# Firefly/Serenity 'verse question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858 "2005-09-28T15:35:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/1 "2005-09-28T15:35:33Z")
I have a simple enough question about the solar system of Firefly/Serenity, but I’ll waint until the next post to say it, just so as not to spoil anything in the rollover text. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/2 "2005-09-28T15:43:39Z")
Anyway. So, watching the Sci Fi Channel’s “Inside Serenity” special last night, I saw a scene from the movie with kids (a young Inara? looks like her…) being taught history. They show a graphic of the solar system (not the Earth’s solar system, judging by the tremendous number of planets), and seem to finally come out and say explicitly the setup for the worlds of Serenity: Humans left Earth, found a new solar system, and are living just in that one solar system (i.e., no interstellar travel after that first migration). That made me think about the evil megacorp Blue Sun … and the idle question came to mind: does Serenity’s solar system have a blue sun? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/3 "2005-09-28T15:53:02Z")
Not that we have seen so far. But the voice-overs of the series also seemed to indicate what the movie flat-out states: that we terra-formed a huge number of satellites/moons and planets in a new, single system. What I want to know is how they got all of these planets within the narrow zone around a star that is capable of supporting life. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/4 "2005-09-28T15:58:31Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > Anyway. So, watching the Sci Fi Channel’s “Inside Serenity” special last night, I saw a scene from the movie with kids (a young Inara? looks like her…) being taught history. They show a graphic of the solar system (not the Earth’s solar system, judging by the tremendous number of planets), and seem to finally come out and say explicitly the setup for the worlds of Serenity: Humans left Earth, found a new solar system, and are living just in that one solar system (i.e., no interstellar travel after that first migration). > > That made me think about the evil megacorp Blue Sun … and the idle question came to mind: does Serenity’s solar system have a blue sun? Um… If it did, then wouldn’t everything be blue? No, I think it’s a yellow sun, just like ours, which means that Superman would still be useful. The question is, would he fight for the Alliance (rule of law, aren’t that bad unless you dig deep into their secrets) or the Independents (libertarians, but also mostly criminal rabble)? ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/5 "2005-09-28T16:26:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Not that we have seen so far. > What I want to know is how they got all of these planets within the narrow zone around a star that is capable of supporting life. My guess is that the official answer is: Movie Magic. But my second guess is: the gas giants are closer to the new sun than ours are to Sol. (Which is not impossible–many of the extrasolar planets we’ve found have been gas giants orbiting at Mercury-like distances from their stars). Gas giants tend to have lots of big moons, so you can more easily meet your quota. Maybe the snowy “planets” we’ve seen are the ones at the far edge of the star’s habitable zone. And maybe the Core Worlds are actual rocky planets like Venus/Earth/Mars (they never say exactly how many there are … ), or perhaps they’re just all the moons that orbit the gas giant closest to the sun (and so are warmer). ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/6 "2005-09-28T16:46:04Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > What I want to know is how they got all of these planets within the narrow zone around a star that is capable of supporting life. Klemperer rosette by any chance?? (Of course, that would involve fairly minute control over planetary trajectories.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/7 "2005-09-28T16:46:38Z")
> [@](#): > > I saw a scene from the movie with kids (a young Inara? looks like her…) being taught history. I believe it’s actually River, as they’re fleshing out her backstory but that’s speculation informed by things I’ve heard on the web. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/8 "2005-09-28T17:04:22Z")
> [@picker](#): > > I believe it’s actually > > River, as they’re fleshing out her backstory > > but that’s speculation informed by things I’ve heard on the web. That’s correct, as of the version I saw. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/9 "2005-09-28T17:19:45Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > That made me think about the evil megacorp Blue Sun … and the idle question came to mind: does Serenity’s solar system have a blue sun? A blue sun is usually a young, very hot blue/white star. We don’t know for sure what kind of star the Serenity 'verse takes place around, but considering the ridiculous number of planets and moons it has, I suppose it could be a very young solar system and the planets haven’t had time to collide with each other yet. ::cough, cough:: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/10 "2005-09-28T17:49:36Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > What I want to know is how they got all of these planets within the narrow zone around a star that is capable of supporting life. I figure that either the government has some very expensive limited use FLT, or some way to examine other solar systems in great detail. They pick the one they want and either transport stuff there by government FLT, a sleeper ship or a generation ship. My point being there was some way to examine or explore many solar systems before they selected the appropiate one with many planets. