam for PC. Two players take the role of Antarctic explorers who have become split up in an old castle, called Castle Rock. They must solve puzzles by communicating via walkie-talkies. It was released on Xbox One on September 16, 2019, and was featured in Xbox Games with Gold for September 2019.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: "We Were Here Too" was the first commercial release by Total Mayhem Games. The gameplay is similar to the original "We Were Here", with two players who are split up and must solve puzzles by communicating via walkie-talkie. The game was released on February 2, 2018, on Steam for PC, and on October 2, 2019, for Xbox One.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: "We Were Here Together" was released on October 10, 2019, on Steam for PC, and on June 5, 2020, for Xbox One. In a twist on the series' usual gameplay, players spend some of the game in the same area together, where they can both visit the same locations. There are new locations including the base camp where their expedition began, ice caves, and Antarctic outdoors. Working together is still required to progress.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: "We Were Here Forever" was announced on March 10, 2021, on Steam for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It was released on May 10, 2022 for PC only, on Steam and the Epic Games Store. The console releases were described as 'coming soon'. The game has new areas, puzzles, and improved interface and gameplay.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: In their review of "We Were Here Too", Adventure Gamers described the first game as noble, saying that "though bite-sized, it offered a neat concept and was well received".


title: We Were Here (series)

text: "We Were Here Too" received "mixed or average" reviews, with outlets largely praising the puzzles and core gameplay, but noting that the game was fairly short. Adventure Gamers found that "solving puzzles co-operatively is very satisfying", but criticized the game for being short and lacking detailed story. Vgames praised the puzzles and atmosphere, but also found it short and lacking replay value. PLAY! Zine described the puzzles and communication gameplay as strong points, but criticized the story and some technical issues.


title: We Were Here (series)

text: "We Were Here Together" received "mixed or average" reviews for console and "generally positive" reviews for PC. The puzzles and core gameplay were well received, and critics appreciated the game being longer than its predecessors. However, the narrative part of the game was largely seen as underwhelming or distracting. Adventure Gamers praised the puzzles and communication gameplay, while encountering some technical issues and finding the story unclear. Game Watcher described it as 'a must-play for fans of both co-op adventures and challenging puzzles', while also noting some technical issues. Games.cz called it 'by far, the best installment of the whole series' but noted 'It's just a shame that the story is so weak it's barely even there.'


title: We Were Here (series)

