# "Enterprise"; still flunking Physics 101

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-still-flunking-physics-101/121800>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 1, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-still-flunking-physics-101/121800 "2002-08-01T02:03:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-still-flunking-physics-101/121800/21 "2002-08-01T22:39:51Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Baldwin \*  
> \*\*Thanks, **Bad Astronomer**! They’re constantly around nebulae in the various Star Trek series, but have they ever orbited a pulsar or something really exotic (that is, something exotic that definitely exists)? If I were a real Trekkie, I’d know this. \*\*

Maybe they can go visit [Gomez’s Hamburger.](http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/08/01/hamburger.star/index.html)

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-still-flunking-physics-101/121800/22 "2002-08-02T21:47:18Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> In the case of Orion, the nebula as seen from Earth is about the size of the full Moon. If you were inside the nebula, that same amount of light would be spread over the entire sky, reducing the birghtness by a factor of about 200,000

How do you figure that it’s “the same amount of light”? If we were inside the nebula, we’d be much closer to it than now (obviously), so we’d be getting a lot more flux from it. It seems to me that, at a first approximation, it’d be the surface brightness density which would be constant, not the net brightness, in which case the whole sky would look like that little patch of sky does now.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-still-flunking-physics-101/121800/23 "2002-08-03T00:52:54Z")

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Don’t forget, there’s a star inside that nebula (you can see it as a distant bright light in a few shots during the “submarine” battle). That may be lighting it up somewhat.

In any event, the climax of _Wrath of Khan_ (already by far the best movie) remains the best _Star Trek_ battle. It has all the dramatic tension it needs and doesn’t hinge on some techno-babble nonsense. Rather, it comes down to who is the better ship commander. Contrast this to Wesely Crusher, who (like Khan) had a higher intelligence, but was never faced with a problem in which the more experienced people around him had the solution. Instead, he’d pull this week’s science project out of his ass and save the day.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-still-flunking-physics-101/121800/24 "2002-08-03T00:56:35Z")

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For example, on [this](http://www.trek5.com/caps/films/02_khan/khan_gal6.html) page, shots 25, 26 and 27 show the light generated by the star.

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