The coolest school on earth!

[Rod Paradise]

first of all i love star wars its my second favourite sci-fi series of all time. but a parsec is a measure of distance not time. damn you george lucas and your half baked research

GEEK ALERT!!!!

BUT - the Kessel run was the trip to Kessel (a prison planet that happened to produce a valuable drug (using convict labour) set in close proximity to the Maw - a group of 9 (IIRC) black holes - so to get to it quickest depended on a pilot's skills in balancing the influence of those black holes to skirt close to them & take the shortest course - hence the 12 Parsecs claim.

Most worrying bit is that came from memory, not google - I wonder what useful information could have used that space......

I'm now going to google to check the Parsecs explanation (which came from the extended universe novels, so after Lucas made the original mistake).

 

[Rod Paradise]

The Expanded Universe puts forth the most interesting and thorough explanation to the "parsec problem": the Kessel Run was normally an 18-parsec route. A popular travel route for smuggling operations, the Kessel Run went around the Maw, a cluster of black holes.
Han's claim to have made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs was therefore not just a boast about his ship's speed, but also his skills and daring as a pilot. Han shaved a third of the distance -- and precious time -- off the normal route by flying dangerous close to the black holes.
This explanation is detailed in A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy. In "At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale," the bounty hunter BoShek beats Han's record, although this feat isn't as impressive because he didn't have a cargo in tow. Don't worry -- our fearless bounty hunter retook the record in the comic strip The Second Kessel Run.

Although.....

For the Kessel run, the point I make on my web page is that when it was originally written, Lucas (or whoever) did not know that a parsec was a unit of distance, not time! You can easily change the meaning of that scene after it has been aired, but not how it was originally meant, and it was incorrect as originally meant.
I appreciate the point, but stand by my original conclusion!
One other thing: what the heck are the characters from a galaxy far, far away doing using a measurement based on the size of Earth's orbit anyway?

 

[Tengu]

Yes, that got me too.

Though Space/time are pretty much the same, as you know

I do hope these kids wont get involved in drug smuggling, or driving too close to black holes....