text: "We Were Here Forever" received "generally favorable" reviews, with critics praising its tight co-op design while criticizing its sometimes unbalanced puzzle design.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Godiva Chocolatier (; ) is a Belgian-based international chocolate maker which is owned by Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Founded in 1926, it was purchased by Turkish Yıldız Holding in November 2007. In 2019, South Korean private equity firm MBK Partners purchased Tokyo-based Godiva Japan, as well as operations in South Korea and Oceania, for a deal valued at over US$1 billion. Godiva owns and operates more than 600 shops in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia and is available via over 10,000 speciality retailers.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: In 2019, Godiva had planned to open 2,000 Cafés worldwide over the next 6 years, a concept that would introduce more coffee chain-type products including espresso drinks and croissant sandwiches. However, in January, 2021, Godiva announced it would close all its 128 brick-and-mortar locations across North America by the end of March 2021, due to the lockdowns and restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic drastically reducing in-person shopping, but would maintain wholesale operations.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Godiva was founded in 1926 in Brussels, Belgium, by the Draps family, who opened their first shop in the Grand-Place in Brussels under its present name in honour of the legend of Lady Godiva. The first shop outside Belgium was opened in Paris on the Rue Saint Honoré in 1958. In 1966, the company's products reached the United States, where they were sold at shopping centres. The following year, Godiva was sold by the Draps Family to the Campbell Soup Company. In 1972, the first Godiva shop in North America was opened on New York City's Fifth Avenue.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: By 2007, Godiva had annual sales of approximately $500 million. In August of that year, the Campbell Soup Company announced it was exploring strategic alternatives, including possible divestiture, for its Godiva Chocolatier business; the company said the "premium chocolate business does not fit with Campbell's strategic focus on simple meals". In December 2007, Campbell announced that it entered into an agreement to sell Godiva to Yıldız Holding based in Istanbul, Turkey, which is the owner of Ülker group and the largest consumer goods manufacturer in Turkey. The acquisition was completed in March 2008 for $850 million.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: In May 2012, Godiva opened Café Godiva in London's Harrods department store, which offers Godiva's chocolate beverages, pastries and chocolates. The company also has a store in the Harrods Food Hall.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: In 2016, Godiva celebrated its 90th anniversary and opened its 100th store in China. In 2017, the business opened its first store in Australia, inaugurated its Pierre Draps Chocolate Research & Development Centre in Brussels and opened its North America flagship store at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. In 2018, Godiva opened its first café in Brussels, the birthplace of the brand.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: In Japan in February 2018, Godiva took out a full-page ad in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun financial newspaper, suggesting the retirement of the giri choco practice. As part of this practice, women are expected to buy chocolate for their colleagues, friends, bosses and sometimes family members on Valentine's Day. The public's reaction to the ad was generally seen as favorable.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Godiva is committed to sustainability practices. The company is a participating member of the World Cocoa Foundation and Cocoa Horizons Foundation and a partner of Save the Children. Godiva began The Lady Godiva Program, which partnered with FEED Projects in its first year. Godiva also partners with the Earthworm Foundation to continue their commitment to ensuring the sustainability of the cocoa industry and is in agreement with the Cocoa & Forests Initiative to stop deforestation and forest degradation concerning the production of cocoa.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Godiva's sustainability efforts also impact people. With the Seeds for Progress Foundation, Godiva facilitates access to education for children living in coffee-growing communities. The Lady Godiva Initiative is Godiva's pledge to annually honor and award $25,000 grants to five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the US, Canada, Belgium, England and China that are doing the work of empowering women.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: In 2016, Godiva had approximately 650 retail stores throughout the world. Godiva's global presence increased rapidly, especially in such non-Western countries as China and Japan. In 2021, Godiva announced that it would close its 128 stores in North America because of decreased mall traffic sales; customers could instead purchase products through Godiva's online marketplace and through grocery, club, and retail partners.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Lawyers of the company have sent a series of letters warning the Lady Godiva public house in Geneva, Switzerland, that they are infringing upon their intellectual property, with the latest asking them to cease and desist from using the name. Pru Porretta, MBE, who was behind the revival of Dame Goodyver's Daye in Coventry, England, where a procession through the city's streets includes her representing Lady Godiva riding a horse commented "I think it's very sad. Godiva was a great woman who challenged her husband to stop the terrible things that were happening to the people. I'm sure Lady Godiva wouldn't care for a company which seems to be taking something that wasn't theirs originally and wants to use it for themselves and nobody else. It's about our rich heritage. I would say it's morally wrong".


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Godiva has been involved in the controversy over chocolate manufacturers' use of child labor in the production of cocoa.


title: Godiva Chocolatier

text: Godiva's Milk Chocolate was found to be heavily contaminated with nickel in a laboratory test done by the German consumer institute Stiftung Warentest in 2018.


title: Player character

text: A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character.


title: Player character

text: Video games typically have one player character for each person playing the game. Some games, such as multiplayer online battle arena, hero shooter, and fighting games, offer a group of player characters for the player to choose from, allowing the player to control one of them at a time. Where more than one player character is available, the characters may have distinctive abilities and differing styles of play.


title: Player character

text: A player character may sometimes be based on a real person, especially in sports games that use the names and likenesses of real athletes. Historical figures and leaders may sometimes appear as characters too, particularly in strategy or empire building games such as in Sid Meier's "Civilization" series. Such a player character is more properly an avatar as the player character's name and image typically have little bearing on the game itself. Avatars are also commonly seen in casino game simulations.


title: Player character

text: In many video games, and especially first-person shooters, the player character is a "blank slate" without any notable characteristics or even backstory. Pac-Man, Crono, Link, Chell and Claude are examples of such characters. These characters are generally silent protagonists.


title: Player character

text: Some games will go even further, never showing or naming the player-character at all. This is somewhat common in first-person videogames, such as in "Myst", but is more often done in strategy video games such as "Dune 2000," "," and "Command & Conquer" series. In such games, the only real indication that the player has a character (instead of an omnipresent status), is from the cutscenes during which the character is being given a mission briefing or debriefing; the player is usually addressed as "general", "commander", or another military rank.


title: Player character

text: In gaming culture, such a character was called Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person, abbreviated as AFGNCAAP; a term that originated in "" where it is used satirically to refer to the player.


