# Let's discuss the destruction of Alderaan from Alderaan's perspective **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778 "2009-06-15T00:03:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/41 "2009-06-18T15:24:09Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > Can’t curve around gravity wells in hyperspace. I would assume that between the gas giant, the star, the other two planets, and all the moons, you can only get so close at FTL. From there you have to move at subspace around the planet for a clear shot. [But was that gas giant a problem? Really?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzoeEdW-EDQ) (YouTube link) ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/42 "2009-06-18T15:48:48Z")
You know there was at least one drunk Alderaan teen sitting knees to chin on the couch, Bic lit near his ass, saying “Hey, watch this!” just as the laser hit. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/43 "2009-06-18T18:00:27Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > [But was that gas giant a problem? Really?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzoeEdW-EDQ) (YouTube link) You know, that’s an excellent point. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/44 "2009-06-18T18:34:43Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > [But was that gas giant a problem? Really?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzoeEdW-EDQ) (YouTube link) Well, we know how [frugal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHgmR5YHM2k#t=6m20s) the Empire is with laser firings. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/45 "2009-06-18T22:56:56Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Nope. They had one more ready to go, and they were capable of manufacturing 3 nukes per month for the next few months at least. [Cite](http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/72.pdf) (pdf). I’d assume that if they put more resources into it, they could have increased that rate, so we could have nuked anyone we damn well pleased. I seem to recall something similiar. By the end of WW2, America was about the only “major” country that wasn’t bombed out and wore out. If we had wanted to hit any country with 3 nukes a month for months on end, they certainly woulda been SOL. My WAG is within a year or we could have drastically upped that production level as well. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/46 "2009-06-19T00:18:32Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Well, we know how [frugal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHgmR5YHM2k#t=6m20s) the Empire is with laser firings. Fanwank: the thing took enormous output of energy, which had to be regenerated, forcing it to wait substantially long (say an hour) before it could fire again. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/47 "2009-06-19T01:16:02Z")
46 posts in, and nobody has calculated the energy output needed by the DS’s main weapon to completely vaporize a planet in seconds? I’m severely disappointed in y’all. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/48 "2009-06-19T02:21:41Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Fanwank: the thing took enormous output of energy, which had to be regenerated, forcing it to wait substantially long (say an hour) before it could fire again. To fanwank even further, it would be reasonable if it had to wait days, weeks or months between firings. Geez, I mean how many planets do you need to go around vaporizing and how often ? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/49 "2009-06-19T03:55:05Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > To fanwank even further, it would be reasonable if it had to wait days, weeks or months between firings. Geez, I mean how many planets do you need to go around vaporizing and how often ? You ask this of an organization which allows religious fanatics to execute fleet officers summarily merely for _disappointing them_? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/50 "2009-06-19T04:03:23Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > You ask this of an organization which allows religious fanatics to execute fleet officers summarily merely for _disappointing them_? Bahhh Thats just a managerial TQM methodology. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/51 "2009-06-19T04:53:48Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > [But was that gas giant a problem? Really?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzoeEdW-EDQ) (YouTube link) Well, Yavin itself was a gas giant; Alderaan and Yavin IV are both Earth-like worlds. In our own system Jupiter has a mass over three hundred times that of Earth. It’s perfectly possible that even the Death Star might have trouble with something that big, being designed for more modest rocky planets. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/52 "2009-06-19T16:31:51Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Fanwank: the thing took enormous output of energy, which had to be regenerated, forcing it to wait substantially long (say an hour) before it could fire again. Intriguing. Whodathunk the Death Star had a refractory period? [Refractory period (sex) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractory_period_(sex)) ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/53 "2009-06-19T16:48:18Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > Obi-Wan: “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” > > Obi-Wan: “A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights. He betrayed and murdered your father.” > > Obi-Wan is full of shit, and you shouldn’t believe a word that comes out of his big fat lying liar mouth, cause it’s dripping with lie sauce. Yeah - it was probably just gas. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/54 "2009-06-19T17:54:46Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Well, Yavin itself was a gas giant; Alderaan and Yavin IV are both Earth-like worlds. In our own system Jupiter has a mass over three hundred times that of Earth. It’s perfectly possible that even the Death Star might have trouble with something that big, being designed for more modest rocky planets. The resulting explosion might have caused irreparable damage to, or even destroyed, the Death Star. Sure the moon would have gone, too, but Tarkin would have liked to survived the Rebels’ defeat. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/55 "2009-06-20T00:00:20Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Well, Yavin itself was a gas giant; Alderaan and Yavin IV are both Earth-like worlds. In our own system Jupiter has a mass over three hundred times that of Earth. It’s perfectly possible that even the Death Star might have trouble with something that big, being designed for more modest rocky planets. Or…ignited it. Star-time. Also, bye-bye Death Star. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/56 "2009-06-20T00:15:01Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Or…ignited it. > > Star-time. > > Also, bye-bye Death Star. A gas giant is pretty big, but it’s still a lot smaller than a star. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/57 "2009-06-20T00:26:27Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > A gas giant is pretty big, but it’s still a lot smaller than a star. Dwarf star. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/58 "2009-06-20T01:13:16Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Nope. They had one more ready to go, and they were capable of manufacturing 3 nukes per month for the next few months at least. [Cite](http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/72.pdf) (pdf). I’d assume that if they put more resources into it, they could have increased that rate, so we could have nuked anyone we damn well pleased. Ignorance fought. I had read some decades ago that the already obsolete Little Boy was used on Hiroshima to get it out of the inventory, but also because it was half of what they had. I’m guessing your cited document was still classified at that time. Two or three a month. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/59 "2009-06-20T01:21:29Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Ignorance fought. I had read some decades ago that the already obsolete Little Boy was used on Hiroshima to get it out of the inventory, but also because it was half of what they had. I’m guessing your cited document was still classified at that time. > > Two or three a month. Wow. Well, yeah and no. It was a test model. But it was one they were sure would work, they still DID intend to a bomb Japan, the fracker was expensive as hell, so WHY not use it? Its not like they just bombed Japan to “get it out of the inventory”. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/60 "2009-06-20T03:24:06Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The resulting explosion might have caused irreparable damage to, or even destroyed, the Death Star. Sure the moon would have gone, too, but Tarkin would have liked to survived the Rebels’ defeat. I wonder what the range of the Death Star is. I wonder if they could take out the gas giant from far away and quickly jump into hyperspace. Taking out the planet would easily wipe out the rebels. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778.md?page=4)