Alderaan planetary shield (again)

[nasor]

I realize that most people here consider the Alderan planetary shield to definitely exist, but after looking at the images it just isn’t that clear to me. This is the image that most people take as definite proof that the shield exists:



and here is the same image, zoomed in on the planet:


I don’t really see a shield here - I see a radiant corona that’s starting to engulf the planet. It could certainly be a shield, but it could also just as plausibly be some sort of atmospheric effect caused by an incredibly powerful energy beam hitting the planet. The actual point of impact is a large glob of solid white, so it’s impossible to tell whether the beam is actually hitting the planet’s surface or not.

As you can see in the zoomed picture, the glow seems to extend from the surface of the planet out to the edge of the atmosphere, and is brightest just above the horizon where the atmosphere is presumably thickest.

The glow could be caused by a shield trying to dissipate the energy of the super-laser, but I don’t think it’s a clear-cut as many people here seem to believe.

[Tribun]

Have you even looked at the picture?!

When you look at the right side of the planet, you can clearly see that the effect goes well over the atmosphere!

Question: Did you got the atmosphere shit from Darkstar's site?

[Stravo]

Question: Did you got the atmosphere shit from Darkstar's site?

At least bands of brightness weren't mentioned.

[nasor]

No, I didn’t get it from darkstar’s site.

Also, I disagree about it extending “out of the atmosphere” on the right side of the planet. The atmosphere seems to extend about 5-6 pixles out from the horizon of the planet on both the right and left side – the only difference is that on the right side it is brighter.

[Tribun]

No, I didn’t get it from darkstar’s site.

Also, I disagree about it extending “out of the atmosphere” on the right side of the planet. The atmosphere seems to extend about 5-6 pixles out from the horizon of the planet on both the right and left side – the only difference is that on the right side it is brighter.

Well, I can tell you this:

At such distance, the atmosphere wouldn't be even ONE pixel!

I can't explain it best, some others here are better in that, but your 5-6 pixles assumption is plain wrong.

[Master of Ossus]

http://www.mrpoesmorgue.com/usvsd/hate/dip.html

Since the gif animation at the top of the page (again, props to IceHawk) clearly shoes in the final frame that the green "glow" has extended to cover a huge portion of the planet, while the surface area even in the immediate vicinity of the SL impact site is intact, it is conclusive proof that there is in fact a shield radiating the energy away.

[Tribun]

Actually, looking at the zoomed picture, he gave us a perfect view of the shield!

What he thinks is the atmosphere, IS the shield! It is very faint, but you CAN see it in the zoom! WOW! So we now can even SEE the shield, before the superlaser impacts! And we can see how far it extends into space!

[Master of Ossus]

Actually, looking at the zoomed picture, he gave us a perfect view of the shield!

What he thinks is the atmosphere, IS the shield! It is very faint, but you CAN see it in the zoom! WOW! So we now can even SEE the shield, before the superlaser impacts! And we can see how far it extends into space!

I know, but even if that's too tough to see (or you cling to the idea that it's really the atmosphere), then the scene with the superlaser's green glow covering a substantial area of the planet without destroying the surface represents conclusive proof that the planet was shielded. You don't even need to actually see the shield to infer its existence from that image.

[nasor]

At such distance, the atmosphere wouldn't be even ONE pixel!

Ok, further consideration shows you to be correct about this. Assuming Aldaraan was 8000 miles in diameter, each pixel would be about 20 miles. The blue halo clearly extends out 5-6 pixels from the horizon on all sides of the planet, so it must be at a height of around 100-120 miles – which is far too high to be visible atmosphere, since that would only extend up about 30 miles. The visible atmosphere would only extend about 1-2 pixels from the surface.

I guess this does conclusively show the presence of a shield around 100 miles from the surface. Thanks for the correction.

[The Original Nex]

And once again, the evidence speaks for itself.....

[Navarone]

i'm not to sure about that though. i've always considered it to be the atmosphere igniting. cause if a shield was hit, the brief moment where the superlaser was being absorbed would cause the entire shield to crackle (not just the small area) cause it would move at the speed of light. but whatever.

[Chardok]

i'm not to sure about that though. i've always considered it to be the atmosphere igniting. cause if a shield was hit, the brief moment where the superlaser was being absorbed would cause the entire shield to crackle (not just the small area) cause it would move at the speed of light. but whatever.

Unless the shield is segmented (IIRC it was).

[DPDarkPrimus]

i'm not to sure about that though. i've always considered it to be the atmosphere igniting. cause if a shield was hit, the brief moment where the superlaser was being absorbed would cause the entire shield to crackle (not just the small area) cause it would move at the speed of light. but whatever.

Unless the shield is segmented (IIRC it was).

