Superboy-Prime's Speed (need help)

[The Anti-Existence]

So this is a few part deduction.

First and foremost, where is Oa in DC Space?

How far is it from DC Earth? Another solar system? Galaxy?

Now is there any statements on how long it took SBP to fly from Earth to Oa? Can we make logical deductions on it from the time lapse of dialogue?

Isn't he at least lightspeed since he planned to fly through Oa at lightspeed to ignite the Big Bang?

So...need a few things answered. If anyone can help, thanks.

[Jack Zodiac]

Oa's at the center of the universe. It's never been said how far from Earth it is, though.

[Sijo]

The thing is, there *is* no center to the universe. It's infinite, it has no beginning or end and therefore, no middle. The closest thing to a center of the universe would be the spot where the Big Bang that created all galaxies, and which they're slowly drifting away from, is located. That's quite a few Billion Light-years away from Earth, I guess.

I've always figured that OA is actually located at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy (ours.) It's the only way to explain how they can divide the universe in "sectors" (3600, one for every degree in a circle.) Since the universe isn't a flat circle, they must be talking about a galaxy. Since Earth is in one of the sectors, they must mean the Milky Way.

As for how far that is from Earth, Earth is near the outer edge of the galaxy, with the MW being about 100,000 light years across. Which means Oa would be about 50,000 LYs away from Earth.

In any case, I doubt Superboy (or anyone else) actually flies faster than the speed of light. That would disrupt the fabric of space and time in crazy ways. More likely, they shift over into some subdimension where distances are *much* shorter ("hyperspace") and take a shortcut that way. So how long it would take to get anywhere would depend on the shorcut- and thus would vary with each character, instead of being a set amount of time.

[lawman]

Different comics over the years have made inconsistent references as to whether the Guardians of the Universe are being descriptively accurate or merely self-aggrandizing.

As Sijo notes, there is no geometric center to the universe (either the whole thing, which is of indeterminate size, or just the "observable universe," currently estimated to have a radius of about 46.5 billion LY).

I've always been partial to the idea that the Guardians really only protect the Milky Way galaxy, since (A) it's of a reasonably comprehensible size (diameter of approx. 100,000 LY, manageable in SF terms), and (B) it has an actual center (which is about 25-30,000 LY from earth). However, there is the complicating factor that we know quite a bit about that center, and it's highly unlikely to hold any earthlike planets; it's most likely a supermassive black hole, and even if that isn't so it's extremely dense with stars (as close as 1000 AU apart, which is 250,000 times closer than Alpha Centauri is to earth).

Once you go beyond the galactic scale, though, you have to wonder about the division into 3600 symmetrical sectors, since the vast majority of whatever region of space you encompass is going to be really, really empty. Still, if you're looking for something that's a relatively discrete unit of space and still has a meaningful center, one might posit that the Guardians assert authority over the "local group" (30+ galaxies, although the Milky Way and Andromeda are the only big ones, spread across a space with diameter of about 10 million LY), or perhaps the "local supercluster" (a cluster is arguably the largest gravitationally related structure in the universe, and ours spans about 200 million LY).

Any way you slice it, Superboy-Prime (not to mention every Green Lantern, on a regular basis) has to travel at superluminal speeds to reach Oa. By way of paying at least passing lip service to relativity, I'm inclined to agree that superluminal travel in the DCU involves slipping into some sort of hyperspace (perhaps even automatically).

[Karl O'Neill]

So this is a few part deduction.

First and foremost, where is Oa in DC Space?

How far is it from DC Earth? Another solar system? Galaxy?

Now is there any statements on how long it took SBP to fly from Earth to Oa? Can we make logical deductions on it from the time lapse of dialogue?

Isn't he at least lightspeed since he planned to fly through Oa at lightspeed to ignite the Big Bang?

So...need a few things answered. If anyone can help, thanks.

Superluminal speed, he is faster than all the Flashes.

[Captain Smith]

If the universe is 13.7 billion years old - the fartherest objects we can see at light speed, then even if he had to cross half that - that's mighty fast!!

