New Episode 4: Where Are We?

Another compressed episode for your viewing pleasure! Also gives me chance to reread and add bits and amend some continuity issues in the story.

New:

After a much longer than usual jump through space the crew are clearly nervous and confused about where they are. Seeing this SAI explains that her orders were a little vague but she has followed them as best she could, and brought them to a neutron star 424 lightyears from Earth. As SAI begins to scan the star it appears on the monitors, she explains that despite only being 20km in diameter the star is extremely hot and produces enormous energy. The captain asks her to move in to gather energy, having used all of the energy to reach this distant star. SAI refuses because the powerful waves of radiation and beams from the poles make it far too dangerous to approach. Unable to gather energy from the star from this distance the ship is stranded a very long way from home.

Old:

After a much longer than usual jump through space the crew have found themselves a long way from home. The crew are clearly nervous about this and the captain asks SAI where they are. SAI responds "The orders given to me were a little vague sir, I have brought you to the nearest, smallest and most powerful star I could find", she has brought them to a neutron star 424 lightyears from Earth. On the monitor is a very distant and very small star, the crew don't really know what to make of it, seeing this SAI explains what the object they are looking at is a very rare and powerful star despite only being about 20km in diameter. The crew want to move closer but SAI informs them that moving closer is too dangerous. Readings are taken, showing that the star has a surface temperature of over 10million K and spewing out radio and x-rays from its rapidly rotating magnetic poles. The captain makes the decision to leave while they can, but the ship has used most of it's fuel getting here, unable to get close enough to the neutron star to gather energy they are stranded a very long way from home.

New Episode 3: Are You Sirius

New title for the episode, I couldn't resist!

Ok so I decided on a 13 line limit for my synopsies... Not so tough for now, but might get more difficult for some of the beefier episodes... I may up the limit if I feel it's really needed for some, but as a guideline I'm going to aim for 13... The aim was 10 lines, which I achieved but converting to Courier made it 13, still acceptable in my opinion.

New:

The ship arrives at Sirius, a bright blue star double the size of our sun. SAI begins to scan the star as the crew stare in amazement. As they orbit another much smaller white star slowly begins to appear over the horizon of Sirius. After gathering energy from and scanning Sirius the ship moves on to the smaller star, which the crew underestimate because of it's size. SAI informs them that it was originally more than double the size of the larger Sirius and despite it's small size the surface temperature is more than triple than that of Sirius. Amazed by the news that small stars can be so powerful the crew excitedly begin to shout direction at SAI to fly to another small powerful star, SAI looks to the captain for confirmation as the engines power up. The captain replies with a nod and the ship shoots off to it's next destination.

Old: 

The ship arrives at Sirius, 8 lightyears away from Earth the star appears blue rather than orange and is double the size of our Sun. The crew, initially amazed by the bright blue glow begin to scan the star as they orbit around it. Slowly another much smaller white star, about the size of Earth comes into view around the horizon of the large Sirius. After gathering data and energy from the large star the ship moves to look at the second smaller star, which most of the crew underestimate. After scanning has begun SAI informs the crew that the star was previously more than double the size of Sirius and because of this burned out much faster, and despite it's size the surface temperature of the small star is actually almost triple that of the larger star. All of the crew apart from the captain are surprised that such a small star could still output so much energy and heat, the crew excited by this start to shout at SAI orders to move to the nearest white dwarf star to them, SAI looks around to the captain and says "Sir?" as the engines begin to ready, to which he nods and the ship shoots off to it's next destination.

New new episode 2: Alpha Centauri

With for the sake of compressing the episodes down to be more concise I altered episode 2 again, slightly. Though I'd better upload it for the sake of continuity in my development work.

New:

With their first mission behind them the crew set off towards the nearest star - Alpha Centauri; a solar system of 2 stars, 5 lightyears away! Relieved that the ship's prototype engines worked as expected the crew's celebrations are cut when the ship's systems detect a 3rd star not visible from Earth that is actually closer to us - Proxima Centauri, which they scan before moving on to their original destination. While gathering enery from the 2 stars the crew receive another mysterious broken transmission, after analysing the signal they find out that it is an alien message over 3000 years old, but with no leads on the origin of the signal there is no choice but to continue to the next mission, the supermassive star Sirius.

