Each chapter of Longshot receives an "Author's Notes" entry in my SOL after it is published, providing backstory and further explanations. When the novel is complete these will be compiled into an appendix and glossary; for now, any reader interested in learning more about Askr's world can read details here.
Chapter 15
falling through infinite divisions of femtoseconds
1 femtosecond is one quadrillionth (one millionth of one billionth, or 10^−15) of a second. By way of comparison, the wavelength of most forms of visible light is around 2 femtoseconds. As suggested in the prose, a femtosecond is not the smallest possible unit of time: that honor belongs to Plank time, or 10^−44 seconds.
Woven from the webs of golden orb spiders
The silk actually exists, and is spectacular.
x = 16 sin3 t
y = 13 cos t - 5 cos(2 t) - 2 cos (3 t) - cos (4 t)
Ananya's formula is a parametric function that graphs a heart shape.
Lifted from the heating elements of our small radioisotope thermoelectric generator
RTGs are a form of nuclear battery that use radioactive decay to generate a continuous charge of several hundred watts over an extremely long period of time (measured from decades to centuries, depending on design). Entirely self-contained, with no moving parts, they are highly reliable, and are frequently used to power deep space probes.