Asteroid destruction in TESB

[Rightous Fist Of Heaven]

Hmm im beginning to favor the LS beam idea but there is still one thing that puzzles me, the momentum. If we are talking about a LS beam, then where does the momentum come from?

From the beam ofcourse, beam weapons such as lasers and masers have momentum and recoil too.

Ah ofcourse, silly me "A particle which travels solely at c (the speed of light in vacuum). All luxons have a rest mass of exactly zero. Though they are massless, luxons do carry momentum. Photons are the prime example of luxons (the name itself is derived from the Latin word for light). "

What about the physical holes at the end of the barrels? Afterall you dont need to have a hole in the end of a flashlight for the lamp in it to emit photons.

Ofcourse it may be that my head is just so goddamn slow after an extremely tiring day at work.

[His Divine Shadow]

What about the physical holes at the end of the barrels? Afterall you dont need to have a hole in the end of a flashlight for the lamp in it to emit photons.

Ofcourse it may be that my head is just so goddamn slow after an extremely tiring day at work.

Well physical matter is seen to be ejected from the barrel(waste gasses), and I personally don't think it's smart to have a lens out there without any protection.

[Mad]

In short, I am theorizing that the strength of the beam varies on-the-fly, automatically, by the targeting computer, to make sure that power isn't wasted by making a blast that travels onwards for hundreds of kilometers if it misses. This would also explain why no errant blasts in space battles (in ROTJ and TPM) hit the planet below, which would have caused significant damage.

Quite possible, and I've thought about that in regards to my theory (linked to earlier). There's not much direct evidence for an on-the-fly power management, but it does make sense. However, keep in mind that such management can't be relied on 100%, as shown in Tatooine Ghost:

Once Leia and Han forced the TIEs into the Falcon's rear quarter, Chewbacca would hide behind them and dive into Tatooine's atmosphere, and the Chimera's big guns would be useless - unless Pellaeon cared to attack a whole planet to stop one vessel

While the computers may halt the full blast in the case of a miss, they can only do that if they know it's most likely a miss... and when going against a starship with ECM capabilities (all combat capable craft in SW), the computer can't be so sure, and a miss could hit the planet.

[Soulman]

Haven't there been instances where TL's have been fired at targets at very long range? If my theory is correct, and the beam can be swung about as well (as if it was an extremely long tube with a ball rolling through it, with the ball being the bolt) the TL could be effective at obscene ranges against manouvering targets because coupled with FTL sensors the bolts path could be adjusted on the fly.

As for the bolt traveling through a ship wouldn't that be better chalked up to an FX glitch, as even if it was light the bolt couldn't just go through a ship.

[Mad]

Haven't there been instances where TL's have been fired at targets at very long range? If my theory is correct, and the beam can be swung about as well (as if it was an extremely long tube with a ball rolling through it, with the ball being the bolt) the TL could be effective at obscene ranges against manouvering targets because coupled with FTL sensors the bolts path could be adjusted on the fly.

Yeah, that should be possible. The targetted vessel would have to evade at just the right moment to out-react the turret. Against a ship with more turrets, of course, that'd be more difficult.

As for the bolt traveling through a ship wouldn't that be better chalked up to an FX glitch, as even if it was light the bolt couldn't just go through a ship.

The fighter seems to have cut through the beam at just the right moment to make it look like it was flying through a bolt (because it was). What we saw could theoretically happen if events are timed just right (if the fighter flying through the beam near the end of the film's frame exposure, for example). Since the beam wasn't strong enough to do damage, the fighter remained undamaged.

It also illustrates why fighters like to get close to enemy capital ships.. because the turret would have to move a greater distance in the same time to track a closer target, they'd actually become less accurate at extremely close ranges. On the other hand, at medium ranges, a smaller correction is needed from the turret to follow the path of the target.

[Ender]

How does the SL work going by this theory? That's alsways something I never got with the ICS theory, how do lasers join up?

[Soulman]

How does the SL work going by this theory? That's alsways something I never got with the ICS theory, how do lasers join up?

Insane forcefields or gravity perhaps...

[SPOOFE]

How does the SL work going by this theory? That's alsways something I never got with the ICS theory, how do lasers join up?

Focusing fields, I imagine, that act as a sort of capacitor for the final blast.

What I find interesting is that, for the DS1, you didn't see any beam fired out of the central aperture of the superlaser dish, but with the DS2, you did. Why the different mechanisms?

[Master of Ossus]

OK, new GIF's, these look better too, atleast on my screen.

This one ought to play around the same speed as in the movies.
http://www.hisdivineshadow.com/misc/ima ... y_fast.gif

And this one is slowed down to .6 seconds per frame, thats enough to give each frame a good look:
http://www.hisdivineshadow.com/misc/ima ... y_slow.gif

You're right. That's a much better demonstration of what you're trying to show.

Incidentally, this is yet ANOTHER example of damage before the visible bolt actually strikes the target, and this one is from a turbolaser. I guess our good friend Mr. Anderson is going to have to go into even MORE detail about why the shot of Luke's hand is an FX error that should be ignored so as to cast doubt upon the EU.