The Empath's Solar Flare Banished the Enterprise

[ZapBrannigan]

In "The Empath," Scotty has to take the ship out to a safe distance because of a solar flare with bad cosmic rays. But was that really necessary?

If I were Scotty, I would put the Enterprise on the planet's dark side, in the planet's shadow if you will. No more cosmic rays. Then I would send a shuttlecraft around to the landing party on the day side. The planet's atmosphere is protecting the landing party, and it would also protect the shuttlecraft which scoots down into the atmosphere. Bam. Problem solved.

You could do this and not lose the plot of the episode, because the shuttle pilots can't find the heroes right away.

 

[Timo]

The episode is quite unclear on whether the upcoming kaboom is a carefully predicted event, or whether the ship has been hastily summoned to extract the observation team because things are developing unpredictably.

If the latter, it's quite possible that a cataclysm far more devastating than the flare is imminent. "The atmosphere will protect us" thus may well be Kirkspeak for "Hanging around is not a good idea if this thing blows, and will certainly not help us any, so please leave and let us die if that's how the script's been written", that is, a blatant lie Scotty immediately will see through.

Scotty no doubt would remain in the shadow of the planet, at the stated "minimum safety-guaranteeing distance", but chiefly in order to keep the ship running rather than coughing and wheezing from radiation interference, thus guaranteeing quick getaway in case of the big kaboom. If the kaboom happens, there's no saving Kirk (unless that observation post is really far away from the star). If it doesn't, it's immaterial whether Kirk and the observation team he went looking for get rescued during the flare time or after it.

Of course, the episode is unclear on a great many things, and a true gem for Trek apologists, headcanonists and those enjoying speculation in general...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Shawnster]

Or, you know, shields.

 

[Tenacity]

More likely the planet's magnetic field (and not the planet's atmosphere) would protect the planet from radiation from the local sun. And if so, then placing the Enteprise in a orbit close enough to be in the magnetic field would have protected the ship.

Also, cosmic rays don't come from the sun, they come from interstellar space.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Eh, Kirk told him to leave orbit. So he left orbit. "Who told you to think? I don't give you enough information to think!" - oh sorry, not a Kirk tirade.

 

[Timo]

Shields are unlikely to help any here - they have never been much good against surges of truly intense radiation, or prolonged exposure, or anything.

Natural magnetic fields, likewise - we're talking about a star about to go supernova here, so we can safely accept it's going to get nasty. And surely a starship ought to be able to produce a field much, much more intense than a puny little planet?

But speaking of planets... ENT "Catwalk" has the crew take refuge inside their ship when a devastating mystery wave is about to hit, even though there's a planet right next to them - and it's not a dead one, nor is Earth or Vulcan dead, despite these mystery waves supposedly being common enough. So, what to believe? That the heroes have it right in thinking planets are no good for protection, against rather obvious evidence? Or that they have it wrong because the more advanced Vulcans have also tried to survive in their better ships and have failed?

Nobody has tried to survive a supernova explosion, though. And UFP/Starfleet thinks it worth the while to study those, even though the physics are fairly well understood and accurate forecasts are indeed possible ("All Our Yesterdays", say, or the Burnhams actually tapping into a supernova they feel they have down pat). So it's probably a balance of known threats and unknown risks that will leave even a mighty starship in mortal danger no matter what era. Planetary shadows may help with flares, but not with Trek supernovas that easily pulverize planets.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mytran]

The situation described in the OP is something I've really come to appreciate about Season Three: that space itself is full of natural threats that Starfleet with all its technological skill is unable to defend against

 

[Henoch]

In "The Empath," Scotty has to take the ship out to a safe distance because of a solar flare with bad cosmic rays. But was that really necessary?

If I were Scotty, I would put the Enterprise on the planet's dark side, in the planet's shadow if you will. No more cosmic rays. Then I would send a shuttlecraft around to the landing party on the day side. The planet's atmosphere is protecting the landing party, and it would also protect the shuttlecraft which scoots down into the atmosphere. Bam. Problem solved.

You could do this and not lose the plot of the episode, because the shuttle pilots can't find the heroes right away.

More likely the planet's magnetic field (and not the planet's atmosphere) would protect the planet from radiation from the local sun. And if so, then placing the Enteprise in a orbit close enough to be in the magnetic field would have protected the ship.

Also, cosmic rays don't come from the sun, they come from interstellar space.

Close. Cosmic rays don't come from solar flares. Cosmic rays can be generated by a supernova explosion, so, they can come from a very big suns, but only ones undergoing a supernova. It would have been okay to say that the Enterprise would have to vacate the zone due to extreme radioactivity and solar wind turbulence. Even call it a high magnitude solar storm to sound dangerous.

As for monster solar flares effects on Earth, the 1859 event ignited the northern lights as far south as Cuba. Currents electrified telegraph lines, shocked technicians, set telegraph papers on fire, and caused widespread communications outages. If one such storm hit Earth today, it would melt the power grid and put most of the Earth into a dark age (no electricity) for years.

 

[johnnybear]

If anyone has any questions on Cosmic Rays then I suggest you ask the Fantastic Four!
JB