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The supernova that destroyed Romulus

On the assumption that the supernova in 2387 originated outside the Romulan star system, is it at all possible that a star exploding in one system could be dangerous to the inhabitants of a nearby system? I think the supernova must have happened fairly close to the Romulan system for the shockwave to have reached it so quickly.

Gamma Ray Burst

Problem is speed aka lightyears. The Romulans would of had ages to get away if it was a star outside there system but the film makes you believe it was there own star. I stilll prefer the subspace thing that I posted a while back.
 
On the assumption that the supernova in 2387 originated outside the Romulan star system, is it at all possible that a star exploding in one system could be dangerous to the inhabitants of a nearby system? I think the supernova must have happened fairly close to the Romulan system for the shockwave to have reached it so quickly.

Gamma Ray Burst
Gamma ray bursts, while deadly to nearby star systems, don't shatter planets.
 
On the assumption that the supernova in 2387 originated outside the Romulan star system, is it at all possible that a star exploding in one system could be dangerous to the inhabitants of a nearby system? I think the supernova must have happened fairly close to the Romulan system for the shockwave to have reached it so quickly.

Gamma Ray Burst
Gamma ray bursts, while deadly to nearby star systems, don't shatter planets.

They just toast the planets like nice marshmallows over a nice camp fire!
 
On the assumption that the supernova in 2387 originated outside the Romulan star system, is it at all possible that a star exploding in one system could be dangerous to the inhabitants of a nearby system? I think the supernova must have happened fairly close to the Romulan system for the shockwave to have reached it so quickly.

Gamma Ray Burst
Gamma ray bursts, while deadly to nearby star systems, don't shatter planets.

They don't shatter planets, but they turn Romulans into Incredible Hulks.

Uh oh...
 
^ It would depend on how long the burst was, and if the planet had time to complete a full rotation while still in the beam.
 
Gamma ray bursts, while deadly to nearby star systems, don't shatter planets.
They don't shatter planets, but they turn Romulans into Incredible Hulks.

Uh oh...
Well, they are already kinda greenish, so... :lol:

^ It would depend on how long the burst was, and if the planet had time to complete a full rotation while still in the beam.
Gamma Ray Burst are usually very short, around a few seconds.
 
Remind me again, why should we suppose the supernova happened outside the Romulan home system? (Apart from the comic books, that is.)

It'd seem perfectly plausible for the Romulan home star to have gone kaboom, if only movie dialogue is considered, right?

Timo Saloniemi
 
Yes but if Romulus were doomed from natural causes, it seems a bit churlish to blame one man for not stopping it.
 
Remind me again, why should we suppose the supernova happened outside the Romulan home system? (Apart from the comic books, that is.)

Becuase turning Romulus's sun into a blackhole wouldn't save the planet (What Spock was trying to do), it would destroy the planet (Which Spock was trying to prevent).
 
Remind me again, why should we suppose the supernova happened outside the Romulan home system? (Apart from the comic books, that is.)

It'd seem perfectly plausible for the Romulan home star to have gone kaboom, if only movie dialogue is considered, right?
Yes, you are right. I tend to accept the comic book in the continuity because it was written by the same staff of the movie, but technically speaking you are right.

Remind me again, why should we suppose the supernova happened outside the Romulan home system? (Apart from the comic books, that is.)
Becuase turning Romulus's sun into a blackhole wouldn't save the planet (What Spock was trying to do), it would destroy the planet (Which Spock was trying to prevent).
Not necessarily. If you somehow collapse our sun in a black hole with same mass, it will not have any effect on our planet's orbit or integrity. We will not feel any change. Obviously, laking the sun illumination the biosphere will be frozen in a matter of hours, but the planet would not be harmed.
 
It's been stated in episodes of TNG that Romulans use artificial singularities all the time to power the engines of their ships!

Unless they build really BIG artificial singularities, they probably aren't stable enough to grow into proper black holes...

Anyway, was the red matter intended to turn the star into a black hole? Or was it intended to stop the star from going kaboom? Outside the comic world, I mean. Did the movie make a mention of what was supposed to happen?

Timo Saloniemi
 
This part of the film was very poorly explained (along with why a mining platform would look like a giant spidery monstrosity) and the only really cringeworthy moment for me.

My interpretation of the "red matter treatment" of the star was that it was supposed to remove the star to prevent the supernova, but he got there too late. How his ship could escape without sufficient time to evacuate Romulus is a complete mystery to me. It's the biggest plot hole in the film and given too cursory an explanation. I'd have preferred "random wacky Romulan angry at Spock over Reunification" than this goofy "supernova destroys Romulus" thing...
 
My interpretation of the "red matter treatment" of the star was that it was supposed to remove the star to prevent the supernova, but he got there too late. How his ship could escape without sufficient time to evacuate Romulus is a complete mystery to me.
Again from the comics, but the word is that he could not. It was a one-way ticket and he knew it.
 
Gamma Ray Burst are usually very short, around a few seconds.
Sure, but this was supposed to be a very strange supernova. Hell, maybe the supernova fired a gamma ray burst through the Romulan sun, and that in turn created a solar flare or made that star go nova, which in turn destroyed Romulus.

Not necessarily. If you somehow collapse our sun in a black hole with same mass, it will not have any effect on our planet's orbit or integrity. We will not feel any change. Obviously, laking the sun illumination the biosphere will be frozen in a matter of hours, but the planet would not be harmed.
Well, making the sun go dark, even if the planet doesn't get sucked into the black hole, will make Romulus a pretty unappealing piece of real-estate.
 
Gamma Ray Burst are usually very short, around a few seconds.
Sure, but this was supposed to be a very strange supernova. Hell, maybe the supernova fired a gamma ray burst through the Romulan sun, and that in turn created a solar flare or made that star go nova, which in turn destroyed Romulus.
You know, that is a very interesting thought. Even given some subspatial mumbo-jumbo for the Hobus star to accommodate for the time-scale of the explosion, the idea that the actual shockwave from the supernova would destroy entire planets in different star systems and threaten the whole galaxy stretch credibility almost to the point of scientific ridicule.

On the other hand, we can imagine the Hobus explosion releasing (for whatever reason) a "subspace blast", which would turn every star it eventually reaches into a nova. This way, we can salvage the peculiarity of the Hobus star, the time-scale of the phenomenon, the fact that it is a threat to the entire galaxy, and the actual destruction of the planet Romulus.

Too bad nothing of this is supported in the movie or the comic, of course. :lol:
 
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