With the new reactor ready to go the team need to find a powerful source of energy to bring it to capacity, and are now on their way to VY Canis Majoris, the largest known star in the galaxy.
Episode 9 Synopsis:
The ship warps into a distant orbit from the huge star VY Canis Majoris, the hugest star the crew has ever seen. SAI informs the captain that because of it's size the star in actually relatively cool and the charging will take a very long time. The captain asks SAI to scan the star while he thinks, SAI begins to relay the information as usual. Noko suggests that because of the stars extremely low density that with the new output of the reactor, it should be able to sustain the shields and allow them to actually enter the star, which would speed up the charging considerably. This starts an argument from the crew, the engineer in particular is still suspicious of his reasons for helping the human crew. The captain asks SAI if Noko's idea is possible, she responds saying that if the ship was to maintain the shields and an extremely fast orbit inside the atmosphere of the star that there is a high chance the ship will escape unharmed. Noko admits he hadn't considered escape velocity, but that the plan was now a complete certainty. The captain agrees and tells SAI to take them inside the star, the engine power up and the ship appears to begin flying past the star before diving into the surface at extremely high speed. Alarms sound due to the stress on the shields, SAI says that shields appear to be holding and that energy is charging rapidly. The captain asks the crew for suggestions for what to do to test out the new reactor now that it's at full. Noko says that the reason that he has given them this technology is that his species have known of life in another galaxy, but they are themselves unable to travel outside of this galaxy because of their method of propulsion, hence their interest in the humans who given enough energy would be able to journey there. The crew are amazed by this revelation and the opportunity to journey to another galaxy, Noko gives the coordinates to SAI, she explains that the journey itself there will take several weeks. After a moment of contemplation the captain tells SAI to take them there. The engines power up and the ship shoots out from the huge star and to it's distant destination.
Research:
VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star in the galaxy, an orange hypergiant at over 2000 times the size of our sun. If it were in the center of our solar system the star would extend out past the orbit of saturn.
It is one of the most luminous stars in existance, this is not to say that it is the brightest, rather that over all spectral wavelengths (Gamma-rays, X-rays, Ultraviolet, Visible light, Infrared, Microwaves and Radio).
One controversial issue about the star is stating it's actual size, some scientists believe that due to the extreme low density of it's outer atmosphere the actual 'surface' of the star would only be 800 times the size of our sun rather than around 2100 times. The atmosphere of the star is 0.1% as dense as the atmosphere on Earth, though still over 3000K in temperature.
VY Canis Majoris is located 4,800 lightyears away from Earth in the constellation Canis Major.
And that's the end of the series! Finally finished with these. Alright, now all I have to do is go through all of them and synopsize each one. Fun fun!
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