Old:

With their first mission behind them the crew set off towards the nearest star - Alpha Centauri; a solar system of 2 stars, 5 lightyears away! Relieved that the ship's prototype engines worked as expected the crew's celebrations are cut when the ship's systems detect a 3rd star not visible from Earth that is actually closer to us - Proxima Centauri, which they scan before moving on to their original destination. While gathering enery from the 2 stars the crew receive another mysterious broken transmission, after analysing the signal they find out that it is an alien message over 3000 years old, but there is no indication of where the signal came from. With no leads on the origin of the signal the crew have no choice but to continue to the next mission as planned, to the supermassive star Sirius.

Episode 9: The Final Frontier

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:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris

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!

Episode 8: Zirconium!

Ok if you read the last episode you'll know what's going on next, if not here's a summary... In order to finish his upgrades on the ship Noko requires a material known as Zirconium, and quite a lot of it! SAI has informed the crew of a recently discovered star, with unusually high levels of Zirconium, so we are now on the way there to harvest some... You'll find out how very soon!

Episode 8 Synopsis:

The ship warps into orbit around the small cloudy blue star, the clouds shimmer because of the high levels of metals. The captain is curious about how exactly Noko intends to gather the zirconium he needs from the star. Noko explains that he is reconfiguring the replicators to transport the zirconium atoms out of the atmosphere and into the reactor room. As he leaves for the reactor bay he says that he should not be disturbed. The engineer voices his concerns for allowing him to make unsupervised changes, and that he could be doing anything, the captain says that he trusts him. Shortly after the lights dim and SAI says that the reactor has been stopped and the ship is now running on stored power. The captain assures everyone that they shouldn't worry and asks SAI to scan the star, she begins to relay the information as usual to the captain, but they are interrupted by the engineer who again voices his concerns about Noko and storms out of the bridge. The captain follows him down to the reactor room, the engineer starts to bang on the locked reactor room door, demanding he be let in, ignoring the orders of the captain to calm down. The lights now brighten and SAI appears and informs them that power has returned, and energy output of the reactor has increased dramatically. The door reactor room door unlocks and Noko emerges, apologizing for the panic. He explains that the reactor itself is now capable of not only generating energy but storing enormous amounts of it, like a miniature star and that they should find a bright star to charge it. The captain obliges and asks SAI for any powerful stars nearby. SAI suggests various supergiant stars, the largest of which the captain picks. The ship's engines power up and the ship shoots off to it's next destination: VY Canis Majoris, the largest star in the galaxy.

Research:

Ain't it perty?

http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/157-news2010/1898-a-sparkling-zirconium-star

http://star.arm.ac.uk/press/2010/Zirconium.html

What a stroke of look this little gem was! Here I am looking for a material for Noko's upgrades and I stumble upon a star with billions of tonnes of zirconium in it's atmosphere, and zirconium happens to be the element used to line nuclear fuel rods. So it even sort of makes sense that Noko might need the stuff! Very very happy!

This beautiful little ball is called LS IV - 14 116, it is a blue sub-dwarf meaning that it's really quite tiny... For a star at least.

What's unusual about this star is it's layer of 'clouds', which contains high amounts of metals, including an estimated 4 billion tonnes of Zirconium, 4,000 times the amount annually produced on Earth. This layer surrounds the entire star, which makes the surface impossible to see.

Episode 7: Déjà vu

Déjà vu

With the newly doubled energy capacity of the ship the captain has asked SAI to take the ship o the farthest safe star they can travel to, a necessary specification after the trouble with the neutron star. The next destination is the distant star Deneb.

Episode 7 Synopsis:

With the ship at it's new double energy maximum the captain has asked SAI to take the ship as far as safely possible. SAI has chosen the distant star Deneb, and after a much longer than usual flight the ship reaches it's destination. The star appears very similar to Rigel and the crew wonder why they are back there. SAI explains that they have actually traveled almost 2000 light years and they are now orbiting the blue supergiant Deneb, and that again the energy reserves are quickly on their way to maximum capacity again. The captain tells her to find all blue stars and note their locations, and to inform him when they need to recharge the ship. Noko enters the bridge saying that in order to complete his upgrades on the ship, he needs a material called Zirconium in order to reinforce the reactor, much more of it than the replicators are able to supply. SAI suggests that there is a recently discovered Zirconium star within safe traveling distance, Noko says that if the ship can get close enough he has a way of retrieving the substance, and assures the captain that the upgrade will be well worth the time. The captain agrees, the engines start up and they blast off to the Zirconium star.

Research:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deneb

Deneb is the birghtest star in the Cygnus contellation, hence it's designation Alpha Cig.

