Star Wars Travel Science and Logic?

[Corruck Kazen]

Alright, I just wanted to ask about the choices of jumps to Hyperspace. From what I have seen and read, most of the jumps tend to be parallel to the Galactic plane.​

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Like so:​

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So the travel is always near stars and what not, probably to avoid getting lost or something.​

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What I am wondering is why there are no mentions, that I have found anyways, of moving perpendicular to the Galactic plane.​

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Like below:​

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In my mind it would be smarter to go perpendicular and then parallel, so that you avoid almost all of the planets.​

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My question is, is this in other sources and have I missed it, or is it simply something that hasn't been touched upon?​

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My reason for asking is I have read some other books, specifically Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark, and have found that they more often use travel where one moves outside of the Galactic plane and then returns to it when they have reached the area.​

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If I am unclear or somewhat muddled in thinking please let me know. Thanks for you time.​

 

[HK-17]

Going perpendicular does not avoid planets, stars, etc. The universe is three-dimensional, meaning planets can exist both Y, X and Z, or in other terms, even flying perpendicular will just as likely fly you into a star as flying parallel.

Scratch that, I thought you mean't shortcuts. From re-reading what you said, are you suggesting wormholes? If so, wormholes have existed in Star Wars but are currently restricted. Though there are Force powers that allow you to travel through force-created wormholes.


I think you have confused me something fierce.

 

[Jsc]

Planes? Oh. I kinda thought we were just moving really fast through "Hyperspace", which was a very small portion of what we call "Realspace". Kinda figured that's why we had to avoid gravity wells and planets and the like.

''

idk.

 

[Thalia Rist]

I always thought it worked also using some form of extra gravitational deal, like using a wormhole too. Seeing as a gravity well can yank a ship out of hyperspace...

 

[HK-17]

[member="Thalia Rist"]

Travel time from Coruscant to Alderaan is about as lengthy as Coruscant to Tatooine. Coruscant / Alderaan are quite close, but due to the large number of gravitational wells and other astronomical anomalies / objects, pilots are forced to make a rather lengthy journey around this lest they face oblivion.

Wormholes were used by the Rakatan, I believe, but is no longer used.

 

[Thalia Rist]

[member="The Queen"]

Right... what it sounds like then is the bending and folding of space, but near gravity wells you have the problem where space resists the manipulation and thus slowing down the process. This would account for Gravity wells completely tearing ships from hyperspace as they would be restricting manipulation of space so far that a ship is actually affected instead and is shot back into real space... if that made any sense tell me.

 

[HK-17]

[member="Thalia Rist"]
It's correct, except for the bending / folding of space. A wormhole is what happens when you bend / fold space. Hyperspace travel is believed to be an added dimension that allows for faster-than-light travel. Gravitational wells can pull ships out of this dimension, as you stated.

 

[Thalia Rist]

Ugh... im just gonna go back to saying. "Because it works that way." While my char randomly faints from an incurable heart disease. Because Hyperspace was not thought out well enough upon creation.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Alright, I have guessed that my terminology, and my failure to further explain my example, have very well confused at least one. Sorry for my part in the matter.

Firstly when I do not mean Wormholes, when I say planes I mean how Galaxies tend to form into something of a flat disk. (I know that this is not always the case, but it is mostly true.)

Image Example:

From what I understand, the galaxy, and therefore the planets and stars, are inside that bright area. And while the planets can be anywhere in the X,Y, and Z planes, when within the Galactic 'plane' (Which is what I call the disk of the galaxy) the planets tend to stay towards the central alignment.

What my idea is that a traveler would jump perpendicular to that X,Y plain and leave the Galactic plane. The person would jump then parallel to the galaxy, with much fewer obstructions I would think, and then jump back down or up into the Galactic plane.


Okay has that helped any, or have I further frustrated those little grey cells?
(If my terminology is quite vague or ineffective let me know, I have not learned much in astronomy and therefore do not most of the slang/jargon.)

