Ages of Dune

[mechadragon]

Okay, I stumbled upon this last night, but I want to see if anyone else has noticed...

In Dune, Paul is supposed to be 15 years old. The first little blurb before chapter one says how old the Emperor was when Paul was born. In the back of the ebook, there are "selected" bios on key characters in Dune, which include the year the were born. Typically, we picutre (in our minds and on the silver and small screen) that these characters are still in thier prime.

How old was the Baron Harkonnen in 10,191?

How old would the Emperor be in the same year?

Who is older, the Emperor or Rabban?

If anyone suggests that time may flow different in the series, keep in mind that the difference could make Paul more like 10 in comparative Earth time.

[TMA_1]

hmmm from what I remember, time runs on kaitain's planetary time. The planet kaitain revolves around it's sun every 360 days. This would not make a huge difference of age.

Also, planets that are habitable have to be at a certain distance from their sun. It cant be too different because the planet would either simmer in the heat or if too far away, would freeze. So you are looking at a time frame that has to be close to earth's in order for a planet to sustain life.

[Inoculator9]

Well, that would depend on the size of the sun compared to the orbiting planet though, I think.

[TMA_1]

the size of the sun would matter very much. Depending on what kind of star it is. If it is old or new, if the gasses within it are heavily or lightly compressed (for a star). So many variables involved in this. We can only live on certain kinds of stars. I do believe it is Class O5. not sure though on that.

[Vanguard3000]

TMA: An O5 star is a blue, VERY hot star. Sol is a G2 V (G2 = yellow; V = main sequence).

Keep in mind that the planet also factors into things. Atmospheric conditions, for example. Or a nearby gas planet (Jupiter protects Earth from a lot of inbound asteroids).

[TMA_1]

Vanguard: Yeah something like that.lol you got what I meant though. thanks for the correction. :) you know a bit about astronomy dont ya?

yup, all of the solarsystem protects us. Amazing really. We need many of the things within it. Like I said before, the calender couldnt be too different, and according to the DE which I take as canon (IMO) the planet kaitain has 360 days. very close to that of earth. I do believe that the planet moves faster than terra. Not that it is closer but moves faster.

[Vanguard3000]

Vanguard: Yeah something like that.lol you got what I meant though. thanks for the correction. :) you know a bit about astronomy dont ya?

Well, I only know the basics. I have one of those Autobaun field guides on astronomy, so I looked it up in that. but I found a good mnemonic for the star colours/temperatures (in Kelvin).

"Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss Me."

O - Blue (50 000 - 25 000)

B - Blue (25 000 - 11 000)

A - Blue-white (11 000 - 7 500)

F - White (7 500K - 6 000)

G - Yellow-white (6 000 - 5 000)

K - Orange (5 000 - 3 500)

M - Red (3 000 - 3 500)

Luminosity goes from I (supergiant) to VII (white dwarf).

[Colonel_Worf]

Herbert goofed. Aren't the birthdates corrected in the prequels?

[Vanguard3000]

Yes. The family tree has corrections.

[mechadragon]

Herbert goofed. Aren't the birthdates corrected in the prequels?

Shouldn't this be the other way around?

Herbert knew what he wanted when he wrote Dune. It's just a matter of convience for others to make the changes neccesary to prolong thier stories.