Detailed Map Of Battlestar Galactica's Twelve Colonies
By
ebon3,
Posted on: 2011-01-24 16:34 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
I will save this right next to my cool *** map of Hyboria!
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I can certainly accept that this is a "canon official" map and may even be a "scientifically plausible" one. But seriously, if there ever existed a region of space where there were a dozen "earth-like" planets all within 0.1 light years of each other that would be like a one-in-a-bazillion bit of good luck by any plausible measure.
We know this civilization has "FTL drive" capability already. It frankly would have been a tad bit more realistic for these 12 colonies to have been spread out across more like 9 or 10 systems separated by say at least 25 or 50 light years. While this map is pretty it's also clear they sacrificed a bit of "realism" in order to achieve a nice bit of tidy symmetry for the purposes of a TV show.
It's a great map for this awesome TV series. But let's not get -too- carried away by it. 
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does anyone have a link to the Firefly universe map so I can compare the two?
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LOL|
Originally Posted by Talia_Rayvyn
And Grazier, who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, verifies that the info in this map is "scientifically plausible."
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That quadruple star system and planets are as stable as the BG plotline.
Only a angel of the One True God could have made that system let alone keep it from tearing itself apart within a year.
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It's called Terraforming.
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Originally Posted by Lothic
I can certainly accept that this is a "canon official" map and may even be a "scientifically plausible" one. But seriously, if there ever existed a region of space where there were a dozen "earth-like" planets all within 0.1 light years of each other that would be like a one-in-a-bazillion bit of good luck by any plausible measure.
We know this civilization has "FTL drive" capability already. It frankly would have been a tad bit more realistic for these 12 colonies to have been spread out across more like 9 or 10 systems separated by say at least 25 or 50 light years. While this map is pretty it's also clear they sacrificed a bit of "realism" in order to achieve a nice bit of tidy symmetry for the purposes of a TV show. It's a great map for this awesome TV series. But let's not get -too- carried away by it. |
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Well this is the product page for the Verse map at Qm^x.|
Originally Posted by warden_de_dios
does anyone have a link to the Firefly universe map so I can compare the two?
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In that "Verse" a number of supergiant outer planets were ignited into stars so their moons became viable.
Okay found some pics, may be large, may not like direct linking.
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Actually it's called Science Fiction. |
Originally Posted by Scythus
It's called Terraforming.
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It's still incredibly unlikely that you'd have four very close star systems which started out with enough "almost good enough" planets to do that much terraforming, assuming we knew this civilization was advanced enough to do massive terrforming like that in the first place.
I realize my point here is a bit nitpicky. But I just figure they did such an awesome job with the map to begin with it's just too bad it's not 100% realistic.
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Good ole' QMx, they do come up with some great products, Its just a shame that the two things i like most on their site are so darn expensive.
The U.S.S Enterprise (StarTrek XI) and Serenity ship replicas are a couple of thousand each, you've gotta be a fan of a whole new order to even consider those.
Considering just our galaxy alone has an estimated 200-400 billion stars and there are an estimated 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe, to say that a particular system is "unlikely" still doesn't make it impossible... far from even. They are finding things all the time they used to think impossible and we really only "know-know" a very teeny tiny miniscule small amount about what's out there. So even if something is a stretch, due the the vast scale of the universe, not only could something "unlikely" or "unrealistic" happen in one place, chances are it could be in many many places.
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That's not how that works.|
Originally Posted by MentalMaden
Considering just our galaxy alone has an estimated 200-400 billion stars and there are an estimated 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe, to say that a particular system is "unlikely" still doesn't make it impossible... far from even. They are finding things all the time they used to think impossible and we really only "know-know" a very teeny tiny miniscule small amount about what's out there. So even if something is a stretch, due the the vast scale of the universe, not only could something "unlikely" or "unrealistic" happen in one place, chances are it could be in many many places.
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Sure, we get surprised by things in the natural realm quite often. But very odd things which we were surprised by are either total surprises or, they were predicted by the math, but doubted that it happened in actuality (wow, Black Holes as predicted by Relativity really do exist!). It's not the case that we envisioned a very unlikely scenario simply because it would be a neat idea and... *surprise*... it turned out exactly that way!
The very very very very very very very very very very very unlikely planetary system of BG is a particular set-up that requires 'the perfect alignment' to happen. But what makes it unlikely we'll ever find such a set up is that each element that needs to be in place is also very unlikely. And gathering together so many unlikely elements all at once is very*2^100 unlikely.
Imagine a 'story' that relied on rolling a six on a die a million times in a row. Unlikely, right? But it's possible! Do it enough times and it will happen! Right?
