To me, a more believable explanation would be that the Kessel Run was a competition on who could take the shortest, most direct route to the target destination while carrying illicit cargo. The shorter the route, the more the pilot is exposed to discovery from imperial authorities. Essentially, Han would be bragging about the Falcon's ability to evade authorities.
One little issue though.... if you use gravity to dilate space by parsecs, you're also gonna dilate time A LOT (like the "7 years per hour" planet in Interstellar).
+Vader the White It's the better explanation. It shows that Han is kind of a boastful, braggart of a guy but not quite good with the fancy book learning.
Funny fact: In Spain they translated Parsec in this scene as "Para-segundo" or "Para-second" .. converting a real distance measure into a fictional sci-fi-ish time measure
+sparrowlt the funny thing is that Parsec is a abbreviation of parallax of one arc second or in spanish "paralaje de un segundo de arco" so abbreviating it as "Para-segundo" is perfectly fine. Maybe in Spain they call this unit that way, kind of the same way why for example Germany is Alemania or Pound is Libra, both reference the same thing but they look and sound nothing alike
+David E. Franco G. oh.. didnt knew Parsec was composed of that, i never looked into what parsec came from and so the name was derived from... quite interesting, thanks. still im somehow confident the spaniard translator wasnt probably aware of that .. also parsec is the unit name and in spanish its not translated (unlike other measure units like yard, mile , pound and so)
In response to that last comment, I once heard that ships can travel in hyperspace (a space outside the normal realm of relativistic physics) allowing them to exceed the speed of light.
In the original script Han Solo was lying about it to "impress an old man with obvious misinformation" but in the expanded universe it's stated that he actually did it. Great video keep it up :)
That's actually pretty interesting, when I was younger watching A New Hope, I always thought the "term" Parsec was indeed a Unit of Distance. It's pretty cool to see I was thinking about it correctly.
Evidence that Lucas didn't think of it in that way is shown in the knowledge we had (or lack thereof) concerning Space-Time. Many thought at the time that Space and Time were separate from each other, there was this theory that suggested (again, at the time) that Space and Time are connected, but no one could prove the theory with observations. The 12 Parsec Kessel Run however, went from being totally fictional to being plausible as we learned about Space Time. The Maw (the collection of black holes close to the course of the Kessel Run, would be dangerous to be around, and even more dangerous to dare flying THROUGH. But physics says that it is plausible. A good comparison comes from Interstellar, where Cooper performs a similar maneuver to get the _Endurance_ to the final planet. The maneuver is called an Oberth Maneuver, and it makes use of an effect called the Oberth Effect. A vessel will use the gravity well of a celestial object to accelerate, then when it's acceleration is at it's greatest point, the vessel will throttle up it's engines to maximum and get a huge boost in velocity. With planets, it's safe, and actually common practice to conserve fuel on a spacecraft, be it a probe or crewed vessel. Scaling that up to the immense power of a Black Hole, and you're borderline insane to try it. _But it is still plausible._
The fact that this point was reiterated several times in the (now defunct) legends expanded universe and the subsequent EP7 suggests that Solo was not talking about the amount of time it took him, but rather the shortest route he made the Kessel run by. Remember, not all hyperspace lanes are straight lines between star systems.
I learned this from the Kessel Run research for the Rebels in the Sins of a Galactic Empire mod. Nice job on the video still. Didn't know it tied to real life!
I always liked to imagine the 'kessel run' was through an asteroid field, and while most smugglers took an indirect route avoiding the densest part of the field, Han and the Falcon were fast/agile enough to take a shorter route (
Yes, I think parsec is a Star Wars term. I don't think Lucas knew the full meaning of the word. I mean, look at the Star Wars universe, they travel in hyperspace, they don't need spacesuits while in a space ship, there is no 'time' eg Han informs Kenobi and Luke that they should be in Alderaan in 0200 hours, then seconds later, they're arriving at Alderaan, and droids have feelings. They can be scared, happy, sad etc. This is like your toaster having emotions.
The only units of time in Star Wars are BBY(Before the Battle of Yavin) & ABY(After the Battle of Yavin) , and that a "day" in Star Wars is called a "rotation", but overall, yeah its pretty weird...
It wouldn’t work anyway, the closer you get to a blackhole, the slower your relative time is going to pass compared to the rest of the universe. If you stay close enough, 10 seconds for you could possibly be several years for a ship further away from the black hole. So that’s not the way Han Solo made this run.
How do you know Han isn't just years older than we're used to thinking? What if time distortions due to relativity are common in the Star Wars universe and we just never notice?
Ooo Star Wars could be all about han, his kessel run breached the event horizon and Rae is actually yodas great grandmother, and unkar plutt is actually and unevoled hutt 😅
It was explained better in the books that came out when the original trilogy was released. Hyperdrives won't work when too close to gravity wells. Planets, black holes, and even Imperial interdictor ships stop hyperdrives from shooting a ship into hyperspace. And it was explained in the original books that the Kessel system was full of black holes, and it took longer than 19 parsecs, most freighters needing more than 30 parsecs for a safe enough course for the black holes not to yank the ship out of hyperspace and into normal space. And becase hyperspace is not in normal space, one CAN get a speed past the speed of light.
Out of all the videos I watched to have 'The Kessel Run' explained to me, you did the best job describing it in a way i can understand. Now I can finally wrap my head around it, thank you for this!!
Imagine how amazing it could be if the Han Solo spin off started with The Kessel Run. Like it would be the perfect scene to start the movie, straight into the action, no bull shit, we already know the character so they could totally do that!
Great video Greedo! I knew about how Han's boasting was about how he cut the distance down, but I didn't know the specifics. That sounds like an intense thrill ride that could translate amazingly in the Han Solo, well, solo film. I just wish they'd get Anthony Ingruber. Awesome stuff man!
I always considered the use of parsecs to mean the Kessel Run was in the midst of Imperial occupation, so most smugglers used out of the way routes to safely bypass the Empire. Thus Han went dangerously close to Imperial ships and risked being caught, boarded, and arrested. I didn't have the map of the Kessel Run or the exact definition, however, so I would say this is probably a superior explanation, since we're unlikely to receive a canon one.
