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Data File Updated:
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Here are some reference materials to aid with the
visualization and perspective of the scales of objects and
locations in Outsider. I plan to add as many diagrams and
illustrations to this section as I can over time.
Useful Units of Measurement
Speed of light (in vacuum) = 299,792,458 meters per
second
1 Light Second (LS) = 299,792 kilometers
1 Light Minute (LM) = 17,987,548 kilometers
1 Light Year (LY) = 9.46 x 1012
kilometers
1 Parsec (Pc) = 3.26 light years
1 Astronomical Unit (AU) = 149,597,870.691 kilometers
(8.3 LM)
1 Earth day = 86,400 seconds
1 Earth (tropical) year in 2000 A.D. = 365 days, 5
h, 48 m, 45 s (31,556,925 s)
1 Earth gravity (g) = 9.80665 m/s2
1 Newton (N) = 1 kg/m/s2
1 joule (J) = 1 Newton*meter |
Conversions
1 mile = 5,280 ft = 1.6093 km
1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 foot = 0.3048 m
1 pound = .4536 kg
1 ounce = 28.35 g
1 kg = 2.2046 lbs.
1 knot = 1.151 mph = 1.852 km/h
1 gallon = 3.7853 liters
1 ton (short) = 2,000 pounds = 907.18 kg
1 metric ton = 1,000 kg = 1.102 short tons
1 Newton = 0.2248 pounds
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Ship Size Classes
|
Object |
Typical
Length (m) |
Typical Mass
(kilotons) |
Typical Max
Thrust (g)* |
Typical
Crew |
Examples |
| Torpedo,
Buoy* |
15 |
0.035 |
40-60 |
0 |
MR
Torpedo |
| Fighter,
Shuttle, Blister, DefSat* |
30 |
0.250 |
40 |
0-4 |
Arrow |
| Gunboat |
80 |
20 |
35 |
20 |
Umiak
Gunboat |
| Frigate,
Scout |
150 |
50 |
35 |
100 |
Herald |
| Destroyer,
Listening Post* |
200 |
100 |
30 |
200 |
Warhammer |
| Cruiser,
Base Station* |
350 |
300 |
28 |
350 |
Rapier |
|
Battleship, Battlecruiser, Battle Station* |
600 |
1,000 |
26 |
600 |
Greatsword |
| Flagship,
Superheavy |
800 |
2,000 |
24 |
1,000 |
Cataclysm |
|
Ultraheavy |
2,000 |
9,000 |
18 |
? |
TTK |
| Citadel* |
800-4,000 |
2,000-25,000 |
<5 |
? |
Seren
Citadel |
| Orbital
Platform* |
(any) |
(any) |
<1 |
? |
Deinar
Station |
*System Defense craft are spacecraft
with no jump drive and only minimal propulsion, so the "max
thrust" value is usually <5g.
Planetary Environment
Note: The sizes of
the Earth and Moon in (Fig.V) are to scale with the
distances between them.
Earth Diameter: 12,756 km
Mt. Everest Altitude: 8.8 km
Stratosphere Altitude: 50 km
Exosphere Altitude: 300 km
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Altitude: 300-800 km
International Space Station Altitude: ~350 km
Hubble Space Telescope Altitude: ~560 km |
Geostationary Orbit (GEO): Altitude 35,786 km (orbital radius 42,164 km)
Chandra X-ray Observatory Max Altitude: ~126,000 km
(orbital apogee ~133,000 km)
Maximum Beam Weapon Range: ~300,000 km (~1 Light Second)
Earth-Moon Lagrange-1 Point Orbital Radius: 326,000 km (58,400 km from the
Moon)
Moon Orbital Radius: 384,400 km
Moon Diameter: 3,476 km
Moon Surface Gravity: 0.17g |
Solar System
Note: The sizes of
the Sun and the planets in (Fig.VI) are NOT to scale, but the
distances are. The jump zone indicates appropriate distance from
the Sun (4-5 AU) but not location; the Alpha Centauri jump zone is well
below the plane of the planets.
|
Object |
Mean Distance from the Sun |
Diameter
(km) |
Mass
(Earth = 1) |
Orbital Period
(Earth years) |
Rotation Period
(Earth Days) |
Surface
Gravity (g) |
|
km |
AU |
LM |
| Sun |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1,392,000 |
332,918 |
- |
25.05 |
28 |
| Mercury |
57,920,000 |
.387 |
3.2 |
4,878 |
0.055 |
0.24 |
58.65 |
0.38 |
| Venus |
108,208,000 |
.723 |
6.0 |
12,104 |
0.815 |
0.62 |
-243 |
0.9 |
| Earth |
149,597,871 |
1.0 |
8.3 |
12,756 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
| Mars |
228,089,000 |
1.524 |
12.7 |
6,794 |
0.107 |
1.88 |
0.41 |
0.38 |
| Ceres |
418,832,587 |
2.766 |
23 |
487 |
0.00015 |
4.6 |
0.3781 |
0.028 |
| Asteroid
Belt |
~419,000,000 |
~2.8 |
23 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Jupiter |
778,706,000 |
5.203 |
43.2 |
142,987 |
318 |
11.86 |
0.41 |
2.64 |
| Saturn |
1,427,653,000 |
9.539 |
79.1 |
120,536 |
95 |
29.46 |
0.44 |
0.93 |
| Uranus |
2,870,573,000 |
19.18 |
159.2 |
51,118 |
15 |
84.01 |
-0.72 |
0.89 |
| Neptune |
4,498,927,000 |
30.06 |
249.5 |
49,528 |
17 |
164.8 |
0.72 |
1.12 |
| Pluto |
5,902,784,000 |
39.44 |
327.4 |
2,302 |
0.002 |
247.7 |
-6.38 |
0.06 |
| Kuiper
Belt |
~6,000,000,000 |
40 |
332 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Sedna |
7.7576 x 1010 |
518 |
4,300 |
~1,500 |
~0.0005 |
~11,400 |
0.42 |
~0.04 |
| Oort
Cloud |
~1.5 x 1013 |
~100,000 |
~830,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Note: the orbits of Pluto, Sedna and other trans-Neptunian
objects are highly eccentric. Pluto's orbit varies from 30 to 49
AU, and Sedna's varies from 76 to 937 AU.
Note: The distance scale above is exponential, and the size of
the Sun & planets is not to scale. Image by NASA.
Heliopause (boundary between solar wind and interstellar
medium): 100 AU
Bow Shock (wake caused by the travel of the Sun through the
interstellar medium): 230 AU
Distance of Voyager 1 (as of May 2011): 117 AU (32 Light Hours),
in the Heliosheath
Distance to Alpha Centauri: 4.3 LY = 271,900 AU
Interstellar
Distance from Sol to Alpha Centauri: 4.3 LY
Distance from Sol to Aldea (Tau Ceti): 11.9 LY
Distance from Sol to Esperanza (82 Eridani): 19.7 LY
Diameter of Human Space: 35 LY
Distance from Sol to Naam: 217 LY (60 parsecs)
Distance to Pleiades cluster (on the other side of Loroi space):
425 LY (130 parsecs)
Width of the Local Bubble: ~1000 LY
Thickness of galactic disk in Orion arm: <1,500 LY (<500
parsecs)
Density of stars in the local region: 0.120 stars/cubic parsec
Distance from Sol to the Galactic Center: ~26,000 LY
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