So, do this: Roll a die a million times to see if you roll a six every time. Even if your first roll is a one, go ahead with the million rolls. You don't get to stop in the middle if it's not going your way. The universe doesn't restart itself if the planetary system you check isn't like the one in BG. Roll it a million times. If it's not all sixes, then roll again a million times. And if that's not all sixes, roll again a million times. Keep going till you get a million sixes in a row from beginning to end.
See just how unlikely that is? Doing it billions of billions of times doesn't make it likely to happen.
Now imagine the die was loaded to favor ones. *Now* how likely are the million sixes in a row?
Besides. As constructed, that quad-star system would have gravitational tidal forces that would chew to bits anything less than giant sized planets, which, of course, couldn't support human life due to hits hypergravity.
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It still doesn't make it impossible though. That is all I'm saying. And I'd contend we don't know enough about what's out there to say definitively that it's even that unlikely.
Saying a make believe star system ruins the plausibility of a show with FTL travel (especially how they depict it) is just looking for things to complain about, in my opinion.
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The fact that you expect something from a science fiction world to be 100% realistic means you fail to grasp the meaning of fiction.|
Originally Posted by Lothic
Actually it's called Science Fiction.
It's still incredibly unlikely that you'd have four very close star systems which started out with enough "almost good enough" planets to do that much terraforming, assuming we knew this civilization was advanced enough to do massive terrforming like that in the first place. I realize my point here is a bit nitpicky. But I just figure they did such an awesome job with the map to begin with it's just too bad it's not 100% realistic. |
It's ok to accept FTL, sentient robots, etc, but it's not ok to accept that in the vast emptiness of space there's a possibility a group of planets might be out there in the fashion the BG universe says there is?
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Our solar system alone has at least two "good enough" planets to terraform; Mars and Venus. They're both within the goldilocks zone of our sun and appropriate size for habitation. True, Venus will be bit more of challenge than Mars, but all you'd really need to do is strip its atmosphere and then crash comets into it until has a new one.
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Originally Posted by Lothic
Actually it's called Science Fiction.
It's still incredibly unlikely that you'd have four very close star systems which started out with enough "almost good enough" planets to do that much terraforming, assuming we knew this civilization was advanced enough to do massive terrforming like that in the first place. |
Well, a JPL scientist did make the new BSG map, so its plausible in its mechanics. Also Remember that until 15 years ago, we never heard of planetary migration. Now we are seeing Jovian mass planets literally skimming the atmosphere of stars.
As for terraforming, even our technological level could terraform Mars. and we are still using chemical rockets to get to there. Now its would be a long process to get it to have a self sustaining ecosystem, but maybe 50 years when we get there we can get the atmosphere to heat up to close to Earth standard and have an dense atomsphere at earth's pressure. You'll need a oxygen mask for it then, and maybe some sunscreen, but we could do it. Now imagine you have the ability to make enough energy to do FTL.
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The only thing I'm complaining about is that it would have been terribly easy to come up with a set of maps that were "plausibly realistic" knowing what we actually do know about real life solar systems. The map they came up with screams "we did it just because it looked pretty". Sure it's a "possible" scenario, but the fact that it's so incredibly unlikely is jarring to anyone who knows the smallest amount about the real life universe out there. *shrugs*
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Originally Posted by MentalMaden
It still doesn't make it impossible though. That is all I'm saying. And I'd contend we don't know enough about what's out there to say definitively that it's even that unlikely.
Saying a make believe star system ruins the plausibility of a show with FTL travel (especially how they depict it) is just looking for things to complain about, in my opinion. |
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Originally Posted by White Hot Flash
The fact that you expect something from a science fiction world to be 100% realistic means you fail to grasp the meaning of fiction.
It's ok to accept FTL, sentient robots, etc, but it's not ok to accept that in the vast emptiness of space there's a possibility a group of planets might be out there in the fashion the BG universe says there is? You must be a hoot at parties. |
Again I'm not saying that what they came up with isn't "possible". But anyone will tell you that some of the best science fiction out there is considered the "best" because the science involved in those stories is just about as totaly NON-FICTIONAL as possible.
There was basically no reason they couldn't have come up with a "fictional" setup for these systems that didn't follow the best REAL WORLD information we have. What makes it especially jarring is that they didn't just randomly come up with an unlikely scenario - they seemed to go out of their way to come up with something that was so completely unlikely in nature that they purposefully went out of their way to make something silly.
I simply find it unfortunate that they messed up something so basic when otherwise it was a very cool effort. *shrugs*
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I'd rather let my mind accept a BSG civilization based on real world knowledge of typical solar systems and the level of assumed technology they had to work with. Sure they produced fleets of FTL capable Battlestars. But nothing we've seen suggests they had the level of stellar engineering capable of moving multiple planets and stars around into a symmetry so perfect it'd be beyond even the gods of Kobol themselves to arrange. |
Originally Posted by Icerose
Let your mind imagine these worlds or other worlds, let the writer write and fill thier worlds, and let us all be one in harmony.
