Atomaalide

Atomaalide is a fictional planet featured in the science fiction novel "The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton. It is depicted as a sterile, lifeless world from which a microscopic extraterrestrial organism, the titular Andromeda Strain, originates. The planet is described as being composed primarily of rock and ice, with a thin atmosphere. According to the narrative, a United States reconnaissance satellite encounters a tumbling extraterrestrial spacecraft that falls to Earth. This spacecraft is the source of the organism. Atomaalide itself is not extensively detailed in the novel, serving mainly as the point of origin for the potentially world-ending biological threat. The concept of Atomaalide emphasizes the vastness of space and the possibility of life, even microscopic life, existing in seemingly inhospitable environments. Its role in the story is to establish the alien nature of the organism and the far reaches of space from which it traveled.