Galactic Rotation

[Sean Howard]

Hi everyone.

You know how at the end of TESB the fleet leaves the galaxy and you can see it through a window. You can actually see the galaxy rotating.

Our solar system takes 220 million years to make a complete rotation around the galaxy. But in the star wars galaxy it would take like 3 minutes.

I remember reading somewhere, years ago, that this would cause all kinds of havoc. Basically, it renders the galaxy uninhabitable, maybe even totally unstable. I can't remember the specific effects, and I'm certianly no astrophysicist, but when I read it, it had some convincing math behind it.

Since the speed of rotation of the galaxy doesn't provide any propaganda benefit to the rebellion or the empire (at least I can't imagine one), you can't say that the footage was altered by the imaginary cameraman, etc.

I guess the best I can come up with is that you're not actually seeing a window there, but rather a computer screen that is showing a long term time-lapse simulation of the galactic rotation.

I dunno. I remember some dialog that would seem to indicate that it really is a window on the real live galaxy though. I need to watch TESB again, but my VCR is broken right now.

Any thoughts?

Sean

[StarshipTitanic]

That isn't a galaxy, it's a solar system forming (?) near the Kuat system.

[Sean Howard]

That isn't a galaxy, it's a solar system forming (?) near the Kuat system.

I did not know that. Where did this info come from? I really want to watch it now, dammit.

[Praxis]

There was no indication that it was a galaxy. In fact, it was glowing- we couldn't see any stars in it.

Looked more to me like a cloud or protostar than a galaxy.

Where did your info that said it was a galaxy come from?

[JME2]

That isn't a galaxy, it's a solar system forming (?) near the Kuat system.

How do you know it was Kuat? It doesn't make sense because Kuat was one of the biggest supporters of Palpatine thanks to the business contracts of ISD's and such they received. Why would the Republic fleet hang around the system controlled by some of Palpatine's biggest supporters?

[Sean Howard]

There was no indication that it was a galaxy. In fact, it was glowing- we couldn't see any stars in it.

Looked more to me like a cloud or protostar than a galaxy.

Where did your info that said it was a galaxy come from?

Yeah I dunno, that's just what I always thought it was. I do need to watch it again for sure.

I don't remember the Kuat connection though.

[Praxis]

There was no Kuat connection, unless it was in the novel or original script. No Kuat mentioned in the movie.

[Mange]

That isn't a galaxy, it's a solar system forming (?) near the Kuat system.

Where did that come from? While it's not likely to be a galaxy, remember that the SW galaxy does have two small satellite galaxies. The creator of the CG map in AOTC, hinted over at the OS that the object spotted from the Alliance fleet was one of those satellite galaxies (that's why he put them on the map).
As I said, it's not likely that it was a galaxy, and during the production of ESB, the object was referred to as a nebula.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

It's a nebula. It can't be a galaxy, even a satellite one, because it's rotating several thousand times too fast.

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/astro.html#spectacle

[Sean Howard]

It's a nebula. It can't be a galaxy, even a satellite one, because it's rotating several thousand times too fast.

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/astro.html#spectacle

Thanks for the link. It mentions the book I read this in all those years ago, "The Cosmic Mind Boggling Book", I am fairly certain that was it.

I remember there is an exterior shot of this object, but I can't remember if it is rotating there, or if you can tell.

I got no VCR. Can't verify this. Can someone else tell me?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

It rotates in every single shot that features it. It's a nebula, not a galaxy.

[Mange]

It rotates in every single shot that features it. It's a nebula, not a galaxy.

Hmmm... I thought that was what I said.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Your post had doubt, mine did not.

[StarshipTitanic]

That isn't a galaxy, it's a solar system forming (?) near the Kuat system.

Where did that come from?

I honestly have no clue...

[Illuminatus Primus]

I don't know, Spanky. You should know that when Saxton posts a potential idea from someone else, it doesn't necessarily mean its feasible. He said there are still major problems, and cites this as "perhaps the most severe technical problem of the entire trilogy."

Even AU-scale objects cannot be spinning that fast. It must be very small (in which case I have no idea what it could be), possibly an artificial construct of some kind.

I mean come on, try to imagine even a planet or moon rotating that fast. Its ludacrious for anything above sub-astronomic size.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki]

If in the newest release, they try to solve this problem by deleting the scene outright, what happens to its canoncity. Is it still canon because it is in two other releases?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Well, it spinning too fast to be a nebula is better than it spinning way to fast to be a galaxy in my book.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

If in the newest release, they try to solve this problem by deleting the scene outright, what happens to its canoncity. Is it still canon because it is in two other releases?

No, because the newer version always superceeds the older one.

But I seriously doubt they'd remove it.

[Patrick Ogaard]

I don't know, Spanky. You should know that when Saxton posts a potential idea from someone else, it doesn't necessarily mean its feasible. He said there are still major problems, and cites this as "perhaps the most severe technical problem of the entire trilogy."

Even AU-scale objects cannot be spinning that fast. It must be very small (in which case I have no idea what it could be), possibly an artificial construct of some kind.

I mean come on, try to imagine even a planet or moon rotating that fast. Its ludacrious for anything above sub-astronomic size.

How about the accretion disk of a black hole?