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/11 "2005-09-28T18:11:27Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > What I want to know is how they got all of these planets within the narrow zone around a star that is capable of supporting life. They live on a spaceship, **silenus**. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/12 "2005-09-28T18:37:44Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > They live on a spaceship, **silenus**. > > –Cliffy ::applauds:: ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/13 "2005-09-28T18:50:36Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > What I want to know is how they got all of these planets within the narrow zone around a star that is capable of supporting life. Since they mentioned terraforming the worlds, it’s not unreasonable to assume that part of that terraforming would be releasing enough greenhouse gases to rapidly warm the planet up to reasonable temperatures. That (probably) wouldn’t be a stable system in the long term, but the frontier societies we’ve seen obviously haven’t been there for more than a generation or so. Perhaps it’s expected that the society will reach a level of technology within a hundred years or so that will allow for atmospheric regulation. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/14 "2005-09-28T21:23:14Z")
In order to enjoy his show, Joss Whedon asks us to suspend disbelief for two important things. These are mentioned early on, then never spoken of again. One, sometime in the next 500 years or so, humans develop amazing terraforming technology. Two, humans develop amazing artificial gravity technology. So, they find this new solar system with maybe one or two decent, habitable planets, each in its own orbital zone. They then turn this amazing terraforming technology loose on the system. It goes out and dismantles a couple rocky moons. Or maybe there’s a convenient asteroid belt in this system. They use this mass to create huge, hollow, spherical “moons” inside each of which, is a combination amazing artificial gravity, and magnetic field generator. Then they dump a quarter mile or so of dirt and rock on the “moon,” and if it’s one of those deluxe jobs, you add oceans & islands. Pump in some atmo, and you’re shiny. Presto. Hundreds of worlds, all within the star’s habitable zone. Each world would only look like a planet, but would actually be insignificant, mass & gravity wise, so as long as you put each world into its own carefully plotted orbit, they don’t collide with each other, or rip each other out of orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/15 "2005-09-28T21:36:27Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > They live on a spaceship, **silenus**. > > –Cliffy So…? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/16 "2005-09-28T21:51:43Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > In order to enjoy his show, Joss Whedon asks us to suspend disbelief for two important things. These are mentioned early on, then never spoken of again. One, sometime in the next 500 years or so, humans develop amazing terraforming technology. Two, humans develop amazing artificial gravity technology. Joss is pretty up front about his lack of science knowledge. This is not a show for tech geeks. I personally have no more problems suspending my disbelief for Firefly than I do for say, Star Trek, which is chock full of techy nonsense. At least in Firefly they never reverse the goddamned polarity. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/17 "2005-09-28T21:54:44Z")
It’s a joke (one of the best), from the show. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/18 "2005-09-28T22:37:02Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I figure that either the government has some very expensive limited use FLT, or some way to examine other solar systems in great detail. “Sufficient detail” in this context (Earth is “used up”; we need to find somewhere else to go) requires only the ability to detect a likely habitable planet within a few dozen lightyears. A space-based telescope capable of that doesn’t require any fundamentally new tech, just a dedication of resources (which is a no-brainer in that situation). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/19 "2005-09-28T23:42:50Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > Um… If it did, then wouldn’t everything be blue? Look out your wndow. Is everything yellow? > [@](#): > > No, I think it’s a yellow sun, just like ours, which means that Superman would still be useful. Depends on whom you ask. I’m not aware of a blue sun’s effect on Big Blue ever being an issue post-crisis, but I presume that, since Superman is supposed to be a solar battery these days, he would get stronger faster. > [@](#): > > The question is, would he fight for the Alliance (rule of law, aren’t that bad unless you dig deep into their secrets) or the Independents (libertarians, but also mostly criminal rabble)? If it’s Superman being written by, say, Kurt Busiek, or Dan Jurgen, or someone else who actually likes the character, he’d be a rebel. If it’s Superman as being written by Frank Miller, he’d be a pawn. I prefer my nigh-omnipotent demigods to have a pair, actually. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858/20 "2005-09-28T23:49:01Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > ability to detect a likely habitable planet within a few dozen lightyears. A space-based telescope capable of that doesn’t require any fundamentally new tech, just a dedication of resources (which is a no-brainer in that situation). Agreed, but a solar system with many planets, not a single habitable planet. Why do you guys readily accept artificial gravity and guns that need air to fire but not FLT? 🙂 Is the hollow sphere canon from the film, or speculation like my effort? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-serenity-verse-question/323858.md?page=2)