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Description
Planetary Scientist, Astronomer, and passionate popularizer of science Carl Sagan suggested that gas giant planets could potentially harbour lifeforms. He hypothesized an ecosystem that would exist entirely within a temperate layer of the atmosphere of a jovian planet. In this region, where pressures and temperatures would be close to earth's sea-level pressure, and temperatures would be similar to those found on Earth, thanks to the outpouring of heat from the lower levels of the atmosphere. The giant Floaters are essentially organic hot-air balloons, taking in hydrogen from the atmosphere and heating it in order to maintain buoyancy. They could be upwards of a half a kilometer in diameter. The Hunters, much smaller creatures, would spend their lives soaring in the temperate layer's winds, and feed in packs on the Floaters. The third major kind of form in such an ecosystem Sagan called Sinkers, tiny lifeforms that depend on their light weight to float in the atmosphere, until they are consumed by the Floaters or grow so large that they can no longer maintain their altitude in the updrafts from the interior.
I wanted to take a stab at a "National Geographic" style illustration of the Floaters and Hunters. The Floaters were modeled in Lightwave and the Hunters are adapted from a commercially available Poser model. The scene was rendered in Vue Studio.
Thanks for taking a look!

Description
Planetary Scientist, Astronomer, and passionate popularizer of science Carl Sagan suggested that gas giant planets could potentially harbour lifeforms. He hypothesized an ecosystem that would exist entirely within a temperate layer of the atmosphere of a jovian planet. In this region, where pressures and temperatures would be close to earth's sea-level pressure, and temperatures would be similar to those found on Earth, thanks to the outpouring of heat from the lower levels of the atmosphere. The giant Floaters are essentially organic hot-air balloons, taking in hydrogen from the atmosphere and heating it in order to maintain buoyancy. They could be upwards of a half a kilometer in diameter. The Hunters, much smaller creatures, would spend their lives soaring in the temperate layer's winds, and feed in packs on the Floaters. The third major kind of form in such an ecosystem Sagan called Sinkers, tiny lifeforms that depend on their light weight to float in the atmosphere, until they are consumed by the Floaters or grow so large that they can no longer maintain their altitude in the updrafts from the interior.
I wanted to take a stab at a "National Geographic" style illustration of the Floaters and Hunters. The Floaters were modeled in Lightwave and the Hunters are adapted from a commercially available Poser model. The scene was rendered in Vue Studio.
Thanks for taking a look!