Well, I think a better explanation would be as hyperdrives use routes to avoid planets and black holes, a skilled poultry could pot a tight and difficult route for the hyperdrive to take, cutting down on the distance needed to travel
Looking at Han's claim from a physics perspective, there's even more we can learn. As Han flies closer to the event horizon of a black hole the gravitational pull exerted on the Falcon increases because of something akin the shielding effect you may remember from high school chemistry. Because the mass of the Falcon remains constant, the velocity necessary to escape the attraction of a black hole increases as Han flies nearer the event horizon. By shaving off distance in this manner, Han is also proving that his ship must be able to go much faster than other ships or he wouldn't be able to escape the black holes. Putting relativity into the mix we see another way Han's statement proves the Falcon's speed. Because time is affected by gravity, shaving off distance could potentially increase time, making a short time unimpressive. By measuring distance instead of time, you alleviate this issue and still gauge a pilot's skill and his or her ship's top speed. Please like so HelloGreedo can see!
Even before the now public theory, just after I'd learned what I parsec was, I interpreted the Kessel run to be some sort of race where the course changes depending on how quickly you reach checkpoints or mile stones. First through check point 1? You get to take the shortcut to checkpoint 2. That way the course becomes harder and harder for the participates, but that the course was so difficult in general that it would be easy to loose your advantage. So I took Han's statement to mean that not only was he fast, he was good to; he could hold on to that advantage. As for the ".5. Past light speed" comment; I'd always interpreted that as a full stop, not a comma. That he was saying he could make hyperspeed at a unit of 0.5, which was considered very fast for such a small craft. Only destroyers could typically reach that speed, or maybe not even quite, "I've outrun Imperial Star Destroyers. She's fast enough for you, Old man."
Fun fact: while "Parsec" is a unit of distance, the Kessel Run, in the Star Wars universe, is around a Supermassive Black Hole. A shorter distance (like 12 parsecs) brings the ship closer to the fatal event horizon (or the FTL/hyperspace equivalent in the SW universe), and subjects it to greater stresses. Ergo, Solo was referring to the relatively short distance it took him to make the run (implying a shorter travel time), and suggesting the Falcon's structural integrity and the crew's navigational skills.
Calling it before I watch (actually sharing an explnation I've had for years now) Hyperspace travel happens through Hyperspace routes. You can't just straight up jump from place A to place B because there might be stuff in the way, so Hyperspace routes are long stretches of space where there's nothing to collide with. As such, you need to cover the distance from one Hyperspace lane to another. Additionally, the whole Hyperspace business has been theorized to have something to do with a sort of dimension portal, where two points that are very far apart in three dimensions, are actually closer when examined in four/more. Thus reducing the distance the ship needs to actually cover. We know that the Falcon barely does what, 1,5 light speed? And that it's an impressive value. So basically all a spaceship needs is to break light speed just by a bit and they can take advantage of the dimensional portals to travel at speeds seemingly (to a 3dimensional observer) many times greater. But going through a hyperspace lane at a greater speed also speeds up the process, and might affect how much the space warps around the spaceship, thus increasing the distance-shortening effect of using the lane. "Making the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs" would thus mean the DISTANCE as measured by THE MOVING FALCON was 12 parsecs, when the same distance measured in 3 dimensional space was much greater. Han and the Falcon managed to squeeze the advantage of a hyperspace lane to the max, not only covering distance faster but physically shortening the distance they had to cover in the first place. Actually I've always found this aspect of Star Wars to be pretty easy to explain somewhat scientifically. "somewhat", because we actually do get a bit of a free pass at physics, as we're talking about a "galaxy far, far away" and for all we know fundamental laws of physics could be different there ;) I actually have this theory that the entire space in the SW galaxy isn't a vacuum, but a very low pressure mix of gasses, just enough to not have your body lose its shape ;) There just isn't any (or hardly any) oxygene there, so humans can't breathe, but they can still survive a short while. That would be supported by the fact that SW space is inhabited by enormous living beings, as evidenced in both the films and animated series (let's not get into EU lol) - they're the equivalent of whales, mized with some deep sea animals, their size possible through lack of gravity and extremely low pressure (the opposite of how deep sea fish can't hold up their body shape in surface pressure), and allowing them to have slow metabolisms, filtering oxygene and organic matter from the LITERALLY thin air :) The space atmosphere idea would also explain how sound travels in space there :B
If you take into consideration nowdays' definition of space-time it actually makes sense that hed say he "made the run in 12 parsecs" referring both to time and space.
Han actually brings up the Kessel Run point in response to Ben asking if he should have heard of the Millennium Falcon. The boast isn't about the speed, but about why Ben should know what the Falcon is. And if he knew what the famous Millennium Falcon is, then he'd already know its a fast ship.
Actually it has a sense. He just took a shortcut and made another alternative route, which is shorter than tha normal. The standard distance is 18 or 20 persec( don't remember very well), with his "new route" he "cut" the distance between point A to point B on 12 persec, which shows how good pilot Han is and how fast the Falcon is. So it's true... Han is a true legend.
This is explained really well in the Han Solo Trilogy books - which are very good. I highly recommend them to any Star Wars fan (as well as the Thrawn Trilogy).
He never said HE did it in that time, he said the Millennium Falcon was famous for that feat. It's established that he wasn't the sole user of the Falcon, he apparently obtained it from Lando Calrissian at some point before A New Hope.
You see this is the kind of stuff I like to see. Not silly fan theories about who Snoke is, or is Kylo Ren really Luke Skywalker. This is a really interesting discussion, and makes me appreciate the films for the countless time.
Here is a concept that I came up with. In the force awakens you can see star killer base fire from many locations at the same time. Normally because light only travels so fast you wouldn't see it till light reached your location.(how ever many light years away that is is how many years it would take light to travel) But if Light moved faster, or the distance wasn't that great then it would be possible. Light speed in the star wars universe either is faster than our light, or objects are a lot closer. One thing that might support the closer theory is that this happened "a long time ago" Which might suggest that the galaxy is actually very young and is only just starting to expand. Which would allow light to reach it's destination faster than it would in our galaxy, because it is technically smaller.
