Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

Today's image was created by the formula Z^2.01+C.  The parent fractal of the image is shaped like a Mandelbrot set with two main stems and a large minibrot on each stem.  The scene lies in the East Valley of the large minibrot on the northern stem of the parent, where the stem is infinitely divided.

I named the image "The Life on Vega-E", when I imagined what kind of life might exist on a hypothetical fifth planet circling the star Vega.  The star Vega is brighter than earth's sun, so I assumed the fifth planet would lie in the habitable zone of the star.  Of course, if the type of life involves chemical processes unknown on earth, the habitable zone might lie somewhere else.

The life I conjured up resembles a kind of lumpy sickly-green caterpillar of the earth variety, such as what we see around the edges of today's image.  Much smaller caterpillars lie closer to the central minibrot, though these are more difficult to pick out.

The rating of an 8 gives me credit for the coloring.  The calculation time of one minute will pass in two flashes for those with machines that do not panic at the sight of a command line.  Those afflicted with such over-qualified units may view the finished image on the currently active FOTD web site at:

http://www.emarketingiseasy.com/TESTS/FOTD/jim_muths_fotd.html

The other esoteric fractal fanatics will find past images back to April, 1997 on the original FOTD web site at:

http://www.Nahee.com/FOTD/

The site is not up to date however.

We had lots of sun here at Fractal Central on Tuesday, but the blustery wind and temperature that hung around freezing made it unpleasant out in the open.  The fractal cats, who probably will never be out in the open, were unconcerned with the outside chill.  They were quite happy on their shelf in the window when the sun was shining, and on their shelf over the hall radiator when it was not.

The human side of things went along according to plan.  In fact one job needed no work at all to be done on it.  The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours.  Until then, take care, and they say each individual is an ephemeral emergent phenomenon.  I guess that answers all the big questions about the meaning of life.

Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com


START PARAMETER FILE=======================================

The_Life_on_Vega-E { ; time=0:01:04.32-SF5 on P4-2000
  reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basicer.frm
  formulaname=SliceJulibrot4 center-mag=-1.740172267\
  040917/+0.0449669196782342/7.03338e+008/1/-102.5/0
  params=0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2.01/0 float=y maxiter=2500
  inside=0 logmap=240 periodicity=6
  colors=0007DY7FZ7HZAJaDMcGQeKVjPZpUdpYjsdpshvtoytr\
  zpvzlzwhztdwp`rnXmjYhfYccYZ_YUXYWTYXPYYMYZIY_FYbOd\
  eXjhepjnvhltgjrfipegncelbdjabh``f__eYXgWVhUSjTQkRN\
  mPLnOJoPMnPPmQSmQUlRXlR_kSbkSdjTgjTjiTliVmgWmfYmdZ\
  nc`naan`coZdoYeoWgpVhpTjpSkqQmpPnoNmnMklLhjKdgKacJ\
  X_ISWIOSHKPGGMGCJF9HFAIGAIGAHHBGHBGIBHICIJCJJCJJFK\
  HIKFLKDOKBRK9UK7XK5_K3aK1`P2_U3ZZ4Yc5Xh6Wm7Wq8XrAY\
  sCZsDZtF_uG`uIavJawLbwMcxOcxPHXSGVTFUUETUESVDQVCPW\
  BOWBNXALY9KY8JZ8IZ7G_6F_5E`5D`HFXSHTcJQnLMyNJwUIv`\
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  efcYacQYcjUHiWGiYFi_EiaDicCieBhgBhiAhk9hm8ho7hq6zr\
  ziqBzpFknJllOljSmhWnf`oddobhp`gpZfqZeqZdrccrccpcen\
  cfmhgkhhimjhmkfrlermcvoazp`zqZzrYzsWzoVzlUziTzeRzb\
  Qz_PzXOzTNzQLzNKzJJzGIzDHzAGzEFzHEzKDzNCzQBzUAzX9z\
  _8zb8ze7zd7zc7zb7zb7za7z` }

frm:SliceJulibrot4   {; draws all slices of Julibrot
  pix=pixel, u=real(pix), v=imag(pix),
  a=pi*real(p1*0.0055555555555556),
  b=pi*imag(p1*0.0055555555555556),
  g=pi*real(p2*0.0055555555555556),
  d=pi*imag(p2*0.0055555555555556),
  ca=cos(a), cb=cos(b), sb=sin(b), cg=cos(g),
  sg=sin(g), cd=cos(d), sd=sin(d),
  p=u*cg*cd-v*(ca*sb*sg*cd+ca*cb*sd),
  q=u*cg*sd+v*(ca*cb*cd-ca*sb*sg*sd),
  r=u*sg+v*ca*sb*cg, s=v*sin(a), esc=imag(p5)+9
  c=p+flip(q)+p3, z=r+flip(s)+p4:
  z=z^(real(p5))+c
  |z|< esc }

END PARAMETER FILE=========================================