Celestia Forums

Hi All,
I was just watching "Pitch Black"- Vin Diesel movie, and was trying to get an idea of how the planetary system looked. Seemingly the film is based on Asimovs "Nightfall", probably familiar to many here.
There have been different configurations, but the original had a planet continuously lit, all over the surface, by a multiple star system, but with a total eclipse cycle with a period of about 2000 years, at which point an unexpected multitude of stars was revealed, to the surprise and consternation of the populace, who tended to panic and cause the collapse of their civilisation. Couldn't happen here, of course, we are all too sensible, I wonder if many would actually stir from their tvs to have a look outside
Anyway, has anyone modeled a system like this for Celestia?
There is an orrery type thing in "Pitch Black" which shows a three star system, with a 22 year cycle , also there is a planet with contra -rotating rings -not possible?
Any thoughts?
Cheers folks,
Jim

I would stick my neck out and say that none of the astronomy in Pitch Black is feasible.
And as much as it pains me to say it, the astronomy in Nightfall is almost certainly impossible too.

The planet with the weird rings isn't possible. I also noticed that the sun was dimming in the movie waaaaay before it got anywhere near the limb of the gas giant it was being eclipsed by .

Not that this detracts from the film though - it's a great ride, and the sequel (Chronicles of Riddick) is IMO one of the best scifi films ever in terms of the depth of the background. And that too is as heck of a ride.


I actually read Nightfall for the first time a couple of weeks ago, it's a very fun read. I think people would actually go a bit nuts if they weren't used to the concept of natural darkness (though quite how the people in the story survived closing their eyes and going to sleep is beyond me ).

"one of the best scifi films ever"

Two words..... Dark Star

"Let there be light!"


LOL!

Two words -"Fiat Lux"- the first words -anywhere- ever, apparently

"Fiat Lux" is the Latin translation from the Greek translation gen?“th?“t?

Hmmm. So God (or Yahweh as He styled Himself back then) commanded there to be Light in Hebrew. Presumably He was talking to Himself, in which case it may not have been in verbal form, for example when I fancy a beer, or a cracker with cheese I often just get a sort of image (try thinking just the words "cracker and cheese" without getting a picture..see what I mean) rather than the words. Another possibility is that there is someone else in charge of actually letting off Big Bangs, possibly in the meta Universe or the like, and He was telling them, but what would be the chances of them speaking Hebrew too?

Genesis 1:26 answered that question for me.