Star Wars travel works if they are using all of three well known faster than light travel methods in Sci-Fi at once. Subspace is a dimension ships can shift into where distance traveled translates to more distance in real space; using subspace is a distance-traveled multiplier. Subspace also removes, or shifts, the restriction on light speed since it's physical laws aren't quite the same; light is only restricted by causality (causality is the C in E=MC^2) , and the speed of causality, and therefore the speed of light, is further increased in subspace, allowing a ship to go at the new speed of light. Finally, using a warp field is the only way to actually go the speed of light without literally turning your ship into pure energy, which you can't undo, and increases the potential speed of a ship even further, warping space, and therefore subspace, to further alter the restrictions of the speed limit of causality. Without all of this, even breaking the laws of physics in real space, going .5 past light speed would not get you from Tatooine to Alderaan in less than decades, but, with these multipliers stacked, you'll get you across a galaxy in a reasonable amount of time, though getting between galaxies is still a decades long endeavor. Sci-Fi food for thought :)
it makes perfect sense.. you can get from a-b in a certain amount of distance... somebody else took a shorter route, somebody else a longer route... different routes to get to the same place.
This also explains how Han had the skill to fly at lightspeed toward the surface of Starkiller Base, slowing down just in time to get through its shield but not slam into the ground.
Only problem I have with that explanation is the context, what Han says before the boast. "Fast ship?! You never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It's *the ship* that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs." So he is clearly boasting about the speed of the ship and not his skill as a pilot. The speed of the ship is the subject of this first part of the conversation and Han even attributes the 12 parsec Kessel run to the ship, not himself. Truthfully, we don't even know that it was Han who piloted the Falcon on this less than 12 parsec Kessel run.
I had always assumed the Han had said "twelve parsecs" to suss out whether Obi-Wan & Luke were just simple rubes and used that information to adjust the price of travel. Had they called him out, it would have only been 2000 plus gas money.
When I hear .5 past light speed I think that he could be talking about warping space time which is the only chance you have of going faster than light. The falcon could have something like an Alcubierre drive. They refer to the mechanism aboard the falcon as the hyperdrive motivator not the light speed motivator. Also when they say "light speed" it could be a relic like we still say sunrise when we know the earth is turning and the sun isn't actually rising.
The real thing that deems the Millennium Falcon the fastest ship in the galaxy is not the hyperdrive, it is the navigational computer, which calculates jumps faster than any other ship's navi com can do.
Yes, I agree with mostly what you said, however I think this was a way from them to cover up their mistake. Han told Obi about his Kessel Run after he was asked if his ship was fast, in which Han's reply was, "She's fast enough for you old man." His ship being fast had nothing to do with him getting through this race in less of a distance than it really was. In their own explanation the speed, or time rather, was not accomplished by the ship but rather the proximity of the ship to the black hole. They related it to a race care taking in inside track over an obvious outside one. Say what you want, they messed up. I don't think they really thought anyone, outside of physicist, would notice. Especially back in the 70's. After all there were no iPhones.
Ikr?! The EU / Solo explanation sounded like like a runner / race car *literally* “cutting corners” aka *cheating*!? And the closer - to - black hole route requiring stronger engines / better nav idea (esp. if it wasn’t written until *after* the “12 parsecs” line (and idk if it was)) prolly sounds (to the *average* viewer who, btw, *defines* whether something is “too complex”) like a rationalization, like a runner / race car team trying to excuse themselves “cutting corners”, cuz it required stronger legs & feet / suspension & tires. The EU / Solo writers made it too complicated! KISS! Could’ve just explained it saying that it’s like how something can be the *distance* of a # of light *years* away even though “years” part of “light years” is a measurement of *time*. “12 parsecs” could’ve just been a figure of speech for “12 *light* parsecs” (i.e., time it takes *light* to travel 12 parsecs) or “12 *X* parsecs” (i.e. time it takes *X* (where *X* is some well known fast ship) to travel 12 parsecs).
The fact is some people who didnt know what a parsec was, do now (even if George saw parsec and mistook the "sec" part of the word to imply it was a measurement of time..) Its a cool story.
I think it's quite obvious that Han was talking in natural units (where c, the speed of light, is equal to 1), where distance and time have the same units, so you can measure time in distance units (like parsecs), also this makes sense since the ships travel at relativistic speeds hahahaha.
On the commentary, I recall Lucas saying it was something similar to Star Trek transporters, but I don't remember a lot of the particulars. Lucas kinda has a history of covering his own tracks, anyway. Sure, George, they totally WERE all originally one movie, EXACTLY the way they were made. No changes were made during the writing process... SURE!
It’s still a plot hole though. Han uses his famous parsec line in response to how fast his ship is. Why would the speed of the ship matter in a trip in which speed does not matter? George Lucas clearly didn’t know what a parsec was and used it anyway.
Erm... Are you okay? Obviously your gonna want a fast ship, even if its not for a fast job so you would brag about it doing the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs
The problem I have with this explanation is that Han was using this to explain how fast the ship was not how good his piloting skill were after Obi Wan says "if its a fast enough ship?". Also he says "it's the ship that made the Kessel run in in less then 12 Parsecs" not that he necessarily was the pilot at the time. I always thought before the EU that he was referring to the model of the ship and not this one specifically. Anyway for this reasons I feel Lucas just stuffed up and the EU is just trying to explain the gaff.
In the original script, Obi-wan was supposed to look disbelieving of Han's statement. The point of the statement was that Han was trying to impress Luke and Obi-wan with made up facts that didnt make sense. It was meant to imply that Han didn't know what he was talking about, and Obi-wan was meant to pick up on it.
I've heard that in the script Obi-wan was supposed roll his eyes or give a scoffing look after Han gave that claim, but Allan Guinness didn't. Basically this would insinuate that Han was lying about it; he is a scoundrel after all. Though if you want to claim he did do it, another argument I heard is that his ship had an on board computer that let him do it.
Come on guys. Lucas just used a spacey term that he knew his viewers wouldn't know and maybe didn't know himself. Don't try to sugar coat it with more confusing and ridiculous explanations. It is what it is.
Funny story: Obi-Wan's reaction in the movie to the parsec line is one of "huh, BS!" and from memory, that's what they were going for: that Han was just BS-ing the locals. I know of the distance cutting thing, and that's a smart fan theory, though.
The original script draws reference to this, highlighting that Obi-Wan is very familiar with space travel and Han is full of shit and just makes it all up.
