Word Problem Wednesday: 12 Parsecs and a Scoundrel

Sep 6, 2018 | Cave Creek

The Millennium Falcon. Han Solo. The Kessel Run. They are legendary. But what is a parsec? A parsec is a unit of distance, not time. In fact, one parsec is equal to 3.26 lightyears (also a unit of distance). Which leads you to the conclusion that Han Solo is bragging about how his ship did a smuggling run over a shorter distance than other ships do? This never really made sense. Until you take more Star Wars space physics into account. 

 

The first thing we need to understand is that ship in the Star Wars universe are not able to travel in a straight line when they go into hyperspace - it's too risky because they're highly likely to collide with celestial objects. The further you're going, the more likely you are to collide. This makes distance a big factor in how quickly a ship can make it from point A to point B. Ships probably have to zig zag to their destination, making complicated calculations the entire way. But, the Millennium Falcon got a major navigation computer upgrade, making it the most superior nav computer, making the Millennium Falcon the fastest ship in the galaxy. The Millennium Falcon's nav computer lets the Falcon travel shorter distances (less zigzagging) to get to its destination faster. It can travel shorter, and therefore more hazardous routes, while in hyperspace.

The Kessel Run was a hyperspace route within a maelstrom that smugglers used to smuggle the illicit substances mined on Kessel. The "safer" routes to Kessel were guarded by Imperial blockades. These Imperial star destroyers were big - too big to get too close to the Maw, a cluster of black holes that were close to the planet Kessel and at the center of the Akkadese Maelstrom. This created the Kessel Run - the inherent danger of the Maw kept the Imperial ships away, making smuggling possible for the gutsy and foolhardy. The Kessel Run, which we could just call a generic route that got you from Kessel to past the Imperial blockade, and not an actual path, was usually 18 parsecs. 

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So, armed with a superior nav computer, Han Solo took the Millennium Falcon (under threat of an exploding cargo and Imperial ships chasing him) on a Kessel Run that was only 12 parsecs long!

 

Image result for solo kessel run gif 

Well, 12 if you round down, of course. He wouldn't be Han Solo if he didn't fudge the numbers a little to be even more amazing. I mean, it wouldn't be as cool if he did the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs and 3 lightyears and 4 trillion miles...

 

Now that you've got all of that *useful* information...it's time to do the Problem of the Week! May the Force be with you!

Question: Han Solo took the Millennium Falcon on a shortcut through space to make the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. The usual Kessel Run smuggling route is 18 parsecs. If a parsec is 3.76 light-years and a light-year is 5.88 trillion miles, then by how many trillions of miles does Han Solo shorten the Kessel Run? Round your answer to the nearest trillion miles. 

 

Give the problem a go and then check the solution below!

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Image result for solo kessel run gif

TWELVE!

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Ready? Punch it!

Answer: 115 trillion miles

Solution: Since the usual Kessel Run smuggling route is 18 parsecs and the smuggler’s starship makes it in 12 parsecs, the smuggler shortens the Kessel Run by 18 – 12 = 6 parsecs. Next, we convert 6 parsecs to trillions of miles by multiplying by the conversion rates: 6 parsecs × 3.26 light-years per parsec × 5.88 trillion miles per light year ≈ 115 trillion miles.

 


 

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