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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Petrarch of the VBB on March 04, 2003, 01:43:00 pm

Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Petrarch of the VBB on March 04, 2003, 01:43:00 pm
It occured to me the other day, that as jumpnodes are somewhat like wormholes, (and Knossi even more so), they take you thousands of light years from where you were. So any two systems in GTVA space don't have to be in physical porximity to each other. although Vega and Capella are joined by a node, and so are close in pracitcal terms, in reality they could be at opposite ends of the galaxy. Mirfak could be nearer to Sol than Delta Serpentis.

Since there is no other way to travel between the systems this doesn't really matter, but I thought I'd bring it up.

the upshot of it is that if you were to take a map of the galaxy, and mark on GTVA space, it would be isolated blobs, scattered randomly, not one large mass, as you would expect (Like Federation space in StarTrek)
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: kasperl on March 04, 2003, 01:46:26 pm
yeah, your correct on that, i remember this issue in my thread on the cappella supernova a while back. we where figuring whether capella was far enough away from earth to go up in a supernova without killing earth to.

anyway, the systems do seem to be somewhat positioned in each others real life area's, but my knowledge there is limited.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Nico on March 04, 2003, 01:50:33 pm
Quote
Originally posted by kasperl
yeah, your correct on that, i remember this issue in my thread on the cappella supernova a while back. we where figuring whether capella was far enough away from earth to go up in a supernova without killing earth to.

anyway, the systems do seem to be somewhat positioned in each others real life area's, but my knowledge there is limited.


? if the sun went supernova, I doubt the explosion would even reach pluto. there's enough distance between any solar system, as much as there's distance between two stars, actually :)
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: kasperl on March 04, 2003, 02:00:37 pm
it's not the shockwave itself, it's the radiation, wich would destroy the ozon layer. see these two threads:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,11500.0.html

http://www.hard-light.net/vwbb/showthread.php?threadid=7776
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Tiara on March 04, 2003, 02:06:46 pm
Eh, we know where the core is right? We can use big ass futuristic telescopes ala super Hubble to pinpoint stars. With the help of the position of the core you can approximate the position of a certain system.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: kasperl on March 04, 2003, 02:10:44 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara
Eh, we know where the core is right? We can use big ass futuristic telescopes ala super Hubble to pinpoint stars. With the help of the position of the core you can approximate the position of a certain system.


ok, you just lost me there, what do you mean?
the core of the galaxy, the core of the shockwave, the core of the star, the core of this thread, the core of life?
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Petrarch of the VBB on March 04, 2003, 02:11:50 pm
What did she mean? What does anything mean? What was the meaning of me starting this thread, only to have it instantly derailed?
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Riven on March 04, 2003, 02:12:02 pm
many times i have seen people complaining that the system map is wrong because certain systems are too close or too far away. this of course is a load of crap because space is 3d. Also from a completely different perspective things are bound to look different!
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Tiara on March 04, 2003, 02:16:17 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Petrarch of the VBB
What did she mean? What does anything mean? What was the meaning of me starting this thread, only to have it instantly derailed?


Hey, I'm on topic there :p
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: karajorma on March 04, 2003, 02:21:36 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Riven
many times i have seen people complaining that the system map is wrong because certain systems are too close or too far away. this of course is a load of crap because space is 3d. Also from a completely different perspective things are bound to look different!


No matter what angle you look at it from the centuri's are the closest stars to Earth and they aren`t on the map.

However that doesn`t mean the map is wrong. Just that it isn`t a map of the distances.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Tiara on March 04, 2003, 02:25:47 pm
But maybe no node leads to Centauri... Its a NODEmap.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Riven on March 04, 2003, 02:38:13 pm
Quote
Originally posted by karajorma


No matter what angle you look at it from the centuri's are the closest stars to Earth and they aren`t on the map.

However that doesn`t mean the map is wrong. Just that it isn`t a map of the distances.


u are still not looking at it in 3dthe closest systems on the map on the x/y axis could be a trillion lightyears forward or back on the z axis so the centuri's can still me the closest
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Tiara on March 04, 2003, 02:44:21 pm
Proxima Centauri is the closest star system

Alpha Centauri is the closest planetary system.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: beatspete on March 04, 2003, 02:55:31 pm
Yes, its a node-map, not a star-map.  It only has to show where there are (charted nodes).  It doesnt have to be accurate to a read life star chart.


