How much was terraformed?

[Hooperman1990]

In the film it says that it was a solar system that was terraformed, but in the series it say a whole galaxy was terraformed. And they continually refer to "the 'verse" but thats obviously a big exaggeration.

[M2W]

I know Wikipedia can't always be trusted, but I didn't notice anything wrong with this article... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...nets_and_moons

The intro explains it a bit by basically saying that no one's really sure and that it's still a topic under debate.

[Master_Templar]

No one really does know. You can assume that they'd have done some Solar Systems, which were near each other as they seem to have fairly rudimentary flight engines, so a few Solar Systems near each other seems logical.

[Avatar28]

I'm thinking more likely in some sort of star cluster or multi-star system. There seems to be a lot of stars close by. That or they have some sort of FTL travel, even if not particularly fast. Only in that case, I don't know why they don't use it more often. Also wasn't there a mention of them using colony ships or something when they left Earth That Was? I don't see why they would do that unless they were going really REALLY far or they only had sublight travel available to them.

Eh, just go read the Wikipedia article. It looks pretty right to me from what I've been able to gather myself.

[Wraith Scientist]

In The Train Job one of the Hands of Blue says:

"We didn't fly eighty-six million miles to track down a box of band-aids, Colonel"

86,000,000 miles is approximately 1 astronomical unit (AU), which is the distance from Earth to the sun.

So wherever the HoB flew from, it was definitely in the same system, and very close.

And the movie confirms that it's all in one system

"Earth-that-was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new solar system, dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. Each one terraformed, a process taking decades, to support human life, to be new earths"

Even in really dense star clusters, the distance between near stars is still over a tenth of a light year (in something ridiculously dense like a globular, which contain poor-metalicity stars anyway) and in an average open cluster more like an actual light year. Although, you might be able to find a really dense open cluster, the night sky would be rather bright with the light of the really close stars, which is the givaway that it's not in a dense cluster.

Maybe something like a Klemperer Rosette or another stable exotic arrangement of planets

Scientifically, the Big Damn Solar System is probably Firefly's weakest aspect

[Avatar28]

Yes, but at the same time, there was something, and I don't remember the episode, unfortunately, that seemed to indicate that there were multiple stars. I want to say it was one working for badger or someone, I'm not sure. Either there was a graphic or someone referred to going to a (star) cluster or something. Sorry I don't remember it exactly.

At the least, I think it would have to be a large (i.e. spread out) multi-star system. Probably a trinary system like Alpha Centauri at least.

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

In a deleted scene from "Our Mrs Reynolds" Mal says "more than 70 earths spinning in this galaxy", of course as this wasn't in the finished episode it may not considered canon

[MB.Eddie]

I think there would surely be a few systems. All those planets and moons would be so unlikely, and surely the law could hunt down any ship in one system.

What about the Reaver's? Surely they are not in the same solar system...

[Archer007]

Yes, I was also under the impression that there was no FTL tech in firefly.

[TheBigFlush]

I don't remember there being any actual reference to multiple star systems in Firefly. The "more than 70 earths spinning in this galaxy" deleted scene doesn't matter. Whether it's canon or not, even if they're contained within one system, they're still also inside one galaxy. I suspect it's simply used because 'galaxy' rolls off the tongue quicker and easier than 'star system'.

In the Serenity Visual Companion (if you don't own it, you should seriously pick it up) there is a brief history of the Firefly 'verse written by Joss Whedon. It confirms that they live in a single star system containing "dozens of planets and hundreds of moons".

[Kirath]

it could be that the central planets are all contained in the same solar system and that the outer planets are located in nearby solar systems that are relatively unexplored/unsettled.

[NIKIN]

at the start of the film it says one system with HUNDREDS of moons, it also says it takes decades to terraform so in that time it could make the changes to make it earth like, perhaps alter the atmosphere so the same level of heat enters

The film should be canon as Joss wrote it, and he created the 'verse

[TheXym]

The film should be canon as Joss wrote it, and he created the 'verse

+1. Sounds good to me, and I've NEVER seen Joss just 'mail it in' on anything he's written that I've seen