 

Deneb is a blue - white supergiant even larger than Rigel. The star has 20 times the mass of the sun and is an enormous 108x larger! One of the largest known blue supergiants. The surface temperature is thought to be approx 8,400K and it's located 1,550 lightyears away from the sun with 60,000x it's luminosity. Deneb is so large that if it were our sun the orbit of earth would be inside it.

Deneb is actually brighter and larger than Rigel, though it is more than twice the distance away so appears considerably dimmer on Earth. Due to it's size the star is burning though it's fuel at a extremely accelerated rate and is expected to die in a supernova in only a few million years. It is thought the Deneb is still expanding ad will eventually become a red supergiant.

The name Deneb is derived from the Arabic "Dhanab ad-Dajāja" meaning "tail of the hen".

Believe it or not, the 'zirconium star' is actually something that has been quite recently discovered (2008... But I only just read about it) and found it s interesting that I had to involve it somehow! If you simply can't wait to read about it check it out here: http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/157-news2010/1898-a-sparkling-zirconium-star... Amazing stuff!

Episode 6: Where To Next?

Now the previous episode was less about gathering data than the episodes prior but I think it would make for good watching, we have a new crew member - Noko, an alien who has just been introduced to the crew at the end of the last episode and the ship is still orbiting around the blue supergiant Rigel, which we will get the facts about in this episode.

Episode 6 Synopsis:

Noko is stood beside the captain on the bridge, in front of the rest of the crew with his arm outstretched to greet them. He notices the crew's caution and assures them he means them no harm, and slowly they each shake his hand. With the formal introduction out of the way the captain asks SAI about Rigel, which they are currently orbiting. SAI explains that the star is a blue supergiant, one of the most powerful stars in the galaxy, which has fully charged the ship extremely quickly, which Noko mentions is the reason they were transported here, while on the topic he also informs the captain that he is capable of making several upgrades to the ship that will increase the amount of energy it can store considerably. Surprised but eager to avoid any situations like at the neutron star the captain gives permission, but instructs the ship engineer to oversee the upgrades. Noko agrees and he and the engineer leave the bridge. SAI informs the captain that there are 2 more stars in the system relatively close and after the captains confirmation the ship makes the quick jump there, SAI positions the ship right in the center of their mutual orbit, and the 2 blue stars are clearly visible on either side of the ship and SAI relays the results of her scans to the captain. The engineer hails the bridge and excitedly explains that Noko has already doubled the energy capacity of the ship with a simple reprogramming. SAI confirms this, and also states that the 2 stars have already charged the ship to the new capacity. "Excellent" replies the captain, "let's test out this new technology shall we? SAI, take us to the farthest safe star for energy gathering". The engines power up and the ship blasts off from between the 2 stars.

Research:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_supergiant 

Rigel is the bright star in the center of the screen, it is the 'left foot' of the constellation Orion (as Orion is facing towards us).

Rigel is the brightest star in the Orion constellation, brighter even than Betelgeuse (usually). Rigel is a blue supergiant 17 times the size of our sun, and an astonishing 60,000 times the luminosity! It is the most powerful star in the 'local' region of our Milky Way Galaxy. The closest more powerful star is Naos, which is 1100 lightyears away.

Blue supergiants are some of the most powerful stars in the universe, as large stars tend to be cooler and dimmer. Blue supergiants have surface temperatures up to 50,000K, they are usually considerably smaller than red supergiants.

Rigel is so bright that at 1AU any object would be immediately vapourized and destroyed by stellar winds.

The name 'Rigel' is a contraction of the Arabic "Riǧl Ǧawza al-Yusra" meaning "left foot of the central one".

Rigel is actually almost 250 parsecs away (almost 800 lightyears), and is the 6th brightest star in the night sky. 

Rigel is confirmed to be part of a 3 star binary system though Rigel B and C are infact over 2200 AU away from Rigel A, they do not orbit around Rigel, rather they are linked gravitationally and move through space together. Rigel B and C orbit around each other at a distance of 28 AU (an AU is the distance between the sun and the Earth), slightly less than than the orbit of Neptune around our sun. They orbit extremely quickly, at only 25 days, compared to the 164 years that Neptune orbits the sun.

Rigel B and C are both larger than our sun, at 2.5x and 1.9x the size of our sun respectively. They are both class B stars, making them blue to white in colour and therefor very hot and very bright. Though the proximity to Sirius, which is over 500x brighter makes them difficult to observe.

Story notes:

Although Noko can upgrade the ship, it will take time, though his initial upgrade was quick it will be a while until the ship is fully upgraded. Eventually he will turn the reactor into a miniature star, capable of absorbing almost infinite energy. This is the power source that his race use for almost all of their technology.