Discuss The Empire Strikes Back
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Bad Astronomy
posted by CharlesTheBoldSTAFFMOD on March 15, 2017 at 11:33 AM
I can't make any sense of the journey Solo and Leia took, astronomically speaking. Their faster-than-light drive is crippled, so they go through an asteroid belt and are surprised to find a planet on the other side. Huh? Any astronomy student would tell you that you can see planets through an asteroid belt -- think Saturn. And didn't the Rebel Alliance check whether that solar system was inhabited before putting a base there? Or are they supposed to have travelled to another solar system without going faster than light? (That would take several years). Did the writers study any astronomy? This isn't real science fiction, it's a Western in outer space.
Reply by Kylopod
on June 3, 2017 at 11:00 PM
You say that as though it's a bad thing.
Reply by tmdb65271336
on June 4, 2017 at 12:31 AM
Wait, at what point did they emerge from the asteroid field at a planet? Now yes, they did pick out an especially large asteroid to park on, but when they were discovered they pretended to attack a Star Destroyer before hiding among the garbage. While they waited they used a map to find the nearest star systems, which included Bespin.
Not saying their science was good, but I think your memory is fuzzy.
Reply by Renovatio
on June 4, 2017 at 5:46 AM
Star Wars has always been more fantasy than it is science fiction...
Reply by CharlesTheBold
on June 4, 2017 at 7:33 AM
"While they waited they used a map to find the nearest star systems". It takes years to travel between star systems. according to the theory of relativity. Science fiction writers usually get around this by talking about a fictitious "hyperdrive" (or Star Trek's Warp Drive) that overrides relativity and cuts down travel time to a few days. Solo said his hyperdrive was busted, so they couldn't make the crossing. That's why I assumed the planet was in the same system as the asteroid belt, though the truth was that the writers didn't understand astronomy..
Reply by tmdb13060682
on June 4, 2017 at 7:08 PM
It wouldn't take years to travel through systems if you're in a ship that made the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs.
They could make it to the Lando System in a few weeks.
Reply by CharlesTheBold
on June 4, 2017 at 7:37 PM
But Solo said the hyperdrive was busted. Could it do a Kessel run without the hyperdrive?
Reply by tmdb13060682
on June 4, 2017 at 7:44 PM
Well, it would take more than 12 parsecs, but it's a fast ship, is what I'm saying.
Reply by CharlesTheBold
on June 4, 2017 at 7:49 PM
I don't understand "in under 12 parsecs" . parsecs are a distance measurement ( according to Isaac Asimov's stories and essays)
Reply by tmdb13060682
on June 4, 2017 at 8:00 PM
Han Solo dropped out of school to become a space pirate/smuggler. He never read Asimov.
It's a fast ship.