Poskanzer.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (06/06/83)
In the rebels' holographic simulation (a beautiful effect), the Death Star is shown in a geostationary (well, endorstationary) orbit. It is also shown as being only a few Death-Star-radii from the surface, and certainly less than one Endor-radius. There is a contradiction here. For the stationary orbit to be that close, either the planet spins in only a few hours, or it has very light gravity. The scenes on Endor's surface showed no evidence of either of the above. Possible fixes: even when only partially operational, the Death Star could levitate; or maybe the shield generating station also provided levitation until the Death Star's engines came on line. Or maybe the planet did have very light gravity, but there was a humongous mascon right under the shield station, providing "normal" gravity in the immediate area. Except that you would expect a lake to collect... --- Jef
karn@eagle.UUCP (Phil Karn) (06/06/83)
a Gee, I'm ashamed that I didn't catch that one too. On the other hand,
karn@eagle.UUCP (Phil Karn) (06/06/83)
Gee, I'm ashamed that I didn't catch that one too. The Death Star was obviously Endor-stationary because it had to sit within the stationary beam of the force field station. I suspect that it was "levitated" by the force field; that means that they didn't have to blow it up, it would just have crashed on the planet surface when the force field was destroyed! Phil
karn@eagle.UUCP (Phil Karn) (06/07/83)
Come to think of it, I have a (weak) piece of evidence for my earlier assertion that the Death Star was not in stationary orbit but was rather being held up by the force field: the existence of gravity on the station! (Of course, I know of no Star Wars sequences featuring zero gravity, so...) Phil
caf@cdi.UUCP (06/07/83)
I had the impression (from the Alliance Simulation) that it was in geosynchronus orbit about that moon. Of course one might question whether such a small body would be able to hold an atmosphere long enough to evolve Ewoks. The physics guffaws that gave me the jollies were the fireballs in vacuum. Oh well, I've learned to accept sound in vacuum ... -- Chuck Forsberg, Chief Engr, Computer Development Inc. 6700 S. W. 105th, Beaverton OR 97005 (503) 646-1599 cdi!caf