ir278@sdcc6.UUCP (Paul Anderson) (04/20/85)
=[ Frobozz Magic Line-Eater Bait ]= I was thumbing through the Atlas of Pern when it dawned upon me to calculate the size of the planet. Based on the distances between time zones, I found that Pern was approximately the size of Saturn's moon Rhea - one _eighth_ the diameter of Earth! (half that of the moon) Pern must be pretty damn dense if it has gravity anywhere near that on Earth (the densest planet in our solar system). Perhaps this is why those huge dragons can fly so easily? "It's not me that's mad, it's the rest of the world, I'm the only sane one." Paul Anderson (And'rson) UC San Diego
ccrdave@ucdavis.UUCP (Lord Kahless) (04/23/85)
> I was thumbing through the Atlas of Pern when it dawned upon > me to calculate the size of the planet. Based on the distances > between time zones, I found that Pern was approximately the > size of Saturn's moon Rhea - one _eighth_ the diameter of > Earth! (half that of the moon) > > Pern must be pretty damn dense if it has gravity anywhere near > that on Earth (the densest planet in our solar system). > Perhaps this is why those huge dragons can fly so easily? I am not familiar with the atlas. Does it use the map in the front of the books? That map can't be to scale. In "The White Dragon", they say that the Northern continent could fit in one bay of the Southern continent. That obviously can't be true, if that map were to scale. Benden and Ruatha are half a world away, according to Dragonflight. (Page 63, Del Rey edition) Yet, Benden doesn't appear to be half a world from Ruatha, barely a third in fact. If you read carefully, there are other inconsistencies, like the relationship between High Reaches and Benden, that make me suspect the cartographers are in error. I suspect that that Pern uses a Northern Continent centric projection for maps, like Mercator's projection which makes Greenland look far larger than South America. If you read carefully, there are other inconsistencies, like the relationship between High Reaches and Benden, that make me suspect the cartographers are in error. Pern's gravity isn't that far from Earth's, according to the prologue to Dragonflight. Men can walk confidently. They can't even truly do so on the moon. With 1/36'th of Earth's gravity, which is about what such a planet's gravity would be, you'd take off every time you ran. Dave van De Kerk Loyal to Benden Hacker Hall, U.C. Davis
@RUTGERS.ARPA:Susser.PASA@Xerox.ARPA (04/23/85)
From: Susser.PASA@Xerox.ARPA I always guessed that Pern was small and had a low surface gravity, but I think your calculation may be based on a false assumption. I do not think that the length of a Pernese day was ever given in anything corresponding to Earth time. I don't have my Pern books handy, but I remember the scene when F'lar was computing the times of threadfall, and how I thought that there didn't seem to be twenty-four hours in a day. Even then, a Pernese hour may not be the same as an Terran hour. So, if the day were shorter or longer (either in measured hours or in real time), then Pern could be larger. I always thought of Pern as being about Mars' size and gravity. -- Josh Susser (Susser.pasa@Xerox.arpa)