title: Player character

text: Character action games (also called "character-driven" games, "character games" or just "action games") are a broad category of action games, referring to a variety of games that are driven by the physical actions of player characters. The term dates back to the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, when the terms "action games" and "character games" began being used to distinguish a new emerging genre of character-driven action games from the space shoot 'em ups that had previously dominated the arcades in the late 1970s. Classic examples of character action games from that period include maze games like "Pac-Man", platformers like "Donkey Kong", and "Frogger".


title: Player character

text: Side-scrolling character action games (also called "side-scrolling action games" or "side-scrollers") are a broad category of character action games that were popular from the mid-1980s to the 1990s, which involve player characters defeating large groups of weaker enemies along a side-scrolling playfield. Examples include beat 'em ups like "Kung-Fu Master" and "Double Dragon", ninja action games like "The Legend of Kage" and "Shinobi", scrolling platformers like "Super Mario Bros." and "Sonic the Hedgehog", and run-and-gun shooters like "Rolling Thunder" and "Gunstar Heroes".


title: Player character

text: "Character action games" is also a term used for 3D hack and slash games modelled after "Devil May Cry", which represent an evolution of arcade character action games. Other examples of this sub-genre include "Ninja Gaiden", "God of War", and "Bayonetta".


title: Player character

text: Fighting games typically have a larger number of player characters to choose from, with some basic moves available to all or most characters and some unique moves only available to one or a few characters. Having many distinctive characters to play as and against, all possessing different moves and abilities, is necessary to create a larger gameplay variety in such games.


title: Player character

text: Similarly to MOBAs, hero shooters emphasize pre-designed "hero" characters with distinctive abilities and weapons that are not available to the other characters. Hero shooters strongly encourage teamwork between players on a team, guiding players to select effective combinations of hero characters and coordinate the use of hero abilities during a match.


title: Player character

text: Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games offer a large group of viable player characters for the player to choose from, each of which having distinctive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses to make the game play style different. Characters can learn new abilities or augment existing ones over the course of a match by collecting experience points. Choosing a character who complements player's teammates and counters his opponents, opens up a strategy before the beginning of the match itself. Playable characters blend a variety of fantasy tropes, featuring numerous references to popular culture and mythology.


title: Player character

text: In both tabletop role playing games such as "Dungeons & Dragons" and role-playing video games such as "Final Fantasy," a player typically creates or takes on the identity of a character that may have nothing in common with the player. The character is often of a certain (usually fictional) race and class (such as zombie, berserker, rifleman, elf, or cleric), each with strengths and weaknesses. The attributes of the characters (such as magic and fighting ability) are given as numerical values which can be increased as the gamer progresses and gains rank and experience points through accomplishing goals or fighting enemies.


title: Player character

text: In many sports games, player characters are often modelled after real-life athletes, as opposed to fictional characters. This is particularly the case for sports simulation games, whereas many arcade-style sports games often have fictional characters instead.


title: Player character

text: A secret or unlockable character is a playable character in a video game available only after either completing the game or meeting another requirement. In some video games, characters that are not secret but appear only as non-player characters like bosses or enemies become playable characters after completing certain requirements, or sometimes cheating.


title: Vanity

text: Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant "futility". The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for "vanity", but originally meant "considering one's own capabilities and that God's help was not needed", i.e. unjustified boasting; although "glory" is now seen as having a predominantly positive meaning, the Latin term from which it derives, "gloria", roughly means "boasting", and was often used as a negative criticism.


title: Vanity

text: In many religions, vanity, in its modern sense, is considered a form of self-idolatry in which one likens oneself to the greatness of God for the sake of one's own image, and thereby becomes separated and perhaps in time divorced from the Divine grace of God. In Christian teachings, "vanity" is an example of pride, one of the seven deadly sins. Also, in the Baháʼí Faith, Baha'u'llah uses the term 'vain imaginings'.


title: Vanity

text: Philosophically, vanity may be a broader form of egotism and pride. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that "vanity is the fear of appearing original: it is thus a lack of pride, but not necessarily a lack of originality." One of Mason Cooley's aphorisms is "Vanity well fed is benevolent. Vanity hungry is spiteful."


title: Vanity

text: In Western art, vanity was often symbolized by a peacock, and in Biblical terms, by the Whore of Babylon. During the Renaissance, vanity was invariably represented as a naked woman, sometimes seated or reclining on a couch. She attends to her hair with comb and mirror. The mirror is sometimes held by a demon or a putto. Symbols of vanity include jewels, gold coins, a purse, and the figure of death.