[member="The Queen"]
[member="Jay Scott Clark"]
[member="Thalia Rist"]

 

[Thalia Rist]

Im... actually even more confused... -goes back to my realm of realworld physics, where you cant travel to other star systems in a week.

 

[Beowoof]

The reason it's planar is because of the method used to create hyperspace paths. The trails have to be blazed in realspace, which can take a pretty long time. So the pioneers who forge the hyperlanes are going to try to go the fastest route from Point A to Point B as they churn through realspace. They can't afford to leave the galactic plane.

That's why no hyperlanes would exist above or below the galactic 'dish', and therefore, one cannot safely travel hyperspace above or below the stars.

 

[Jsc]

As a genre, Science is not a thing in StarWars. Lol. You're best off just handwaving stuff like that and making a best guess. Or, whatever is most convient to plot, as they say.

Enjoy.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

[member="Thalia Rist"]

Sorry about that, did not intend on hurting your brain.

[member="Beowoof"]

Thanks for that canon info, that helps explain why it hasn't been done. Is it possible though? Within your knowledge.

[member="Jay Scott Clark"]

Yay, I've been reading Arthur C. Clark and Isaac Asimov, so been thinking a bit on the science stuff. Shouldn't have done that.... :lol:

 

[Beowoof]

Thanks for that canon info, that helps explain why it hasn't been done. Is it possible though? Within your knowledge.

I don't see why not. It would just be some pretty risky business.

 

[HK-17]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]
That made perfect sense. Travelling like that will likely take as long if not more, while still have some objects in the way. A galactic disk may appear thin, but if we go off the Milky Way, the Milky Way at its shortest thickness is still 2,000 lightyears tall, or in other words it is 20 trillion kilometres tall at its shorten point.

 

[Jsc]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

George Lucas didn't. Lucas Publishing didn't. I, sure as heck didn't, lol. ...Oh well. You live and you learn. Good luck on your journey through science. Won't find much StarWars there. Haha. Hyperspace here we come!

Cheers!

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Thanks all, that has really helped.

In recap, for fuel efficiency there is no point in trying those kinds of jumps. But for security, because most people, I would assume, would not think about that as it is a risky and not very rewarding business. Does that sum it up well?

[member="The Queen"] [member="Beowoof"]


[member="Jay Scott Clark"]

Yah, just enjoy the books and what not for what they are.
Just started reading the Thrawn Trilogy. My first time reading into the EU books.

 

[Beowoof]

In recap, for fuel efficiency there is no point in trying those kinds of jumps. But for security, because most people, I would assume, would not think about that as it is a risky and not very rewarding business. Does that sum it up well?

Well, from my Stellar Astronomy class... Honestly, there's no definite answer on exactly how these things would work, at the moment. It's still a bunch of theories [and science-fiction]. There are very weird things that are supposed to occur when one exits solar systems and galaxies and clusters, but are as yet undetermined.

I would say that, going as simply as we can, you're about as correct as any of us could say. The risk is that if you make a hyperspace jump outside a predefined hyperlane, you would not know if there is a brown dwarf star dead ahead of you that will crumple your ship from its gravitational influence on hyperspace.

I wouldn't write this possibility off for fiction. Maybe use it as a last resort or daring strategy once or twice in RP, but don't do it all the time. Even in fiction, you can only defy the odds so much.

My first time reading into the EU books.

Be careful, my friend. These can be even more wonky than veering off the beaten hyper paths.

 

[Ellie Mors]

The reason being, the prime reason being that is, is because you cannot exit the galactic plane from within, nor enter from without, unless you find a tiny little weak point as the Yuuzhan Vong did in their invasion. There is a rift in the edge of space that makes extragalactic travel near-impossible (there is a method to get by it, but it would not be feasible for more than one trip).

This rift was presumed to be created by the Celestials during a war with some other civilization outside of the galaxy, but it was never explored upon in EU.

 

[Beowoof]

Told you I did. Wonky is the EU.