Indeed. Unless people are claiming that SW tech is so advanced that they can shield a PLANET with a single generator.

[Master of Ossus]

i'm not to sure about that though. i've always considered it to be the atmosphere igniting. cause if a shield was hit, the brief moment where the superlaser was being absorbed would cause the entire shield to crackle (not just the small area) cause it would move at the speed of light. but whatever.

Blaster fire against the droidekas didn't crackle like that at all.

[Durandal]

I don’t really see a shield here - I see a radiant corona that’s starting to engulf the planet. It could certainly be a shield, but it could also just as plausibly be some sort of atmospheric effect caused by an incredibly powerful energy beam hitting the planet.

1 x 10^38 Joules of energy hitting the atmosphere wouldn't generate a glow like that. The atmosphere would be superheated (to put it mildly) and scattered far, far too quickly for us to even see due to the ludicrous amount of energy being pumped into it.

Also, the glowing thing propagates around the planet, in frames which you have not posted. Particles with that much kinetic energy wouldn't run around the planet; they'd escape. The best explanation is that it's a planetary shield that is attempting to distribute and disperse the energy from the superlaser. This is consistent with canon in that we know planetary shields exist in Star Wars, and according to the novel, Alderaan was a core world with defense systems equal to those of any other core world. We also know that Alderaan had a bias against weapons, so the "defenses" part probably refers to a shield.

[Praxis]

i'm not to sure about that though. i've always considered it to be the atmosphere igniting. cause if a shield was hit, the brief moment where the superlaser was being absorbed would cause the entire shield to crackle (not just the small area) cause it would move at the speed of light. but whatever.

Unless the shield is segmented (IIRC it was).

Indeed. Unless people are claiming that SW tech is so advanced that they can shield a PLANET with a single generator.

No, EU supports multiple generators and a segmented shield.

Coruscant has TWO shields (two layers), and multiple segments for each layer.

[Jon]

So is the shield just a lucky by-product of the visual effect they made or was it intentional?

[Dillon]

It's not like planetary shields are some EU invention, they're canon, so it was likely intentional. What else could the effects people have had in mind when they added it?

Not that it matters to the debates anyway. Suspension of disbelief>Literary interpretation

[Jon]

I wasn't inserting it for debate, indeed- just a query. I never assumed it was an intentional effect but rather a side effect of the inital glow they applied to the planet for the explosion effect as such. But if you assert it is canon, I won't argue- Star Wars debating isn't my scene at all

[Master of Ossus]

So is the shield just a lucky by-product of the visual effect they made or was it intentional?

It seems to have been intentional, since they changed the shot from the original versions of the film, and by the time it was redone for the SE's and DVD's they quite obviously had the technology to remove such an artifact if they didn't like it, even if it initially started that way.

[Kurgan]

Darkstar/G2k convinced me that there is a shield surrounding the planet.

Without boring you with the same old pictures, allow me to explain.

He showed a cap of a shot from the "original" ANH on video. It showed the beam striking the planet and a green "blob" appearing to surround the planet. The "blob" has little "fingers" on it that reach from the right side of the planetary sphere of Alderaan to the left side before it engulfs the thing and there is the explosion.

This is apparently the "energy" of the "beam" wrapping around the planet's shield. We assume if there was no shield, it would cut directly into the planet.

Darkstar then shows a shot from the Special Edition and says that the shield is "gone" now, because you can't see that effect anymore.

However, if you look very closely you can just barely make out the "fingers" of the blob still there! The brightness and contrast of the picture has just been altered such that it's harder to make out, but it's definately there!

This hasn't changed in the 2004 DVD Edition, but rather it's been made easier to detect since we can go frame by frame and it's all cleaned up.

Rather than believing (as one might from watching it normally) that there is a Star Trek style "soap bubble" shield, I think that it's clear to me now that there is in fact the same "blob wrap around effect" going on here.

Granted, this is something nobody will notice watching the movie normally. You'll need to go frame by frame to notice any of this. But it's clear that there is visual evidence for a planetary shield.

And any doubt that such a shield can exist should be erased by The Phantom Menace, since it shows that SW has a variety of different shields. They aren't all identical, and the planetary shield easily joins their ranks.

As to the technology itself, we know that SW can build large shields, to engulf something the size of the Death Star II or the Rebel based on Hoth. This is just scaled up to planetary size. It's possible that the "planetary shield" is also a bunch of interlocking shields spread out across the planet's surface, effectively making it "one big shield."

This conclusion I've come to thanks to Darkstar/G2k's presentation of evidence, and I thank him for (inadvertently) convincing me that Alderaan definately had a shield, that resisted the Death Star's superlaser shot for a fraction of a second.