Yes and no, a Parsec is a distance calculated using parallax where 1au subtends an angle of one arcsecond. It just happens that it equates to 3.26Lys Te clue is in the name PARallax/SECond of Arc
Is this a question that REALLY needs to be answered?? I mean, it's just space mumbo jumbo that's said by Han Solo to boast about himself, telling us about his character. It would've worked just as fine if it was "I made the Korro path in more than eight killowatts". It doesn't matter what it means, it doesn't really need an explanation haha
+Julian Webb Yeah, I always figured it was a just a line he used on gullible clients. Never underestimate the capacity for Star Wars fans to over-analyze everything, though. There were EU books that explained EVERYTHING in the films, from large scale political events to the detailed backstories of every alien in the Mos Eisley cantina.
***** Exactly, It'll be pretty dumb if in the young Han Solo movie we "finally" see how he made the kessel run. I love this character to death but who cares. But My favorite example of the EU explaining too much is about Darth Vader's suit, from the droids names who operated on him, to the fact Palpatine named a hospital after himself. Watch the Red Letter Media video about it, comedy gold.
Julian Webb Oh yeah, that RLM segment was comedic gold. I liked how Vader's glove was a "Mandalorian crushgaunt..." because they just HAD to shoehorn Mandalorians in there somewhere. Freaking Mandaboos... I'm not too fond of the idea of origin movies either. It removes the element of mystery behind the characters that helped make them interesting in the first place. Besides, I'd rather they explore new stories with entirely new characters instead of circling around the old ones all the time. It makes the Star Wars galaxy feel more like a small town.
I remember in the legacy Canon the empire had hidden the sun destroyer and had base of operations in the middle of the black hole cluster. only people with the correct cordinates could get to it or someone good with the force
Alternatively there could be a simpler explanation that doesn't require extreme relativitistic effects. Let's take a look at the challenge of the Kessel run. The smuggler must reach several transports and drop off cargo. These transports are all moving away from each other. So that means that as the contest goes on the distance between them will increase. Perhaps the way that the kessel run is measured is by how far apart the transports are from each other by the time the smuggler finishes. Alternatively it could be measured in terms of how far the smuggler's ship travels. And the faster you can get to a target ship and deliver the cargo the faster you can move onto the next ship. And the faster you can move on to the next ship the closer to you it will be.
Thank you for this video. I believe it was in one of the x-wing books that I finally released that this was the case. Didn't realize it would be almost 16 years later that some one like you would make a video about it. Thanks for the nostalgia.
It could be that the Kessel Run was a measure of acceleration... Reaching a specific speed benchmark within a certain distance. That's a simpler explanation and also ties in with the fact that Han is boasting about the ship's speed.
Plus idk what galaxy starwars takes place in but stars are usually 3 to 7 light years away around earth. And even if you could go .5 past light speed it would still take years to get to another planet.
And here we are now with a canon answer to what it is. Yeah he cut the distance. He was smuggling. But it was not a contest; it was a survival desperate measure. I always imagined it like Han had participated in a pod racing type of contest. Now we know. @hellogreedo
I always thought the Kessel Run was a race in which participants had a certain amount of time to go as far as their ship could go, and the Falcon managed to go a significant distance.
The "Kessel Run" is not the name of a space path/ trade route. The Kessel are a band of alien bandits who steal from merchants throughout the galaxy. But they must get in, take the goods, and get back to their planet before other ships can catch them. Han Solo got word that they were about to raid an outpost of interest to him, so he flew out to intercept. The Kessel detected the speed of his ship on their radar, and realized they would not be able to outrun him. So before they even went 12 parsecs out, they turned around and ran back home. So now you know what Han Solo means when he said he made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.
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“12 if you round down”
To me, a more believable explanation would be that the Kessel Run was a competition on who could take the shortest, most direct route to the target destination while carrying illicit cargo. The shorter the route, the more the pilot is exposed to discovery from imperial authorities.
Essentially, Han would be bragging about the Falcon's ability to evade authorities.
Nice thought but since the Kessel run is about 20 parsecs long it simply dowa not work.
And here I thought parsec was a phony baloney sci-fi term.
+user1point0 Do your research.
+fcknmrcls - Unlike Lucas at the time :)
MrSeagull For sure. Never said anything about that. It's just that knowing what a parsec is, to me, basic.
No worries, I get what you mean, I was just musing that Lucas most likely didn't do his research before throwing that in the script.
+user1point0 Me too.
One little issue though.... if you use gravity to dilate space by parsecs, you're also gonna dilate time A LOT (like the "7 years per hour" planet in Interstellar).
The earlier scripts for A New Hope actually indicate that Han was just bluffing and that Obi-Wan was visibly unimpressed.
+Vader the White that was always my favorite explanation
+Vader the White It's the better explanation. It shows that Han is kind of a boastful, braggart of a guy but not quite good with the fancy book learning.
+Vader the White that's a better explanation. it fits Han's boastful character. and it fits with Obi wan's reaction. he was kind of just like "so?"
umidontno040394 "Should I have?"
+Vader the White That explanation would make Han Solo look more like a villain so I changed it.. we need kids to be related to him - George Lucas.
Funny fact: In Spain they translated Parsec in this scene as "Para-segundo" or "Para-second" .. converting a real distance measure into a fictional sci-fi-ish time measure
+sparrowlt
the funny thing is that Parsec is a abbreviation of parallax of one arc second or in spanish "paralaje de un segundo de arco" so abbreviating it as "Para-segundo" is perfectly fine. Maybe in Spain they call this unit that way, kind of the same way why for example Germany is Alemania or Pound is Libra, both reference the same thing but they look and sound nothing alike
+David E. Franco G. oh.. didnt knew Parsec was composed of that, i never looked into what parsec came from and so the name was derived from... quite interesting, thanks.
still im somehow confident the spaniard translator wasnt probably aware of that .. also parsec is the unit name and in spanish its not translated (unlike other measure units like yard, mile , pound and so)
In response to that last comment, I once heard that ships can travel in hyperspace (a space outside the normal realm of relativistic physics) allowing them to exceed the speed of light.
In the original script Han Solo was lying about it to "impress an old man with obvious misinformation" but in the expanded universe it's stated that he actually did it. Great video keep it up :)
That's actually pretty interesting, when I was younger watching A New Hope, I always thought the "term" Parsec was indeed a Unit of Distance. It's pretty cool to see I was thinking about it correctly.
