Star Wars: The Essential Atlas

I´m a huge fan of maps. Almost anything that you can chart, here I am, ready to check it! I recently discovered that Dan Wallace and Jason Fry have made a pretty good job mapping the most famous galaxy of all times, and I would like to recommend this wonderful book to all maps, planets and of course, Star Wars fans.

Every planet name, system or nebula will now be easy to spot. As any book as its limitations, the authors had the excellent idea of making an appendix, available for download here, where you can find all known star systems in the Star Wars galaxy.

I hope you enjoy the journey! Click the pictures for more info.

May the Force be with you.

Tatooine exists

"It's possible that there's a real Tatooine out there," said John Knoll, visual effects supervisor at the special-effects firm Industrial Light and Magic, which was behind the "Star Wars" films. "Kepler 16b is unambiguous and dramatic proof that planets really do form around binaries."

More here.



Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Weather forecast

If you need to know how´s the weather outside, just try Tom Scott´s page.
This guy created a Star Wars weather forecast according to the planets of the saga. If it´s freezing, it´s as cold as Hoth! If it´s nice, probably you´re at Naboo. If it´s hot, Tattoine is your place.
They say that in Lisbon: "Está que nem Naboo lá fora. Temperado, seco e agradável."
Have fun :)

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Se precisarem de saber como está o tempo lá fora, experimentem a página criada por Tom Scott.
Este tipo criou um boletim meteorológico Star Wars de acordo com os planetas da saga. Se está frescote, está gelado como em Hoth! Se está agradável, provavelmente estão em Naboo. Se estiver calor, a vossa localização deve ser Tatooine.
Eles dizem que em Lisboa: "Está que nem Naboo lá fora. Temperado, seco e agradável."
Divirtam-se :)


Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Star Wars Travel Posters

What about having Alderaan, Hoth, Dagobah, Bespin, Endor, and Tatooine in your place?
Try it here.

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E que tal terem Alderaan, Hoth, Dagobah, Bespin, Endor, e Tatooine em vossa casa?
Experimentem aqui.


Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Star Wars and Sanskrit #2

As time passes, we tend to reflect on things we´ve done before. In my case, in this blog´s case, it´s a matter of training. Are we not an Academy? So, "Star Wars and Sanskrit" is back.

Exploring wookieepedia, I came to know of the existence of a certain planet called "Shiva IV". It´s located in the Wild Space area, in the Shiva system. Shiva system has a single star, also called Shiva. Well, so far I´ve counted 3 Shivas... Whether or not this is a coincidence, only few can say. I´m saying it because there´s an aspect in the Hindu culture (we´re talking about Sanskrit here; check the previous article for more info) which is called trimurti (the Hindu trinity; representing the three primary deities), where Shiva is one of the represented gods (associated with destruction; destroy to renew). Shiva, in Hinduism, assumes many aspects in his personality/representation. If you triple that, a lot of mess is coming, I guarantee.

So, what does this has to do with Star Wars? Apparently, a lot. Some of our heroes have many skills and abilities, and use them oftenly to their benefits, and to save their loved ones. And what about Shiva and a planet? There is also a great matter of mysticism in India, especially after the occupation of the territory by the aryas coming from Europe, nearly 4000 years ago. Since those days, the cult to Shiva has grown bigger and bigger, but the raw strength and essence of this deity remained as it was in the beginning. Maybe that is the same strength and mystery that surrounds the area where Shiva IV is situated (Wild Space), the same power that is present in their inhabitants, that fight for righteousness and against occupation. Probably the same feeling and attitude against Aryan occupation of the Indus Valley so many centuries ago.

Before ending this article, I recommend you to read Star Wars 53: The Last Gift From Alderaan, and Star Wars 54: Starfire Rising, both from Marvel comics, published in November and December 1981. It´s the first time that Shiva IV is mentioned in the SW Universe and a good starting point to understand what I´ve been saying.

Happy readings! And again, thanks to Wookieepedia.

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Map of the Star Wars Galaxy

Thanks to my friend mawalien for the link: SuperShadow.com

"This fantastic galaxy map was actually originally done by Cartographer of the former www.nav-computer.com and is one of the great pieces of fan work that has been created." - Thanks to Keith Kappel for giving me the correct origin of this map.

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

The "Star Wars" Worlds: More Science Than Fiction?

Full interview here, by National Geographic. Please feel free to read it all. You will like it for sure. The second part gets even better.

By Stefan Lovgren

Everyone knows the Star Wars galaxy is located "far, far away." But how realistic are the alien worlds (see pictures) described in the science fiction saga?

To find out, National Geographic News checked in with two experts on everything extraterrestrial: Bruce Betts, a planetary scientist at the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, and Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California.

National Geographic News: So how believable is the Star Wars galaxy?

Betts: They [the filmmakers] have set up a fictional structure that is so far outside our reality that they can get away with an awful lot. What they have in their favor is that they use an entire galaxy.

A galaxy has, say, a hundred billion stars and maybe that many planets. If they've picked out the worlds where life has evolved or where life can exist, it's hard to argue there couldn't be 20 [such planets] in a galaxy of a hundred billion planets.

Shostak: What we might complain about is that so many of the galactic sentients [intelligent life-forms] seem determined to live on planets. Truly advanced life is likely to build its own habitats, and escape the limited area and resources of a planet. In Star Wars, it seems that only Monsieur Vader has figured this out, building his own artificial habitat, appealingly monikered the Death Star, even though it's not a star at all. But "Death Space Habitat" doesn't have as nice a ring to it.

NG News: Should we assume the major characters are human?

Betts: The literature, I think, refers to them as humans sometime. Although we're in a galaxy far, far away, I still make the assumption that these people breathe oxygen. That makes things a little tricky.

No matter what atmosphere they drop into, they're able to breathe. It seems odd that the Wookiee planet, for example, would have the right amount of oxygen for people who grew up on Tatooine, when we know that even going to a higher altitude on Earth becomes a problem in terms of oxygen. But now I'm just nitpicking.

NG News: By all means, nit-pick.

Shostak: Maintaining a cohesive empire, or even a republic, over a decent swath of any galaxy would be impossible without faster-than-light travel, of course. You need FTL travel, which Star Wars has, to even contemplate such far-flung organizations.

Even so, it all seems unlikely, because the various inhabitants, many of which are biological, will have evolved at different times. Consequently, the top species will be many millennia ahead of the number two species, in terms of evolution, and millions and billions of years ahead of your average intelligent species. They won't want to share drinks with them in a Mos Eisley cantina.

(...)

Mauro Bex : maurobindo