title: Vanity

text: Some depictions of vanity include scrolls that read "Omnia Vanitas" ("All is Vanity"), a quotation from the Latin translation of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Although the term vanitas (Latin, "emptiness") originally meant not obsession by one's appearance, but the ultimate fruitlessness of humankind's efforts in this world, the phrase summarizes the complete preoccupation of the subject of the picture.


title: Vanity

text: "The artist invites us to pay lip-service to condemning her," writes Edwin Mullins, "while offering us full permission to drool over her. She admires herself in the glass, while we treat the picture that purports to incriminate her as another kind of glass—a window—through which we peer and secretly desire her." The theme of the recumbent woman often merged artistically with the non-allegorical one of a reclining Venus.


title: Vanity

text: In his table of the seven deadly sins, Hieronymus Bosch depicts a bourgeois woman admiring herself in a mirror held up by a devil; behind her is an open jewelry box. A painting attributed to Nicolas Tournier, which hangs in the Ashmolean Museum, is "An Allegory of Justice and Vanity": a young woman holds a balance, symbolizing justice; she does not look at the mirror or the skull on the table before her. Johannes Vermeer's painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is sometimes believed to depict the sin of vanity, because the young girl has adorned herself before a glass without further positive allegorical attributes.


title: Vanity

text: "All is Vanity", by Charles Allan Gilbert (1873–1929), carries on this theme. An optical illusion, the painting depicts what appears to be a large grinning skull. Upon closer examination, it reveals itself to be a young woman gazing at her reflection in the mirror. In the film "The Devil's Advocate", Satan (Al Pacino) claims that "vanity is his favourite sin".


title: Vanity

text: Such artistic works served to warn viewers of the ephemeral nature of youthful beauty, as well as the brevity of human life and the inevitability of death.


title: Vanity

text: In the RPG Persona 5, the second target Ren Amamiya and his friends have to change the heart of is Ichiryusai Madarame, an artist that plagiarised his students' work and abused them as well, with one of his students committing suicide over his actions. He is represented by Vanity as his Palace is an art museum filled with plagiarised work.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Bib Fortuna is a fictional character in the "Star Wars" franchise. The Twi'lek majordomo and chief aide of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, Bib is Jabba's closest associate, succeeding him as daimyo after his death before ultimately being killed himself by Boba Fett. Fortuna first appeared in "Return of the Jedi" (1983), the final entry in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. He also appeared briefly in the prequel trilogy film "" (1999) and in the second season of Disney+ series "The Mandalorian" (2021), "" (2021) and "The Book of Boba Fett" (2022). The character has also appeared in other "Star Wars" media, including novels, comic books, video games, and radio dramas.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Fortuna was created by "Return of the Jedi" co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, and was designed by Phil Tippett based upon early sketches by concept artists Nilo Rodis-Jamero and Ralph McQuarrie. The character was portrayed by Michael Carter in "Return of the Jedi", who was cast based upon his stage acting experience; the actor did not know it was a "Star Wars" film until after he accepted the role. Erik Bauersfeld provided the voice of Fortuna in "Return of the Jedi", and sound editor Matthew Wood portrayed the character in "The Phantom Menace" and "The Mandalorian".