Evidence that Lucas didn't think of it in that way is shown in the knowledge we had (or lack thereof) concerning Space-Time. Many thought at the time that Space and Time were separate from each other, there was this theory that suggested (again, at the time) that Space and Time are connected, but no one could prove the theory with observations.
The 12 Parsec Kessel Run however, went from being totally fictional to being plausible as we learned about Space Time. The Maw (the collection of black holes close to the course of the Kessel Run, would be dangerous to be around, and even more dangerous to dare flying THROUGH. But physics says that it is plausible. A good comparison comes from Interstellar, where Cooper performs a similar maneuver to get the _Endurance_ to the final planet. The maneuver is called an Oberth Maneuver, and it makes use of an effect called the Oberth Effect. A vessel will use the gravity well of a celestial object to accelerate, then when it's acceleration is at it's greatest point, the vessel will throttle up it's engines to maximum and get a huge boost in velocity. With planets, it's safe, and actually common practice to conserve fuel on a spacecraft, be it a probe or crewed vessel. Scaling that up to the immense power of a Black Hole, and you're borderline insane to try it. _But it is still plausible._
The fact that this point was reiterated several times in the (now defunct) legends expanded universe and the subsequent EP7 suggests that Solo was not talking about the amount of time it took him, but rather the shortest route he made the Kessel run by. Remember, not all hyperspace lanes are straight lines between star systems.
I learned this from the Kessel Run research for the Rebels in the Sins of a Galactic Empire mod. Nice job on the video still. Didn't know it tied to real life!
I always liked to imagine the 'kessel run' was through an asteroid field, and while most smugglers took an indirect route avoiding the densest part of the field, Han and the Falcon were fast/agile enough to take a shorter route (
Yes, I think parsec is a Star Wars term. I don't think Lucas knew the full meaning of the word. I mean, look at the Star Wars universe, they travel in hyperspace, they don't need spacesuits while in a space ship, there is no 'time' eg Han informs Kenobi and Luke that they should be in Alderaan in 0200 hours, then seconds later, they're arriving at Alderaan, and droids have feelings. They can be scared, happy, sad etc. This is like your toaster having emotions.
+hawkeye pierce The term was coined in 1913.
+hawkeye pierce ... What are you on about?
+hawkeye pierce Astronauts TODAY don't need spacesuits while in a spaceship. Those things have air inside of them dude.
The only units of time in Star Wars are BBY(Before the Battle of Yavin) & ABY(After the Battle of Yavin) , and that a "day" in Star Wars is called a "rotation", but overall, yeah its pretty weird...
+The Legendary Husquin ABY and BBY aren't canon though.
It wouldn’t work anyway, the closer you get to a blackhole, the slower your relative time is going to pass compared to the rest of the universe. If you stay close enough, 10 seconds for you could possibly be several years for a ship further away from the black hole. So that’s not the way Han Solo made this run.
How do you know Han isn't just years older than we're used to thinking? What if time distortions due to relativity are common in the Star Wars universe and we just never notice?
Ooo Star Wars could be all about han, his kessel run breached the event horizon and Rae is actually yodas great grandmother, and unkar plutt is actually and unevoled hutt 😅
Star Wars has faster-than-light technology I think black holes won't be a problem
HelloGreedo I have been a sub when you had 50,000 and your videos are still the best. You sir are a true hero
It was explained better in the books that came out when the original trilogy was released. Hyperdrives won't work when too close to gravity wells. Planets, black holes, and even Imperial interdictor ships stop hyperdrives from shooting a ship into hyperspace.
And it was explained in the original books that the Kessel system was full of black holes, and it took longer than 19 parsecs, most freighters needing more than 30 parsecs for a safe enough course for the black holes not to yank the ship out of hyperspace and into normal space.
And becase hyperspace is not in normal space, one CAN get a speed past the speed of light.
Out of all the videos I watched to have 'The Kessel Run' explained to me, you did the best job describing it in a way i can understand. Now I can finally wrap my head around it, thank you for this!!
0.5 past Light Speed, what an absolute unit.
Imagine how amazing it could be if the Han Solo spin off started with The Kessel Run. Like it would be the perfect scene to start the movie, straight into the action, no bull shit, we already know the character so they could totally do that!
+Coroner Trudel NO, THAT SPINOFF MOVIE SHOUDLN'T HAPPEN!
umidontno040394 I agree with you, but at least they could get that right.
2 year later...the movie is a fact.
Great video Greedo! I knew about how Han's boasting was about how he cut the distance down, but I didn't know the specifics. That sounds like an intense thrill ride that could translate amazingly in the Han Solo, well, solo film. I just wish they'd get Anthony Ingruber.
Awesome stuff man!
I always considered the use of parsecs to mean the Kessel Run was in the midst of Imperial occupation, so most smugglers used out of the way routes to safely bypass the Empire. Thus Han went dangerously close to Imperial ships and risked being caught, boarded, and arrested. I didn't have the map of the Kessel Run or the exact definition, however, so I would say this is probably a superior explanation, since we're unlikely to receive a canon one.
Well, I think a better explanation would be as hyperdrives use routes to avoid planets and black holes, a skilled poultry could pot a tight and difficult route for the hyperdrive to take, cutting down on the distance needed to travel
*poilet
Shit 400 years ago powered flight was scientifically impossible.
I mean in the Starwars universe they use 3000 year old technology
Looking at Han's claim from a physics perspective, there's even more we can learn. As Han flies closer to the event horizon of a black hole the gravitational pull exerted on the Falcon increases because of something akin the shielding effect you may remember from high school chemistry. Because the mass of the Falcon remains constant, the velocity necessary to escape the attraction of a black hole increases as Han flies nearer the event horizon. By shaving off distance in this manner, Han is also proving that his ship must be able to go much faster than other ships or he wouldn't be able to escape the black holes. Putting relativity into the mix we see another way Han's statement proves the Falcon's speed. Because time is affected by gravity, shaving off distance could potentially increase time, making a short time unimpressive. By measuring distance instead of time, you alleviate this issue and still gauge a pilot's skill and his or her ship's top speed. Please like so HelloGreedo can see!
