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Some offical litterature such as The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology states that planetary shields:

"consume so much energy that it is impractical to keep them powered all the time" "some shields take nearly half an hour to activate"(p106)

"take several minutes to activate and are impractical to maintain at all times...planets often rely on ion cannons and similar weapons to provide cover until the shield can be raised"(p98).

This indicates that their is no real protection against the first few shots of the invading fleet as they usually take a few minutes to raise.

So why was the shield up?

Did they somehow detect the DS on its approach to Alderaan?

Sure the rebels knew about the DS's threat. But Leia didn't seem to think that the Empire would use it on a Core-world. Even Vader questions the wisdom of doing so.

Your opinions please?

It appears as though the Alderaanians were able to detect the DS as it exited hyperspace and activate the shield.

Knowing Tarkin, he probably let Alderaan raise its shield because in his twisted mind, what better way to test the shield cracking ability of the DS? The attack on Alderaan needed to make as large a statement as possible. That statement is made much more potent by showing that Aldreaan had its shields raised and did absolutely nothing. The same thing that Tarkin did when he had the DS approaching Yavin, let the rebels know you're coming and add to the fear of the DS's approach.

It makes sense for Alderaan to have detected the Death Star and raise it's shield.

Are there any planets that would keep their shields up al the time? The Last Command suggests that Coruscant doesn't, but in Dark Empire, Byss seems to have kept its always up.

Tynna always has a shield up. Coruscant DOES have its shield up 24/7, they just open holed for ships to enter and exit.

I think I'm going to have to go with early dection. Its at least semi-supported by Dark Empire II where there is talk about setting up an early warning system to detect galaxy gun missiles.

Hmmm....assuming that Alderaan's shield took 30 minutes to raise to full power; and given the speed of hyperspace travel. That really says something about the range of SW sensor technology.

Hold on there...we don't know how long Tarkin waited to fire off the laser. AND, we don't know how often they kept the shield on. The they took 30 minuts to start up, they might keep them on 24/7, to avoid a sudden assault.

Well if you go by the script treatment, it doesen't appear that he waited at all. Just speculating on the possibilities. Of course since Alderaan's supposedly a pacifistic society, maybe there shields are usually down.


Now there seems to be quite a bit of offical material contradicting the EGW&T quotes. I guess we could solve the contradition between sources by assuming that the EGW&T quotes refer to typical low grade planetary shields.

Remember that newer sources override older ones.

Dunno....im tired.

im going to go to bed now...night-night.

The Death Star hovered in orbit for some time before the fatal shot was fired. It stands to reason they probably just raised it when they detected the battlstation. Some PICs take a long time. Alderaan would more than likely have a better system, possibly more generators to raise it when they needed it.

wasnt alderan in open rebellion against the empire?

if they were then wouldnt they have their shiled up the moment anything Imperial came into the system.

My opinion goes like this (apologies if it rambles)...

Objects in realspace have a corresponding 'shadow' in hyperspace. SW obviously has sensors that can detect large hyperspace mass shadows, that can then trigger hperdrive cutoff systems (or else ships would start bumping into rogue space objects that dont appear on charts). is it inconcievable to imagine that Alderaan would be able to detect a moon sized hyperspace shadow approaching???...

Even if they thought it was a natural phenom (after all how many people knew there was a planet destroying moon lurking around the galaxy) we all know how paranoid earthmen are about colliosion & near-miss theories..Perhaps the thought of a large rock heading towards them was enough to prompt them into action.


Hope this helps??

Note the phrase SOME shields, In Dark Force Rising(I forget the name of the planet) has its shields rasied in less than five mintues as its still down when Thrawn comes out of hyperspace and move into Orbitial Bombardment position

AL wrote:wasnt alderan in open rebellion against the empire?

if they were then wouldnt they have their shiled up the moment anything Imperial came into the system.

Alderan was not in open rebellion. The ruling family was support and participating in the Rebellion but the planet is not. The farthest Alderaan went publicly was opposing the Emperor's policy of rule by fear.

However, the shield may have been up because it was used to control the weather, perhaps. Just an idea.

Oh, and Coruscant has TWO shields. There is an outer and an inner.

Kelly Antilles wrote:However, the shield may have been up because it was used to control the weather, perhaps. Just an idea.

Why would planetary defense shield be used in weather control?

Why would planetary defense shield be used in weather control?

In SW, Metor Showers can be considered Weather

Quote: Oh, and Coruscant has TWO shields. There is an outer and an inner.

Yes, they stopped Rebel spies from escaping numerous times.

To get through both, a ship goes through an opening in the Outer, then recieves a new course for an opening in the Inner.

Absolutley they detected the DS either in hyperspace or apon exit of hyperspace, and wouldn't you raise your shields if something the size of a small moon came out of hyperspace by your planet pacifists or not.

good point

Since Alderran is an important planet with billions of people, they probably go a top-of-the-line shield. And, they had it up because if you see a moon-sized sphere with a firing dish on it, what would you expect them to do?

Since Alderran is an important planet with billions of people, they probably go a top-of-the-line shield. And, they had it up because if you see a moon-sized sphere with a firing dish on it, what would you expect them to do?

Indeed, Heck ISD carry parts for a theater plantary shields, infact a good six sets according to WEG, A guess would place it at ooh 30% of the Avarage planet covered on just the parts the avarge ISD carrys

Plantary shields are VERY common, Like Walled Citys of old

Heck the Dantoonie settlement was having Shield Generators instaled when Daala slaged it and they barley have 200 people!

However, the shield may have been up because it was used to control the weather, perhaps. Just an idea.

I remember one of the Holonet News casts mentioning weather control. As I recall they re-routed some wind patterns to help deal with a hazardous waste spill.

Spartan wrote:

However, the shield may have been up because it was used to control the weather, perhaps. Just an idea.

I remember one of the Holonet News casts mentioning weather control. As I recall they re-routed some wind patterns to help deal with a hazardous waste spill.

Weather control is confirmed by numerous EU accounts, including ones from the YJK (Coruscant), Traitor (Coruscant), SbS (Coruscant), HttE (Ukio), and Agents of Chaos(the weirdo agricultural world).