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Although few details about him were revealed in his film appearances, other "Star Wars" works have established Fortuna's back story, including his past as a slave trader who was sentenced to death on his home planet of Ryloth. Although he outwardly appears loyal and obedient to Jabba, Fortuna secretly despises his master and actively plots to assassinate him and take over his criminal operation. Fortuna survives the events of "Return of the Jedi" in the "Star Wars Legends" canon, which encompasses all licensed "Star Wars" stories outside of the films prior to The Walt Disney Company acquiring the franchise in 2012. The new set of official canon created after that acquisition also establishes that Fortuna was not killed during the climactic battle in "Return of the Jedi", and he assumed Jabba's place as crime lord until being killed and succeeded by Boba Fett five years later.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: It took about eight-and-a-half hours to apply the character's makeup for the first time in "Return of the Jedi", which included extensive casts and molds, a large rubber headpiece, day glow orange contact lenses, sharpened false teeth, and claw-like finger extensions. Fortuna has been described as a fan-favorite and one of the most memorable characters from "Star Wars", and has been included on several lists of the best characters in the franchise. Several toys and merchandise works have been created for the character, and an original action figure prototype sold for in a 2019 auction.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Bib Fortuna is a member of the Twi'lek species, humanoids distinguished by the pair of long tentacular appendages that protrude from the back of their heads, which are known as lekku. Fortuna is the first Twi'lek character to appear in "Star Wars", although the species did not receive a name until the publication of the "Star Wars Sourcebook", a 1987 sourcebook for "". With pale, mucus-covered skin and sharp, snaggly teeth, Fortuna is originally from the planet Ryloth, the Twi'lek homeworld. Fortuna works as the majordomo and chief aide for Jabba the Hutt, a slug-like alien and one of the most powerful crime lords in the galaxy. In this capacity, Fortuna controls most operations within Jabba's palace on the desert planet of Tatooine. Among these duties are welcoming visitors who come to the palace, and vetting them before they appear before Jabba. Fortuna's dialogue in the film is delivered in Huttese, the fictional language also spoken by Jabba.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Outside of the films, Bib Fortuna's back story was established through media in the "Star Wars" Expanded Universe, which encompasses all licensed stories in the "Star Wars" universe outside of the nine main feature films, such as novels, comic books, video games, and television shows. With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed "Star Wars" novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film were rebranded as "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014. As a result, storylines and character histories established for Fortuna before April 2014 are part of the Legends canon, but not the Disney canon.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: In his back story established by the Expanded Universe, Bib Fortuna is born into a family engaged in the Outer Rim portion of the galaxy. He grows wealthy as a slave trader before working for Jabba the Hutt, selling fellow members of his own species into servitude. Fortuna is also a smuggler of an illicit substance called spice, and is one of the first to widely sell a highly addictive drug called ryll from Ryloth to other planets. This brings Ryloth to the attention of the Galactic Empire, and leads to a planetwide breakdown of order. Fortuna becomes infamous as a result, and is sentenced to death on his home planet, but he escapes and flees to the planet Tatooine. There he becomes the head of Jabba the Hutt's smuggling operations for a drug called glitterstim, the first in a series of successively more prominent positions that eventually leads him to becoming Jabba's majordomo. Fortuna later returns to Ryloth with an army of Jabba's henchmen to enact revenge for his death sentence, burning seven of the planet's cities and capturing slaves and riches for Jabba. Fortuna harbors ambitions of one day returning to Ryloth and ruling the planet.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Other "Star Wars" books and media have established that Fortuna is responsible for the presence of several of the creatures and characters in Jabba's palace during "Return of the Jedi". For example, the rancor that Jabba keeps underneath a trap door in his throne room was originally presented to him by Fortuna as a birthday gift. Fortuna kidnaps Oola, the green-skinned Twi'lek female who appears in scenes in "Return of the Jedi" as a slave and dancer for Jabba. After abducting her, Fortuna arranged for her to be trained in exotic dancing and told her stories about Jabba's palace that falsely portrayed it as a glamorous and exciting place, making Oola so eager to be there that she rejected opportunities to escape. Fortuna also originally captured Salacious B. Crumb, a small creature that sat beside Jabba's tail on his throne and served as a court jester in the palace. Crumb was a stowaway thief aboard Jabba's ship when Fortuna captured him and presented him to Jabba before the events of the film.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Bib Fortuna makes his first appearance in "Return of the Jedi" (1983), the final film in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. The film begins with Han Solo, one of the protagonists of the "Star Wars" franchise, being held captive by Jabba the Hutt and frozen in a slab of metal substance called carbonite. Bib Fortuna is first seen in the film when he greets the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, who enter the palace to deliver a message to Jabba. Fortuna greets them coldly at first, but becomes intrigued upon learning they have a gift for the Hutt. He attempts to obtain more information about the gift, but the droids insist their instructions are to give it only to Jabba himself. Fortuna brings the droids before Jabba, where they deliver a holographic message from the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker seeking to bargain for the release of Han Solo. Fortuna whispers advice into Jabba's ear and feeds him information as Jabba sits on his throne. He is later present with Jabba when Princess Leia Organa, who infiltrated the palace by disguising herself as a bounty hunter named Boushh, is captured while freeing Han Solo from carbonite.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Jabba gives orders to Fortuna that Luke Skywalker is not to be admitted to the palace. When Skywalker later arrived, Fortuna is among the first to intercept him and initially forbids him from speaking to Jabba. However, Luke uses the Force to influence Fortuna's mind, convincing him to take Skywalker before Jabba. When Jabba realizes Skywalker used a "Jedi mind trick" on Fortuna, he angrily scolds Fortuna and throws him off the throne room dais. Fortuna later travels with Jabba aboard the Hutt's sail barge to the planned executions of Skywalker, Solo, and Solo's first mate Chewbacca at the Great Pit of Carkoon, where they are to be fed to a creature called a sarlacc. A skirmish breaks out between Skywalker and his friends and Jabba's thugs, resulting in the death of Jabba and the destruction of the sail barge. Fortuna's fate after these events is left ambiguous in the film.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: In the Expanded Universe/"Star Wars Legends" continuity, Fortuna survives the battle, escaping before the sail barge's destruction and returning to Jabba's palace to attempt to take over his criminal enterprise. His fate in the official canon is similar.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Bib Fortuna appears briefly in "" (1999), the first film in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. He stands alongside Jabba the Hutt during the podrace, from which a young Anakin Skywalker emerges victorious. At one point, Fortuna wakes up Jabba after the Hutt crime lord falls asleep during the podrace. Since "The Phantom Menace" was set 32 years before the events of the first "Star Wars" film, Fortuna's presence establishes that he has been employed by Jabba the Hutt for more than three decades, dating back to the final years of the Galactic Republic.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: In a post-credits scene of the second season finale "" of "The Mandalorian", a corpulent Bib Fortuna is depicted as the new owner of Jabba's palace. During this time as owner he has put his own mark on the palace, added his own humanoid throne upon Jabba's old plinth, taken up having his own slave girl and indulged in eating fine foods and putting on weight. He is killed by Boba Fett, who takes his throne.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: In the "Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm", Bib Fortuna is Jabba the Hutt's majordomo who took over his throne after he died. Later, when Fett gets his ship back from Jabba's palace, Fett kills Fortuna and usurps the throne.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: One of Bib Fortuna's first non-film appearances is in "A Rancor Comes to Tatooine", a short story included in "The Star Wars Sourcebook" (1987). The story describes the rivalry between Fortuna and a Corellian named Bidlo Kwerve, both of whom are competing to become Jabba the Hutt's majordomo in a period prior to "Return of the Jedi". Kwerve and Fortuna acquire the rancor as a birthday gift for Jabba, and Fortuna earns the majordomo job, while Kwerve is ultimately eaten by the rancor. This storyline is expanded upon in "Tales from Jabba's Palace", a 1995 anthology book written from the perspectives of multiple background characters in the Jabba's palace scenes of "Return of the Jedi". In the book, after Jabba receives the rancor gift, he offers Fortuna and Kwerve a choice of two rewards: one can become his majordomo, while the other will receive an unspecified "greater honor". Sensing a trap, Fortuna accepts the majordomo position, thus saving his own life and ensuring Kwerve's death when the greater honor turns out to be the distinction of being the first person Jabba feeds to his new rancor.