Even before the now public theory, just after I'd learned what I parsec was, I interpreted the Kessel run to be some sort of race where the course changes depending on how quickly you reach checkpoints or mile stones. First through check point 1? You get to take the shortcut to checkpoint 2. That way the course becomes harder and harder for the participates, but that the course was so difficult in general that it would be easy to loose your advantage. So I took Han's statement to mean that not only was he fast, he was good to; he could hold on to that advantage.
As for the ".5. Past light speed" comment; I'd always interpreted that as a full stop, not a comma. That he was saying he could make hyperspeed at a unit of 0.5, which was considered very fast for such a small craft. Only destroyers could typically reach that speed, or maybe not even quite, "I've outrun Imperial Star Destroyers. She's fast enough for you, Old man."
Fun fact: while "Parsec" is a unit of distance, the Kessel Run, in the Star Wars universe, is around a Supermassive Black Hole. A shorter distance (like 12 parsecs) brings the ship closer to the fatal event horizon (or the FTL/hyperspace equivalent in the SW universe), and subjects it to greater stresses. Ergo, Solo was referring to the relatively short distance it took him to make the run (implying a shorter travel time), and suggesting the Falcon's structural integrity and the crew's navigational skills.
Love your passion for the source material, keep up the good work!
Calling it before I watch (actually sharing an explnation I've had for years now)
Hyperspace travel happens through Hyperspace routes. You can't just straight up jump from place A to place B because there might be stuff in the way, so Hyperspace routes are long stretches of space where there's nothing to collide with. As such, you need to cover the distance from one Hyperspace lane to another. Additionally, the whole Hyperspace business has been theorized to have something to do with a sort of dimension portal, where two points that are very far apart in three dimensions, are actually closer when examined in four/more. Thus reducing the distance the ship needs to actually cover. We know that the Falcon barely does what, 1,5 light speed? And that it's an impressive value. So basically all a spaceship needs is to break light speed just by a bit and they can take advantage of the dimensional portals to travel at speeds seemingly (to a 3dimensional observer) many times greater. But going through a hyperspace lane at a greater speed also speeds up the process, and might affect how much the space warps around the spaceship, thus increasing the distance-shortening effect of using the lane. "Making the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs" would thus mean the DISTANCE as measured by THE MOVING FALCON was 12 parsecs, when the same distance measured in 3 dimensional space was much greater. Han and the Falcon managed to squeeze the advantage of a hyperspace lane to the max, not only covering distance faster but physically shortening the distance they had to cover in the first place.
Actually I've always found this aspect of Star Wars to be pretty easy to explain somewhat scientifically. "somewhat", because we actually do get a bit of a free pass at physics, as we're talking about a "galaxy far, far away" and for all we know fundamental laws of physics could be different there ;)
I actually have this theory that the entire space in the SW galaxy isn't a vacuum, but a very low pressure mix of gasses, just enough to not have your body lose its shape ;) There just isn't any (or hardly any) oxygene there, so humans can't breathe, but they can still survive a short while. That would be supported by the fact that SW space is inhabited by enormous living beings, as evidenced in both the films and animated series (let's not get into EU lol) - they're the equivalent of whales, mized with some deep sea animals, their size possible through lack of gravity and extremely low pressure (the opposite of how deep sea fish can't hold up their body shape in surface pressure), and allowing them to have slow metabolisms, filtering oxygene and organic matter from the LITERALLY thin air :) The space atmosphere idea would also explain how sound travels in space there :B
If you take into consideration nowdays' definition of space-time it actually makes sense that hed say he "made the run in 12 parsecs" referring both to time and space.
Han never actually said that HE made the run just that the Millennium Falcon made the run. Maybe it was Lando Calrissian.
Han actually brings up the Kessel Run point in response to Ben asking if he should have heard of the Millennium Falcon. The boast isn't about the speed, but about why Ben should know what the Falcon is. And if he knew what the famous Millennium Falcon is, then he'd already know its a fast ship.
Let's face it, George Lucas made stuff up out of his butt.
Actually it has a sense. He just took a shortcut and made another alternative route, which is shorter than tha normal. The standard distance is 18 or 20 persec( don't remember very well), with his "new route" he "cut" the distance between point A to point B on 12 persec, which shows how good pilot Han is and how fast the Falcon is. So it's true... Han is a true legend.
Vencislav Gynev. Not to mention he is a genius, he used his surroundings in the Maw to get past the black holes
@@definedparadox it wasn't him it was the computer
Pablo Hidalgo likes to compare the Kessel Run to a game of Frogger, where you're trying to cross the road with the shortest distance.
Wow, this is a perfect example of how huge the Star Wars universe is.
This is explained really well in the Han Solo Trilogy books - which are very good. I highly recommend them to any Star Wars fan (as well as the Thrawn Trilogy).
He never said HE did it in that time, he said the Millennium Falcon was famous for that feat. It's established that he wasn't the sole user of the Falcon, he apparently obtained it from Lando Calrissian at some point before A New Hope.
I believe it was supposed to be a bluff on Han's part. It was supposed to show Luke as being wide-eyed while Obi-Wan saw through the bluff.
INCORRECT! He isn't talking about himself. He is talking about the ship. The ship, the speed, the shorter distance.
+Evan Adams Besides, he never claimed to be the one that actually did it. All he said was the ship did it. lol
+Ben Plummer good point! could have been Lando!!
You see this is the kind of stuff I like to see. Not silly fan theories about who Snoke is, or is Kylo Ren really Luke Skywalker. This is a really interesting discussion, and makes me appreciate the films for the countless time.
This video is really great. Thank you Hello Greedo.
Here is a concept that I came up with.
In the force awakens you can see star killer base fire from many locations at the same time. Normally because light only travels so fast you wouldn't see it till light reached your location.(how ever many light years away that is is how many years it would take light to travel)
But if Light moved faster, or the distance wasn't that great then it would be possible.
Light speed in the star wars universe either is faster than our light, or objects are a lot closer.
One thing that might support the closer theory is that this happened "a long time ago" Which might suggest that the galaxy is actually very young and is only just starting to expand. Which would allow light to reach it's destination faster than it would in our galaxy, because it is technically smaller.
