# Planet destroying weapons **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930 "2013-04-17T12:11:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/41 "2013-04-18T07:49:16Z")
The Chironian Spheres in _The Shattered Sphere_ destroy planets by using them as near light speed projectiles against attacking neutronium-based life forms. And even that only _sometimes_ kills the things. The gravity control technology of the setting can rip a planet apart for raw materials, or squeeze one down into a black hole. In the Belisarius series, a Great One is described as being able to destroy a planet by ramming into it fast enough (97% or so of light speed). And at the end one does so to a large moon, leaving an expanding cloud of vapor and fragments. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/42 "2013-04-18T15:13:08Z")
Anyone remember if there are any planet-killers in Olaf Stapledon’s _Star Maker_? I remember that at some point it turns out that some or all stars are actually sentient and capable of burning the hell out of any planet orbiting them by shooting enormous frigging jets of plasma at them. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/43 "2013-04-18T16:34:48Z")
The old computer game _Terminal Velocity_ had a cool one: It was called the Moon Dagger, and was basically a huge missle. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/44 "2013-04-18T18:03:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Note, folks, that many examples cited don’t actually destroy the planet, they just kill all life, or all humans. Well I was going to bring up MegaMaid from **Spaceballs** , but I decided to draw the line there. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/45 "2013-04-18T18:09:56Z")
Suck! Suck! Suck! ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/46 "2013-04-18T19:05:32Z")
In one of Jack Williamson’s Legion of Space novels he reveals “AKKA” which simply makes things “go away”. They use it against an enemy fleet and take out the Moon as collateral damage. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Jack McDevitt’s “Academy Series” novels feature planet-killers (well, they kill all life); one of the many subplots involves discovering what they are and where they come from. Yeah, and that particular reveal should go on the list of “things that were better left as mysteries”. Didn’t like the way he ended that series. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/47 "2013-04-18T19:35:25Z")
In his tenure as the writer of _Astonishing X-Men_, Joss Whedon gave The BreakWorld a planet-killer in the form of a giant bullet, shielded from magical counter-measures and capable of plowing through a Sentinal like it was tissue paper. It was “stopped” by Shadowcat “phasing” it as it passed through the planet. ---
**Author:** ![PacifistPorcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/48 "2013-04-18T20:09:53Z")
The D.O.D. (Donut of Destruction). Didn’t work but that may have been out of incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930/49 "2013-04-18T20:24:43Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Anyone remember if there are any planet-killers in Olaf Stapledon’s _Star Maker_? I remember that at some point it turns out that some or all stars are actually sentient and capable of burning the hell out of any planet orbiting them by shooting enormous frigging jets of plasma at them. [QUOTE=Star Maker] A sphere of incandescent material, expanding from the sun with incredible speed, swallowed up and destroyed every girdle of planets. The star then subsided. [/QUOTE] From Chapter 11: _Stars and Vermin, Disaster In Our Galaxy._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-destroying-weapons/655930.md?page=2)