...play frontier ellite for that :wink:
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Stunaep on March 04, 2003, 03:09:32 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Riven
many times i have seen people complaining that the system map is wrong because certain systems are too close or too far away. this of course is a load of crap because space is 3d. Also from a completely different perspective things are bound to look different!

fyi, if you look at the CBanis, you'll notice that the nodemap is 3d also.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: karajorma on March 04, 2003, 03:47:57 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Riven


u are still not looking at it in 3dthe closest systems on the map on the x/y axis could be a trillion lightyears forward or back on the z axis so the centuri's can still me the closest


1) Slight exageration there. The galaxy is only about 2000 LY wide in the disc but point taken :)

2) However even taking 3D into acount the stars are still all wrong. Have a look at this (http://www.solstation.com/100ly-bs.htm) nice 3D page. No matter how much you rotate the stars you won`t get Alpha Centuri, Sirius and Altair to all sit in the right places. The reason was cause [V] are game designers not astronomers :)

3) As I said above (somewhat crypically obviously) The [V] nodemap isn`t a measure of distance at all. The map shows the quickest route between planets by nodes not through normal space.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: StratComm on March 04, 2003, 05:36:40 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara
Proxima Centauri is the closest star system

Alpha Centauri is the closest planetary system.


Woah, back up a minute there...

Actually, Alpha Centauri is a binary star system with no known planetary bodies, and Proxima Centauri is a small brown dwarf orbiting the primary start of Alpha Centauri at extreme distance.  In FS Alpha Centauri is one of the Vasudan core systems, about 5 jumps from sol.  And yes, the nodemap is badly out of realspace position, as you go over 200 lightyears from sol to get to delta serpentis, then the rest of the map is arrayed back toward the solar system.  Seems like a different system there would have made more sense.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Liberator on March 04, 2003, 06:04:12 pm
Quote
The galaxy is only about 2000 LY wide in the disc...


Uhm, the last I heard the galactic diameter is about 100,000 light years.  You're off just a bit there.

The reason it's Alpha Centauri A,B, & C is because Alpha Centauri is a Trinary star system.  It doesn't matter what the magnitude or stellar type the star is.  

Alpha Centauri is a group of three stars, two of them(A & B) are binary, that is, two stars orbiting a common center of gravity, the third star(C) is a dwarf star that also orbits the same center of gravity.  This makes Alpha Centauri a trinary systen.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: StratComm on March 04, 2003, 06:16:36 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator
The reason it's Alpha Centauri A,B, & C is because Alpha Centauri is a Trinary star system.  It doesn't matter what the magnitude or stellar type the star is.  

Alpha Centauri is a group of three stars, two of them(A & B) are binary, that is, two stars orbiting a common center of gravity, the third star(C) is a dwarf star that also orbits the same center of gravity.  This makes Alpha Centauri a trinary systen.


Technically correct ;)

Though when trying to respond to the assertion that Proxima Centauri is somehow a seperate star system and that Alpha Centauri contains planetary bodies, explaining it as a "binary-and-one" system helps convey the structure a bit better.  We don't consider Earth a double planet, although tecnically we rotate on the same center of gravity as the moon.

In reality, planets are much less likely to form around multiple suns than in single-star systems; something about the gravitational forces exerted on the planetary nebula associated with the system's formation.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Knight Templar on March 04, 2003, 06:22:03 pm
well either way, the distances on the node map don't mean diddly. The only advantage Alpha Centauri has over say Delta Serpintis (and what they should've done) is radio earth. It's only 4.3 LY away IIRC.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: karajorma on March 04, 2003, 08:05:46 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator


Uhm, the last I heard the galactic diameter is about 100,000 light years.  You're off just a bit there.


No I`m not. Go check how THICK the galactic disk is in the Z direction rather than how wide it is in x or y.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Liberator on March 04, 2003, 11:45:59 pm
True, but as width is generally accepted to be the larger measure when compared you should have been more clear in the original post.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Sesquipedalian on March 05, 2003, 02:14:43 am
Actually, no, "width" doesn't mean anything in particular beyond "distance across some arbitrary dimension."  It is for that reason that it is obscure in meaning in karajorma's earlier post, and not for any other.  A bit better intuitive clarity might have been achieved by the word "thick" instead of "wide," but even that would conceivably be open to misinterpretation.
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: karajorma on March 05, 2003, 04:33:31 am
Yeah. Thick would have been a little clearer but it still wouldn`t prevent some people from getting it wrong :)
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Cannikin on March 05, 2003, 04:50:50 am
Oops...
Title: Proximity of GTVA systems.
Post by: Petrarch of the VBB on March 05, 2003, 06:25:35 am
The upshot of all this is that Shivan space could be closer to Sol than we ever thought possible.