Star Wars travel works if they are using all of three well known faster than light travel methods in Sci-Fi at once. Subspace is a dimension ships can shift into where distance traveled translates to more distance in real space; using subspace is a distance-traveled multiplier. Subspace also removes, or shifts, the restriction on light speed since it's physical laws aren't quite the same; light is only restricted by causality (causality is the C in E=MC^2) , and the speed of causality, and therefore the speed of light, is further increased in subspace, allowing a ship to go at the new speed of light. Finally, using a warp field is the only way to actually go the speed of light without literally turning your ship into pure energy, which you can't undo, and increases the potential speed of a ship even further, warping space, and therefore subspace, to further alter the restrictions of the speed limit of causality. Without all of this, even breaking the laws of physics in real space, going .5 past light speed would not get you from Tatooine to Alderaan in less than decades, but, with these multipliers stacked, you'll get you across a galaxy in a reasonable amount of time, though getting between galaxies is still a decades long endeavor. Sci-Fi food for thought :)
it makes perfect sense.. you can get from a-b in a certain amount of distance... somebody else took a shorter route, somebody else a longer route... different routes to get to the same place.
This also explains how Han had the skill to fly at lightspeed toward the surface of Starkiller Base, slowing down just in time to get through its shield but not slam into the ground.
Only problem I have with that explanation is the context, what Han says before the boast.
"Fast ship?! You never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It's *the ship* that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs."
So he is clearly boasting about the speed of the ship and not his skill as a pilot. The speed of the ship is the subject of this first part of the conversation and Han even attributes the 12 parsec Kessel run to the ship, not himself. Truthfully, we don't even know that it was Han who piloted the Falcon on this less than 12 parsec Kessel run.
Read my above post about how his ship would have to be fast to cut off distance, I think you'll find it interesting
I had always assumed the Han had said "twelve parsecs" to suss out whether Obi-Wan & Luke were just simple rubes and used that information to adjust the price of travel. Had they called him out, it would have only been 2000 plus gas money.
There must be a Hello Greedo minifigure...
Done!
12 parsecs at 1.5c would still take about 26 earth years
The Jedi ways teach of patients
Smokey and the bandit in space! Brilliant!
Great video and explanation! Thanks for the great content you post to your channel!
You're _Han Solo_? _This_ is *Millenium Falcon*? The ship that made the Kessel Run in 14 parsecs?
12!!! 14...
Distance / Speed = Time
Parsecs / How fast the Falcon is = How quick he did it done
Well now we know he made a cut through the kessel tunnel and used a Coaxium boost to hurry through it
When I hear .5 past light speed I think that he could be talking about warping space time which is the only chance you have of going faster than light. The falcon could have something like an Alcubierre drive. They refer to the mechanism aboard the falcon as the hyperdrive motivator not the light speed motivator. Also when they say "light speed" it could be a relic like we still say sunrise when we know the earth is turning and the sun isn't actually rising.
The real thing that deems the Millennium Falcon the fastest ship in the galaxy is not the hyperdrive, it is the navigational computer, which calculates jumps faster than any other ship's navi com can do.
12 parsecs = 39,12 LY
Millenium falcon can travel 1,5x lightspeed
39,12 LY : 1,5 lightspeed = 26,08 years
But wtf it is a f*cking good movie
Solo a star wars story has an objection to make
Yes, I agree with mostly what you said, however I think this was a way from them to cover up their mistake. Han told Obi about his Kessel Run after he was asked if his ship was fast, in which Han's reply was, "She's fast enough for you old man." His ship being fast had nothing to do with him getting through this race in less of a distance than it really was. In their own explanation the speed, or time rather, was not accomplished by the ship but rather the proximity of the ship to the black hole. They related it to a race care taking in inside track over an obvious outside one. Say what you want, they messed up. I don't think they really thought anyone, outside of physicist, would notice. Especially back in the 70's. After all there were no iPhones.
He literally says that at the end of the video, you’re just repeating what he said
@@adamcole6957 I didn't watch it all the way through
Ikr?!
The EU / Solo explanation sounded like like a runner / race car *literally* “cutting corners” aka *cheating*!? And the closer - to - black hole route requiring stronger engines / better nav idea (esp. if it wasn’t written until *after* the “12 parsecs” line (and idk if it was)) prolly sounds (to the *average* viewer who, btw, *defines* whether something is “too complex”) like a rationalization, like a runner / race car team trying to excuse themselves “cutting corners”, cuz it required stronger legs & feet / suspension & tires.
The EU / Solo writers made it too complicated! KISS! Could’ve just explained it saying that it’s like how something can be the *distance* of a # of light *years* away even though “years” part of “light years” is a measurement of *time*. “12 parsecs” could’ve just been a figure of speech for “12 *light* parsecs” (i.e., time it takes *light* to travel 12 parsecs) or “12 *X* parsecs” (i.e. time it takes *X* (where *X* is some well known fast ship) to travel 12 parsecs).
I just used google intergalactic translate and it turns out Parsec means “light year” in that far, far away galaxy.
HelloGreedo will forever be the great philosopher who answered this question. Someday children will read of his legend!
The fact is some people who didnt know what a parsec was, do now (even if George saw parsec and mistook the "sec" part of the word to imply it was a measurement of time..) Its a cool story.
K, lol be back in a parsec
I think it's quite obvious that Han was talking in natural units (where c, the speed of light, is equal to 1), where distance and time have the same units, so you can measure time in distance units (like parsecs), also this makes sense since the ships travel at relativistic speeds hahahaha.
On the commentary, I recall Lucas saying it was something similar to Star Trek transporters, but I don't remember a lot of the particulars. Lucas kinda has a history of covering his own tracks, anyway. Sure, George, they totally WERE all originally one movie, EXACTLY the way they were made. No changes were made during the writing process... SURE!
It’s still a plot hole though. Han uses his famous parsec line in response to how fast his ship is. Why would the speed of the ship matter in a trip in which speed does not matter?
George Lucas clearly didn’t know what a parsec was and used it anyway.
Erm... Are you okay? Obviously your gonna want a fast ship, even if its not for a fast job so you would brag about it doing the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs
VAQUERO So, I want a fast ship but I also want evidence of that speed that has nothing to do with speed.
LMAO
will you review Rebels season 2 ?
Well I have heard of a particle accelerator.. which did speed up the particles above lightspeed
The problem I have with this explanation is that Han was using this to explain how fast the ship was not how good his piloting skill were after Obi Wan says "if its a fast enough ship?". Also he says "it's the ship that made the Kessel run in in less then 12 Parsecs" not that he necessarily was the pilot at the time. I always thought before the EU that he was referring to the model of the ship and not this one specifically. Anyway for this reasons I feel Lucas just stuffed up and the EU is just trying to explain the gaff.
