revised relativistic travel timesWhorl

Well here's something we can talk about: In OBW, the Rajan goes over some of the same stuff we've gone over with regard to how Quetzal got onto the Whorl, that is, "in what year" and "by what method." The Rajan ends by figuring that the Whorl must have been just hanging around in the system for 100 years (detail also matches Pas's planned timeframe, such as we know). This means that the flight-time was only around 200 years. So we will revise the figures worked out in the old, out of print "Quick & Dirty Guide to the Long Sun Whorl": OBJECTIVE SUBJECTIVE LEG TIME TIME boost 10 years 8 years glide 880 years 216 years (a 4:1 ratio) boost 10 years 8 years orbit 100 years 100 years ----- ----------- --------- 1000 years 332 years (Remember that the boost times are guesswork, but the boosting must be relatively gentle--I was guessing 0.1 gravities.) Now then, a 4:1 ratio suggests a velocity of around .97c (up a tad from the previous calculations, naturally). 880 years at .97c = 854 light years. I'm guessing that the boost stages would add 5 light years each. The star of the Blue/Green system is thus around 864 light years away from Urth. Not quite a "light chilliad," but rather close. =mantis= *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

At 12:25 PM 6/15/2000 -0700, you wrote:>

Fun discussion. Hmmm. The conversations in IGJ hint that at least 1000 years have passed since the asteroid left Urth system. Is "light chiliad" from somewhere in the narratives, or just your phrase? My guess would be that a millennium is the least time it could be; perhaps quite a bit longer. Pat. Nut. *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.