Solar System Vs. Galaxy
POSTED BY: MadJack
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 11, 2005 17:41
VIEWED: 40136
PAGE 11 of 14
Quote:
Originally posted by Jiltedtoo:
Though it is possible to have multiple planets in an earth type orbit around a sun, it is unlikely there would be multiple planets like Earth around one sun.
Who said it is one sun?
It's most likely a binary, trinary, or even a quarternary system.
See the third post in the thread below for a theory on how multiple Earth-like planets could be in one system...
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=4&t=6766
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Wow, this is a long thread!
Oh look! It just got one longer.
Antitussively,
-zed
P.S.
Who ever invented cold and flu medicines should win a Nobel Prize. I feel great! Zzzzzz...
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Well, I've thought extensively on the subject, proving my abject stubbornness concerning issues of realism. I do it with everything from movies to RPG settings.
In any case, my opinion is that the majority, if not all of the series, takes place in one system.
However, not all of the Firefly "universe" is contained within this system.
Think about it. Have they ever referred to Sinon or Londinium as anything but distant capitols? In Serenity, Inara and the Alliance cadet-guy spoke of Sinon as something far away, and relatively inaccesible.
Thus, my theory is that while Serenity mostly knocks around the system based around Ariel and Persephone, there are other solar systems that they do not travel to, which contain the capitals and the other numerous border planets. We've encountered perhaps 12, 13 moons or planets in the show, and I could definitely see one biggish, though not extremely large, solar system supporting these and a few others. So, Serenity and most of the other freighters and the like could poke around this one system, and then you have a few interstellar spaceliners and military ships that travel between the systems. This essentially gives rise to a couple of theories:
1) Likely - Serenity has sublight drives and always stays within one system, while liners travel between systems.
2) Less Likely - Serenity has FTL drives, but can only use them, and rarely at that, in deep space, not in debris-filled solar systems, accounting for some monthlong intervals between episodes, where one here assumes that they are traveling between stars.
3) Most Likely - I am just trying too hard.
Unless I've missed something, I don't see why this general idea can't reconcile the two "one-solar-system" and the "many-solar-systems" camps, assuming, that is, a little bit of FTL for the liners.
Also for your perusal, or perhaps simply your dismissive scrolling past of: something I wrote up on the official boards about the nature of Serenity's propulsion, reposted here for convenience.
"The Firefly Drive posed me a bunch of logical conundrums, especially concerning the scene in the pilot where Serenity and the Reaver ship pass by each other at a glacial pace, when, considering the kinds of distances they have to cover, they should be, theoretically, passing at "velocities" in excess of thousands of kilometers an hour.
Essentially, Serenity drives like a car. (A car with VTOL, that is, and likely some very good antilock brakes.) This is not surprising, it's the most common vehicle used in our world, and people tend to imagine spaceships as moving in a similar way, if subconsciously. It accelerates rather rapidly towards a maximum speed, uses fuel at a relatively even rate, and can stop and start again without losing anything but time.
The Firefly Drive, in my crazy-go-nuts interpretation, provides a constant amount of energy and uses a constant amount of fuel, to power propulsion. This energy can, much like in a car, be used to either "accelerate" the ship (in some perhaps lightspeed-exceeding, non-inertial way) or to maintain current "speed". Much like a car, the greater the "speed" of the ship, the more energy is required to maintain it, meaning the less energy is available for "acceleration". This has the effect of making the maximum "speed" of the ship equal to the maximum level of energy available to maintain speed (adjusted for the mass of the ship, of course.) The ship, simply by cutting off the engine, can stop entirely with no "deceleration" required. Since you can only accelerate to, and maintain, a certain max "speed", there would be no disincentive to stop, for example, to check out another ship traveling through nearby space, it would just take a little longer to get where you're going, no extra fuel required. (Later, of course, that particular other ship turns out to be Reavers, but that's not the point.) "Hard burn" may be a way of adding more energy to "acceleration", at a disproportionately larger fuel consumption than normal. (In "The Message", however,
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You do not require additional energy to maintain a constant speed in space, once you've accelerated up to that speed.
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Quote:
Originally posted by CrevanReaver:Quote:
Originally posted by Jiltedtoo:
Though it is possible to have multiple planets in an earth type orbit around a sun, it is unlikely there would be multiple planets like Earth around one sun.
Who said it is one sun?
It's most likely a binary, trinary, or even a quarternary system.
See the third post in the thread below for a theory on how multiple Earth-like planets could be in one system...
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=4&t=6766
What would it matter if it were a single Star or a Binary Star System? If it were a Binary star system the chances of a non-gas giant habitable Earth type planet would decrease, rather then increase. Your Argument is best kept at a single star solar system.
JT
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Duplicate post
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I agree there's GOT to be more than one star system in the Firefly universe -- or else how could they all make the assumption that humans are the only ones around? You cannot colonize one unoccupied star system and then proclaim that there are no aliens in the galaxy. Joss should ponder this a bit more.
Also, just because there might not be FTL does not mean that ships cannot travel between systems in a short time. Wormholes, anyone?
Oh, and play Strange Adventures in Infinite Space. http://digital-eel.com/sais
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Quote:
Originally posted by wydraz:
Also, just because there might not be FTL does not mean that ships cannot travel between systems in a short time. Wormholes, anyone?
Wydraz, you might be on to something. Perhaps in the Firefly Universe there exist a cluster of solar systems connected via a series of multiple wormholes.
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Grounded, look a little more closely at what I wrote. I theorized that because the crew of Serenity are not hesitant to stop to investigate derelicts and such, yet their travel would require high speed, they probably use a non-inertial drive, that is, a drive that displaces the ship without giving it velocity. Thus, such a drive could be assumed to require constant input of energy.
If they used an inertial drive that accelerated them, they would be hesitant to stop because it would require fuel to do so, then to get up to speed again.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Conscience:
[BWydraz, you might be on to something. Perhaps in the Firefly Universe there exist a cluster of solar systems connected via a series of multiple wormholes.
Exactly. After all, no one can say that ALL star systems aren't connected in such a way. Who knows what forces might be swirling about where solar energy meets cosmic energy? A scifi setting like Firefly can make this assumption until we actually are able to prove otherwise -- e.g. sending a probe out to the edge of our system and mapping the entire sphere -- and that could be a while!
Oh, and play Strange Adventures in Infinite Space. http://digital-eel.com/sais
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