This trivia is entirely based on the facts as presented by the Star Wars universe and in places a bit of extra analysis. It is purely fiction and as such might sound a bit made up.
Note: To help make sense of the amounts of energy used I've helpfully added in equivalent Twinkie sizes. That is, the energy in Joules can be converted to the an equivalent energy in calories which can be scaled to an equivalent size of Twinkie. We don't have Twinkies in the UK, this probably doesn't help that much.
DS-1 Orbital Battlestation (Death Star I) and Death Star II
The second Death Star around Endor Full Size
Both the first Death Star I and the second Death Star II where improbably large structures, intended with the sole purpose of destroying all that opposed the Empire. Able to destroy fleets of ships and indeed entire planets. Both battlestations had the capability to move both within system, and via hyperspace to other star systems.
- Radius: 60km, 80km
- Crew: ~ 1.5 million, ~ 2.4 million
- Propulsion: In system Ion drives, Hyperdrives to travel between systems
Power source
In both Death Stars a Hyper Matter Annihilator reactor is used, though much larger in the second.
Hypermatter is matter that exists in hyperspace, and when constrained in real space, and accelerated to the speed of light it gives off immense amounts of energy. Combined with massive amounts of reactant fuel to generate the power required to power the Death Star. The energy generated by the power source is comparable to the output of a main sequence star.
A main sequence star like our own outputs 3 x 10t26 J per second = Twinkie ~800km in length, from Land's End in Cornwall to Newcastle in the midlands.
Schematic of the internal components of the Death Star Full Size
Super Laser
In both Death Stars, the super laser is the main feature of the station. Large amounts of the internal space are dedicated to the support machinery required to power and operate the weapon.
The laser focusing crystals are known as Kyber Crystals. These are the very same crystals used as the focusing crystals in light sabres, however those are tiny compared to the ones used in the Death Star. Finding and transporting them without some pesky Jedi blowing them up proved to be an arduous task for the Empire.
The firing of the super laser appeared to be dependent on its energy output. For example destroying a planet required a 24 hour charge period. Destroying a starship only required a 3 minute charge.
The second Death Star was designed by the same designer as the first Death Star, albeit a clone.
"A second, more powerful battle station designed by the same engineer who was killed by Darth Sidious for the first station's weak spot, and then cloned to make the second station better and without the fatal flaw of the first."
Energy Required to Destroy Alderaan
Needless to say, there are those in the scientific community which wondered the same question. One paper takes us through the equations and energy outputs required to destroy an Earth sized planet.
The basis of the paper covers the Gravitational Binding equation. That is, the energy required to take apart a planet, piece by piece sending each piece away from the planet until there is nothing left.
For a planet the size of Earth (and Aldaraan) this is 2.25 ⨉ 10t32 Joules = A Twinkie ~ 80,000km in length, twice the circumference of Earth.
The key finding of the paper states that because the power source of the Death Star outputs so much power, destroying a planet the size of Aldaraan is entirely possible. However a planet the size of Jupiter would require multiple firings.
StarKiller Base
Super weapons are definitely getting bigger as the series goes on source
This brings us to the First Orders StarKiller Base. The First Order where obviously impressed with the earlier Empires efforts at building large super weapons, but they clearly thought that the Empire had not set their sights high enough. So instead the converted an entire planet to the task of being a super weapon.
- Dimensions: Ice Planet
- Crew: Lots
- Propulsion: Can move between systems, within system is assumed for targetting
This thing is ridiculous.
It is unclear when construction on it started, but we can be reasonably certain that the First Order did not exist until after the fall of the Empire. It is therefore unlikely that construction started before the need for the super weapon existed. Either way the effort required to hollow out the core of a planet and replace that with the machinery required to support the super laser is incredible.
Clearly the mantle of the planet has been replaced Full Size
Super Laser:
The film demonstrates its ability to destroy planets. Five of them ... simultaneously... from a distant star system.
The offered explanation for the system is based on a number of functions:
- Solar extraction: The ability to draw the hydrogen from the star and use that to drive a fusion reactor, or capture the thermal energy from the surface of the star
- Storage: Converting and compressing the energy of the star into Dark Matter which can be stored within the planet (size of star versus size of planet)
- Targeting: The weapon is fixed within the planet and would need to be at least vaguely aligned with the target star system many light years. The weapon is able to target multiple planets at the same time.
- Subspace: Prepartion of Subspace tunnels that will allow the energy beam to travel almost instantaneously from source to target star system. This uses an alternate dimension known as Subspace which is only possible to access with the energy levels produced by this super weapon.
- Firing Weapon: The firing sequence is described as "breaching the Dark Matter storage containment" which releases the stored energy. We know it makes a mess of the nearby trees.
Power Source
A main sequence star like our own gives off 3 ⨉ 10t26 Joules per second = Twinkie ~800km in length weighing twenty-two quadrillion, six hundred trillion tons. This is a huge amount of energy to work with.
"If all the hydrogen in the Sun were to be fused into helium, the energy equivalent of this would be 8.7 x 10t44 Joules." = Twinkie ~1,000,000,000km long which is approximately 25,000 times round the Earth. Enough to destroy four trillion Alderaan planets, not counting for energy costs of operating the planet. Reference.
That is indeed a big Twinkie.
Appendix: Hyperspace
Hyperspace in Star Wars is an alternate dimension where conventional space appears quite different. In hyperspace, real space and relative distances appear "wrinkled" such that with the correct course through hyperspace a vessel can travel the vast interstellar distances in considerably short times.
This relationship between hyperspace and real space is the reason for the development of known routes through hyperspace. Large mass objects (stars, planets, super weapons etc) cast "shadows" in hyperspace such that the navigation computer must avoid these objects. Failure to do so will result in the vessel being pulled out of hyperspace early. Near a star, this would be disastrous. In "IV:A New Hope" the Falcon is pulled out of hyperspace by the Death Star for this reason, the Death Star did not appear on their navigation computers maps.
The hyperdrive functioned by sending hypermatter particles to hurl a ship into hyperspace while preserving the vessels mass/energy profile, and required a functional hyperdrive motivator to do so. The vessel would then travel along a programmed course until it dropped back into realspace and arrive at its destination.
References:
- Scott Manly with Twinkies
- Scott Manly without Twinkies
- Twinkie Converter
- How to say really big numbers
- Size comparison
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