How far is Vulcan?

[xvicente]

I rewatched IV.

Kirk and co. take the Bird of Prey to Earth from Vulcan.

Not long after launch (I suppose), Sulu announces:

>SULU: Estimating Planet Earth, one point six hours present speed.

That's 96min.

I seem to remember reading Vulcan was supposed to orbit the real star Epsilon Eridani -- that's 10.5 l.y.

by the classic rule

speed = (warp factor)³ x speed of light,

that's warp 38.6. Isn't that too much? (still less that JJ's warp)

However, Scotty said he replaced the Klingon foodpacks. So they were planning to eat during the flight. That may indicate the voyage was intended to be much longer than 2 hours. OTOH, maybe a ship may be required to carry food on all flights.

 

[Ethros]

Obviously they were going at "ludicrous speed"

 

[Kevman7987]

That may not have been soon after launch. There may have been a few hours where they just sat around until George gave an update on their ETA. Heck they could have raided the Klingons' quarters, played dress-up and had a tea party with those snacks they packed (hopefully it was a pudding snack-pack) right before.

Kirk: *puts on Kruge's hat* "Look, I'm Kruge. Howdy, howdy, howdy."

 

[alpha_leonis]

I never took the "warp-factor-cubed" rule seriously. I remember reading about it, and then very soon after I watched the following pair of TOS episodes, in this order:

1. "Arena" established that Warp 6 is the Enterprise's maximum safe cruising velocity, but they can go up to Warp 8 for a short time in emergency situations. (That has the potential of tearing the ship apart if they stay up there too long -- on the order of mere minutes to hours.)

2. "The Squire of Gothos" has a plot point that Trelane's planet was 900 light years away, therefore he was recreating Earth as it appeared 900 years in the past.

If they travel to Gothos at Warp 6 (their fastest safe velocity), and Warp 6 = 6^3 = 216c, then it takes slightly over four years one-way of pure traveling time just to get there. Which means eight years round-trip, not counting any other missions they serve along the way. So much for the five-year mission!

 

[xvicente]

I learned (in Memory Alpha) that Vulcan does not orbit Epsilon Eridani but 40 Eridani

That's farther: 16.45 light-years according to Wikipedia

In 1.6 hours it's almost warp 45!!!

 

[F. King Daniel]

As far as the plot needs.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I've followed the 16 light-year distance even before Tucker said so in ENT's "Home."

"You brought me sixteen light years just to watch you get married to someone you barely know."
--Commander Tucker to Commander T'Pol while on Vulcan

I've also dismissed warp factors as being essentially technobabble. They're easier to regard as measurements of horsepower more than velocity since they can vary wildly depending on where you are, IMO.

 

[Mytran]

At the end of TMP, Scott boasts that they can get Spock from Earth to Vulcan in just 3 days.

Or maybe it wasn't a boast - the engines may have been damaged from the V'ger incident I suppose.

Still, it seems odd that a measly BOP can outpace a starship by so much!

 

[Shawnster]

It's a movie. As with all movies (and TV shows), when there is a cut from one scene to another, we do not always know how much time is skipped in the cut.

Nobody complains about the police show or fire show where we see the first responders get a call and the very next scene shows the units arriving on the scene. The audience understands that those boring intervening minutes were not shown for sake of the story.

Same with the "Bounty's" flight from Vulcan to Earth.

I'm sorry, the nits about warp speed or ludicrous speed really don't apply in this instance.

 

[Christopher]

Enterprise made the 16-ly distance canonical (after implying in the first season that Vulcan was much farther away, given that humans had never encountered their next-door neighbors the Andorians). That pretty much confirms that Vulcan is 40 Eridani, a star first proposed by James Blish in his adaptation of "Tomorrow is Yesterday" in Star Trek 2 in 1968 (a seminal volume, since it also contained the first mention of the 23rd century in connection with Star Trek, in the "Space Seed" adaptation). There are maybe five other stars whose distances would round to 16 ly, all of which are obscure red or orange dwarfs.

I'm not sure how 40 Eridani became Epsilon Eridani in some sources; maybe just from people confusing the names, or not realizing that "Eridani" (pronounced "eh-rid'n-eye" or "eh-rid'n-ee," by the way, not "air-ih-donny" as some people say) is the possessive of the constellation Eridanus and that there are dozens of different stars that have it in their Bayer designations. I think there was at least one source that claimed Vulcan was Alpha Eridani, aka Achernar.

 

[T'Girl]

"The Squire of Gothos" has a plot point that Trelane's planet was 900 light years away, therefore he was recreating Earth as it appeared 900 years in the past.

But remember, Tralane was capable of moving his planet at warp speed, he chased and overtook the Enterprise.

")

 

[xvicente]

At the end of TMP, Scott boasts that they can get Spock from Earth to Vulcan in just 3 days

According to my spreadsheet, that's warp 12.6!

Still, it seems odd that a measly BOP can outpace a starship by so much!

BOPs aren't 'measly'. That's Starfleet's propaganda. Don't believe their lies.

Kruge's ship destroyed the Grissom with one shot (which the Klingons wanted to only disable), destroyed Valkris' ship, it would destroy the Enterprise next.

It took two photon torpedoes (remember two torpedoes ripped Reliant in two) and still warped out of an exploding ball of protomatter, timewarped a total of 600 years (half on refurbished dilithium crystals) and was able to carry 400 tons of whale (plus saltwater)

Chang had one of these too and almost destroyed a battlecruiser, the Enterprise and the Excelsior in one movie.

Birds of Prey are the most dangerous vessels in space

 

[MacLeod]

At the end of TMP, Scott boasts that they can get Spock from Earth to Vulcan in just 3 days.

Or maybe it wasn't a boast - the engines may have been damaged from the V'ger incident I suppose.

Still, it seems odd that a measly BOP can outpace a starship by so much!

It was four days, as for the time given in TVH, can we say for certain it took place diurectly after they left Vulcan or got a period of time have passed. But as with anything travel time is dictated by the speed of the Plot.

But it did allow us to work out a rough speed that ships were capable off. Earth to Vulcan is 16ly so a speed of around 4ly per day. And even that 4 days might not be at top speed due to it be a shakedown cruise.

 

[BillJ]

You mean J.J. Abrams didn't introduce wildly fast and inconsistent warp speeds to Star Trek?!? Some folks may throw themselves off of buildings when they finally figure that out.

 

[MacLeod]

Well on the plus side VOY would be back in what a month at those speeds. Whilst I have enjoyed the latest films, I'm sorry but the speeds just seem ridiculous.

 

[BillJ]

Well on the plus side VOY would be back in what a month at those speeds. Whilst I have enjoyed the latest films, I'm sorry but the speeds just seem ridiculous.

The TOS Enterprise could cover a thousand light-years under its own power in roughly twelve hours in "That Which Survives".

 

[MacLeod]

Mister Sulu all ahead plot speed.

 

[Ithekro]

The question would be, how long can a starship maintain those speeds? Long enough to cross the galaxy without running out of fuel.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I'm a simple man.

Vulcan was kind of far in ENT. Not too far at all in TOS. Next door in a condominium in the TNG era.

In the guest bathroom in nuTrek, I suppose.

Well, briefly anyway.

 

[Ithekro]

Which then makes us wonder. What Scotty's telling Spock they could have him to Vulcan in four day to show off Enterprise's speed, or simply that they could get the shakedown finished in a shorter period of time so they could take him home?

It use to be that it was suspected to be a boost of the ship's speed. The old data points listed the refit Enterprise being able to reach Warp Factor 12, which would be enough to get to Vulcan (40 Eridani) in four days from Earth. But now, some 35 years later, we start to question it.