Star wars ✨

If the galaxy is so huge...

HOW DOES EVERYONE GET AROUND?

It's supposed to take at least six months to get from Earth to Mars, but in Star Wars they hop Worlds like stepping stones!

HOW CAN THE SHIPS

GO SO FAST?

A starship with a hyperdrive can jump from one point in space to another via a dimension called hyperspace. The difference between normal space and hyperspace is similar to the difference between a winding road and a straight one. A hyperdrive ship can reach its destination faster than the speed of light by skipping the bends of normal space.

HOW COME THEY DONT CRASH INTO STUFF?

Helpfully, hyperspace is pretty empty, but pilots still have to make precise calculations before a jump to lightspeed. Not only do normal space objects such as stars cast hazardous "mass shadows" in hyperspace, but also coming out of hyperspace in the wrong place could land you smack straight into a planet! Luckily, most pilots can rely on astromech droids (robots such as R2-D2) to help them navigate any obstacles.

ARE SOME SHIPS FASTER THAN OTHERS?

Definitely. Han Solo's modified freighter, the Millennium Falcon, is one of the fastestpartly because of its sophisticated navigation computer, but also because of its highly skilled pilots. Han boasted that he made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

WAIT A PARSEC...

A parsec is a real-world unit of astronomical distance equivalent to about 19 trillion miles*. So Han's boast is about his ship's

ability to withstand shorter more dangerous routes through hyperspace, rather than its speed.

*That's about

19000000000000 miles!

SOME VESSELS TO KNOW

REY'S SPEEDER

Old but sturdy and perfect

for zipping around incognito.

TANTIVE IV

Princess Leia's blockade

runner can take a beating.

SLAVE I

Boba Fett's ship might look like a snail in a shell, but it is considerably faster.

NABOO ROYAL STARSHIP

This glistening, mirror-surfaced ship is fit for a queen.

GEONOSIAN SOLAR SAILER

This ship uses a sail to enter hyperspace.

DEATHSTAR

Even this moon-sized station

has its own hyperdrive.