In Pre-COIE days, Kryptonians ripped between galaxies in minutes.

I agree that the center of the universe and the size of the universe really don't make sense for setting up the GLC with a few thousand members.

Given the number of galaxies - it doesn't also make sense that there are not titantic forces out there who might be annoyed over all of Earth's shennigans of redoing the universe.

But, no one recognizes Clark as Supes - so what do you want?

[The Anti-Existence]

So, SBP should at least be FTL?

But how much of FTL is the question indeed....

And his combat speed...is this impressive?

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/970/prime5jb.jpg

[Jack Zodiac]

Oh, I get it. This is for a Rumble. Well, screw it.

Applying actual science to comic books is pretty impossible and unnecessary. And reasoning contradictions (like that Oa is at the center of the universe when, in reality, there can be no center of the universe) by applying even more contradictions to them is as well. Whether or not it could ever actually be true in our world, it's thoroughly pounded into our heads that Oa's at the center of the universe, and that there's a wall at the edge of it.

Impossible, but that's comics.

[Captain Smith]

The edge has the source wall with a bunch of doofus old gods in it who wanted to go through it to see GOD ALMIGHTY and instead got their butt kicked and glued to the wall.

I wonder if the Hubble has a picture of that. Darkseid gets stuck in the wall so much, he might as well just build a condo on it.

[DonC]

First and foremost, where is O in DC Space?

In between planets N and P.

http://www.tultw.com/pics/daffy1825.jpg

[Smokeyjay]

[QUOTE=Sijo;4826074]The thing is, there *is* no center to the universe. It's infinite, it has no beginning or end and therefore, no middle. The closest thing to a center of the universe would be the spot where the Big Bang that created all galaxies, and which they're slowly drifting away from, is located. That's quite a few Billion Light-years away from Earth, I guess.



The thing is that present science does say that the universe isn't infinite. And it is in fact expanding in size.

Unless your talking about DC universe. In that case, I think the end of the universe is the source wall correct me if im worng.

[Winona Ryder 2099]

my fellow nerds and i are going to retire to the nerdery with our calculators.

[marshal99]

The edge has the source wall with a bunch of doofus old gods in it who wanted to go through it to see GOD ALMIGHTY and instead got their butt kicked and glued to the wall.

I wonder if the Hubble has a picture of that. Darkseid gets stuck in the wall so much, he might as well just build a condo on it.

Don't you know ? The Source Wall is Darkseid's summer home.

[phantom1592]

It's been a while since I looked at them, but....


1) Oa is NOT at the center of the universe anymore. Something happened during the last crisis to change that.

2) the universe does have the source wall as the edge

As for faster than light travel... Yeah everyone could do it back in the silver age. SBP "might" still be able to.

[titanfan]

If the GL's can somehow make it from Oa back to Earth (or where ever their home planets are) in a day, then you would think SBP would too.

Faster than light speed travel isn't possible in our universe (most likely), but it is possible in the DCU.

[Jack Zodiac]

1) Oa is NOT at the center of the universe anymore. Something happened during the last crisis to change that.

Oh yeah... I forgot, in the Recharge mini, didn't the Spider Guild inch Oa out of the center of the universe to complete some universal teleport web? Something like that. Either way, it's still close to where it used to be, just not dead center in the middle of the universe.

[phantom1592]

Oh yeah... I forgot, in the Recharge mini, didn't the Spider Guild inch Oa out of the center of the universe to complete some universal teleport web? Something like that. Either way, it's still close to where it used to be, just not dead center in the middle of the universe.


I don't really remember myself. I thought it was in Infinite Crisis that Superboy was moving planets around or something to make the universe more like Earth 2's universe. The guardians made some comment about not being the center anymore.

Still it would HAVE to be "close"

[marshal99]

I think in the green lantern/Silver surfer comic , they did say that OA was situated in the middle of the universe and when OA exploded , it created a rift into the marvel universe.

Guess it will be in and around the "center" of the infinite universe. ;)