In the original script, Obi-wan was supposed to look disbelieving of Han's statement. The point of the statement was that Han was trying to impress Luke and Obi-wan with made up facts that didnt make sense. It was meant to imply that Han didn't know what he was talking about, and Obi-wan was meant to pick up on it.
Another side note. I believe parsec was spelled "par-sec" in the actual script. Perhaps a "par-sec" was a unit of time. :)
I've heard that in the script Obi-wan was supposed roll his eyes or give a scoffing look after Han gave that claim, but Allan Guinness didn't. Basically this would insinuate that Han was lying about it; he is a scoundrel after all.
Though if you want to claim he did do it, another argument I heard is that his ship had an on board computer that let him do it.
Come on guys. Lucas just used a spacey term that he knew his viewers wouldn't know and maybe didn't know himself. Don't try to sugar coat it with more confusing and ridiculous explanations. It is what it is.
Have you seen solo yet
Funny story: Obi-Wan's reaction in the movie to the parsec line is one of "huh, BS!" and from memory, that's what they were going for: that Han was just BS-ing the locals. I know of the distance cutting thing, and that's a smart fan theory, though.
The original script draws reference to this, highlighting that Obi-Wan is very familiar with space travel and Han is full of shit and just makes it all up.
Yes and no, a Parsec is a distance calculated using parallax where 1au subtends an angle of one arcsecond. It just happens that it equates to 3.26Lys
Te clue is in the name PARallax/SECond of Arc
That little yoda remix is lit AF 😮
At least we actually got to see him do it
How do you feel about the outer rim DLC?
(1:42) Isn't that black hole meant to be the Maw?
Oh, that makes so much sense now
Hey you got it right on! (Just watched SOLO)
Having watched Solo, HG actually got it all right lol. Except for the coaxium bit, which he couldn’t know at the time :)
Is this a question that REALLY needs to be answered?? I mean, it's just space mumbo jumbo that's said by Han Solo to boast about himself, telling us about his character. It would've worked just as fine if it was "I made the Korro path in more than eight killowatts". It doesn't matter what it means, it doesn't really need an explanation haha
+Julian Webb
Yeah, I always figured it was a just a line he used on gullible clients. Never underestimate the capacity for Star Wars fans to over-analyze everything, though. There were EU books that explained EVERYTHING in the films, from large scale political events to the detailed backstories of every alien in the Mos Eisley cantina.
***** Exactly, It'll be pretty dumb if in the young Han Solo movie we "finally" see how he made the kessel run. I love this character to death but who cares. But My favorite example of the EU explaining too much is about Darth Vader's suit, from the droids names who operated on him, to the fact Palpatine named a hospital after himself. Watch the Red Letter Media video about it, comedy gold.
Julian Webb
Oh yeah, that RLM segment was comedic gold. I liked how Vader's glove was a "Mandalorian crushgaunt..." because they just HAD to shoehorn Mandalorians in there somewhere. Freaking Mandaboos...
I'm not too fond of the idea of origin movies either. It removes the element of mystery behind the characters that helped make them interesting in the first place. Besides, I'd rather they explore new stories with entirely new characters instead of circling around the old ones all the time. It makes the Star Wars galaxy feel more like a small town.
I remember in the legacy Canon the empire had hidden the sun destroyer and had base of operations in the middle of the black hole cluster. only people with the correct cordinates could get to it or someone good with the force
You realize the radar dish is missing in the image behind you, right?
Alternatively there could be a simpler explanation that doesn't require extreme relativitistic effects. Let's take a look at the challenge of the Kessel run. The smuggler must reach several transports and drop off cargo. These transports are all moving away from each other. So that means that as the contest goes on the distance between them will increase. Perhaps the way that the kessel run is measured is by how far apart the transports are from each other by the time the smuggler finishes. Alternatively it could be measured in terms of how far the smuggler's ship travels. And the faster you can get to a target ship and deliver the cargo the faster you can move onto the next ship. And the faster you can move on to the next ship the closer to you it will be.
So in this way the faster you complete the challenge the shorter the distance you had to travel to do it.
Thank you for this video. I believe it was in one of the x-wing books that I finally released that this was the case. Didn't realize it would be almost 16 years later that some one like you would make a video about it. Thanks for the nostalgia.
It could be that the Kessel Run was a measure of acceleration... Reaching a specific speed benchmark within a certain distance. That's a simpler explanation and also ties in with the fact that Han is boasting about the ship's speed.
Legend has it that it did the Kessel Run in less than 12 Parsecs…..
After I watched the video I thought it should have been a Star Wars science video
Han Solo Anthology scene confirmed. (I want the Kessel Run to be a part of the movie :D)
Plus idk what galaxy starwars takes place in but stars are usually 3 to 7 light years away around earth. And even if you could go .5 past light speed it would still take years to get to another planet.
So he was racing for roughly 30 years?
And here we are now with a canon answer to what it is. Yeah he cut the distance. He was smuggling. But it was not a contest; it was a survival desperate measure. I always imagined it like Han had participated in a pod racing type of contest. Now we know. @hellogreedo
“How long you been flying?”
“180 years old... You look Great!”
Surprised George didn't fix it in the special editions. Guess he only wanted to fix what wasn't broken.
Wow Han is even more of a badass now after watching this video
I always thought the Kessel Run was a race in which participants had a certain amount of time to go as far as their ship could go, and the Falcon managed to go a significant distance.
He wouldn't say "less than" if that were the case. 0 is less than 12.
The "Kessel Run" is not the name of a space path/ trade route.
The Kessel are a band of alien bandits who steal from merchants throughout the galaxy.
But they must get in, take the goods, and get back to their planet before other ships can catch them.
Han Solo got word that they were about to raid an outpost of interest to him, so he flew out to intercept.
The Kessel detected the speed of his ship on their radar, and realized they would not be able to outrun him.
So before they even went 12 parsecs out, they turned around and ran back home.
So now you know what Han Solo means when he said he made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.
pattystomper1 lol n1
This kinda stuff is what we should be fighting debating about, not stature or memes.
It's interesting to note, Han Solo never said 'he' made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, just the Millennium Falcon did.