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Originally Posted by Lothic
The only thing I'm complaining about is that it would have been terribly easy to come up with a set of maps that were "plausibly realistic" knowing what we actually do know about real life solar systems. The map they came up with screams "we did it just because it looked pretty". Sure it's a "possible" scenario, but the fact that it's so incredibly unlikely is jarring to anyone who knows the smallest amount about the real life universe out there. *shrugs*
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Originally Posted by Lothic
Actually I am a "hoot" at parties.
Again I'm not saying that what they came up with isn't "possible". But anyone will tell you that some of the best science fiction out there is considered the "best" because the science involved in those stories is just about as totaly NON-FICTIONAL as possible. There was basically no reason they couldn't have come up with a "fictional" setup for these systems that didn't follow the best REAL WORLD information we have. What makes it especially jarring is that they didn't just randomly come up with an unlikely scenario - they seemed to go out of their way to come up with something that was so completely unlikely in nature that they purposefully went out of their way to make something silly. I simply find it unfortunate that they messed up something so basic when otherwise it was a very cool effort. *shrugs* |
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Originally Posted by Lothic
I'd rather let my mind accept a BSG civilization based on real world knowledge of typical solar systems and the level of assumed technology they had to work with. Sure they produced fleets of FTL capable Battlestars. But nothing we've seen suggests they had the level of stellar engineering capable of moving multiple planets and stars around into a symmetry so perfect it'd be beyond even the gods of Kobol themselves to arrange.
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We were talking about terraforming. Y'know, taking one suitable, rocky world and turning it into something as verdant as Earth is right now. Considering that they're called the "12 Colonies of Mankind," I'd say more than half of those worlds at least were terraformed if not all.
Seriously, if a civilization has mastered FTL travel and self-aware AI, it's more than capable of terraforming a planet. Terraforming a planet is actually a lot easier than building a sentient machine or a hyperspace engine. All you need to do is melt polar ice caps and manipulate the gases in its atmosphere and grow plant life. This is surmountably easier to achieve than the magical coding that'll make a robot self-aware or the infinite mass material you'd need to travel faster than light.
Are you trying to say planets are rare or something? Last I checked, our astronomers have discovered over 500 exoplanets within 300 lightyears of Earth so far and we're getting better and better at detecting them as we go on. We've finally been able to spot rocky Earth-size worlds in the last couple of years, so there's clearly no shortage of those types of planets.
What the hell is so "wrong" about the BSG maps? Is it the stars themselves? Last I checked as well, there's plenty of G-class and K-class stars in the universe. You're just frankly not making any sense at all.
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Well, that and bio-engineering an entire ecosystem. Not to mention the sheer energy requirements.
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Originally Posted by Scythus
Seriously, if a civilization has mastered FTL travel and self-aware AI, it's more than capable of terraforming a planet. Terraforming a planet is actually a lot easier than building a sentient machine or a hyperspace engine. All you need to do is melt polar ice caps and manipulate the gases in its atmosphere and grow plant life. This is surmountably easier to achieve than the magical coding that'll make a robot self-aware or the infinite mass material you'd need to travel faster than light. |
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Which will again pale in comparison to the aforementioned energy requirement to travel faster than light. Seriously, terraforming is Type I Civilization stuff. FTL travel? That can only be attempted by Type II and Type III.
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Originally Posted by Smersh
Well, that and bio-engineering an entire ecosystem. Not to mention the sheer energy requirements.
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In a more 'realistic' SF universe, perhaps. But FTL seems pretty trivial in the BG universe- even the little combat shuttles can do it, and those things seem to run on fuel that isn't that much better than Jet-A.
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Originally Posted by Scythus
Which will again pale in comparison to the aforementioned energy requirement to travel faster than light. Seriously, terraforming is Type I Civilization stuff. FTL travel? That can only be attempted by Type II and Type III.
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Well then, terraforming should only require a Genesis missile in that case in the BSG universe.
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http://io9.com/5742034/
Here's your exclusive first look at a new star-map of Battlestar Galactica's Twelve Colonies, designed by writer Jane Espenson and science advisor Kevin Grazier. And Espenson and Grazier explained to us how twelve colonies can fit in one star system.
Not only is this map a thing of great beauty, but it's totally official — Grazier was science advisor for Battlestar Galactica from the very beginning, and helped to define a lot of the show's concepts. And Espenson, as the original showrunner for the prequel series Caprica, had to do a lot of thinking about exactly how the Twelve Colonies were laid out. This info comes straight from the creators — and from the showrunner's bible for BSG and Caprica. And Grazier, who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, verifies that the info in this map is "scientifically plausible."
I would've preferred a detailed map of Edward James Olmos' face.