title: Bib Fortuna

text: Fortuna appears in several of the stories in "Tales from Jabba's Palace", and the book establishes that Fortuna despises Jabba and is actively plotting to assassinate the Hutt, steal his wealth, and take over his criminal operation. It also establishes Fortuna's personality as cunning and calculating, and that Fortuna's deferential attitude toward his employer is a facade. Fortuna's back story is particularly expanded upon in the short story "Of the Day's Annoyances: Bib Fortuna's Tale", by M. Shayne Bell. In that story, Fortuna protects his friend Nat Secura, whom Jabba wants to kill by feeding him to the rancor. Secura is the last descendant of a great Twi'lek house, and Fortuna uses Secura's power to sell other Twi'leks into slavery. To protect Secura, Fortuna seeks assistance from his allies, the mysterious B'omarr monks, religious beings that have transplanted their brains into nutrient-filled jars attached to spider-like droid walkers. Fortuna has the monks remove Secura's brain shortly before Secura's body, under Jabba's orders, is thrown to the rancor and eaten. When Jabba is later killed on his sail barge by Princess Leia at the Great Pit of Carkoon, Fortuna watches the Hutt die and does nothing to prevent it. Fortuna then flees on his private skiff and returns to Jabba's palace, where he expects to take over the criminal operation. There, however, the monks decide the best fate for Fortuna is for his own brain to be transferred into one of their droid walkers, and they remove and transfer his brain against his will.