Questions about LV426, Calpamos, the Planets in ALIEN/ALIENS.

[Esoteric_Voyage]

i wanted to make a topic about the planets in the two films. i had some questions and i wanted to make a topic where it could be discussed.

the planets i'm talking about are seen here:



some of the things i didn't understand:

in ALIEN, the nostromo appears to be closest to the second planet when its landing, and it looks like its going to land on that one. but apparently, according to cameron, its on the otherside of the Gas giant? im a bit confused, also i thought based on the footage in ALIEN, the planets surface was resembling the Gas giant or that 2nd planet.

in ALIENS the planet is very blue and white, which looked more like the 3 planet there in the original orbit pass by.

then to confuse me further, there is this production still:


if the ringed planet is a gas giant, is that possible if it doesn't look like other gas giants? (i would love for some more savvy sscience folks to chime in here)

i'v been working on recreating these planets in photoshop, but while making them it occued to me that the position of the star in this scene, and the lighting on the planets, is impossible?

i tried to understand it like this:



but in reality, i tested this with a torch and 2 tennis balls, i couldn't get this view and the lighting unless the star was position further east



what kind of star could this be?

[SM]

what kind of star could this be?

G3-5V main sequence solar analog.

Calpamos has yet to be supported in any official or licensed media.

Going solely from the film LV-426 is either the planet it's in front of or it's another moon unseen on the far side (based on the reverse view seen from the surface).

The more fully lit planet/ moon is something of an enigma.

Cameron's comments about the primary being out of frame are really neither here nor there.

[The Necronoir]

In another thread dedicated to this topic the final consensus seemed to be that the size of LV-426 indicated in Alien (aside from being scientifically implausible) was far to small to be any of the planets/-oids in that shot. And by the time of Aliens LV-426 seems to have developed a thick enough atmosphere to occlude any view of the gas giant or others.

[OmegaZilla]

Continuity Goof.

[SM]

And by the time of Aliens LV-426 seems to have developed a thick enough atmosphere to occlude any view of the gas giant or others.

The local sun can be clealy seen in one shot.  Just 'cos it's not in frame doesn't mean it can never be seen.

[The Necronoir]

The local sun can be clealy seen in one shot.  Just 'cos it's not in frame doesn't mean it can never be seen.

I wasn't suggesting that they were never visible, simply that we don't see them, and I was talking specifically about the other planets/planetoids, not the star.

[SM]

Either/ or.

[Eva]

Just thinking out loud, but I don't think that original shot of The Nostromo drifting into the system, is meant to signify anything but a very cool and awe-inspiring visual. I don't think Ridley and his crew put much thought into how many moons are orbiting the gas giant, science, cosmology etc. So, it's not meant to hold up to this level of scrutiny.

With that said, what Cameron said makes sense. The ship seems to be drifting past the visible moons, heading for a body not visible or obscured in that shot.

Btw, Zeta 2 Reticuli is a binary star system, so there's another, perhaps dimmer star present somewhere as well.

[SiL]

I think it was Dennis Lowe who painted the backdrop; the moon that's half-lit was originally crescent, but he was told to make it brighter and more noticeable. He didn't think it made much sense either, but he did it.

[SM]

I was hoping you remembered that conversation from AXP.  I always forget.

Btw, Zeta 2 Reticuli is a binary star system, so there's another, perhaps dimmer star present somewhere as well.

Too far away to realistically light the background planet.

I once floated the idea that it's reflected light from the gas giant, but I don't think that's possible.

[whiterabbit]

So the smaller whitish moon was actually the largest of the moons and not LV-426? In fact if I follow correctly, lv-426 is not even in this picture? I always thought the whitish moon in the middle was lv-426.

[SiL]

I once floated the idea that it's reflected light from the gas giant, but I don't think that's possible.

It's possible, depending on how much light's reflected off the planet, how close it is -- but you can see by the angle of the light that it was done in line with the star, not the planet.

[SM]

Which would mean it's a really long way away and fecking huge...?

Or, the gas giant is orbiting it?

[SiL]

Binary planets are always an option.

[SM]

That occurred to me as soon as  type it.  Possibly similar to the rather crowded Fiorina system.

It still looks to be a very distant binary pairing, if it is the case.