What Exactly Are Parsecs And How Do They Work?
Every Star Wars fan knows the famous line about how the Millennium Falcon “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.” But what exactly is a parsec and how does it factor into Star Wars?
Well, if you are like me and aren’t much of a scientist, you may be surprised to know that a parsec is a real actual measurement and is not just a made up term in Star Wars. Parsecs are actually a unit of distance rather than time. In particular, a unit of length used to measure large distances of astronomical objects outside of the Solar System. Basically used for objects in space particularly. So it makes sense that in the Star Wars universe, they would measure in parsecs. (Other than it sounds different and cooler than say, miles or kilometers.)
The term parsec was coined by British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner in 1913. It comes from the parallax of one arcsecond: parsec, and was used to make the calculations of astronomical distances from raw observational data easier for scientists. It is a unit that is preferred in astronomy and astrophysics, although the popular term light-year (Buzz Lightyear, anyone?) is prominent as well in many popular science texts and is used commonly. Parsecs are generally used to measure shorter distances within the Milky Way (imagine the Kessel Run again), while multiples of parsecs are used for measuring larger scales of distance within the universe and, of course, change the term to kiloparsecs, megaparsecs, and gigaparsecs depending on if you are measuring within the Milky Way and beyond our galaxy. Parsecs is one of the oldest methods used by astronomers to calculate the distance to a star and its angle in the sky.
Okay, now the information goes into much more in-depth study of parsecs, which I don’t even begin to understand, so we will stop there for now.
The question being now: Why did George Lucas decide to use parsecs in his measure of distance in space, and how exactly does this factor in with the Kessel Run? Or, was George Lucas just kidding about using the term parsecs for Han’s exaggerated story?
Let’s look at the Kessel Run itself. The Kessel Run was a 20-parsec route and is one of the most used smuggling routes within the galaxy because not many pilots dare to go in there. Smugglers use it to smuggle things, particularly glitterstim spice, so that they wouldn’t get caught by Imperial ships guarding the Kessel’s mines. It takes ships in realspace around the Maw, leading them to an area of space called the Pit, which is an asteroid cluster encased in a nebula arm. This phenomenon makes sensors go offline so that pilots cannot navigate their ships except through sheer luck of doing it without computers and not hitting an asteroid.
So, when Han claims that the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, he doesn't mean his ship sped through the asteroid field, but rather that he was able to find a shorter route through by skirting The Maw black hole, which makes the run under the standard distance. In Legends, by dangerously moving closer to the black hole, he is able to cut the distance to 11.5 parsecs. The smuggler BoShek actually beats Han's record record, but without any cargo. A few months later, however, Han Solo beats both records when he makes the run with Luke Skywalker.
Now for some behind the scenes. In the revised fourth draft of the original Star Wars, the description for the famous “Kessel Run” comment by Han Solo reads as follows:
“It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!”
Ben reacts to Solo’s stupid attempt to impress them with obvious misinformation.
However, this now seems to imply that Han Solo is merely bragging about making the Kessel Run in that distance and it is not the truth. Indeed, in the final version of the script next to Han’s famous line, it says in parenthesis: “(obviously lying)”
In Alan Dean Foster's novelization, Han Solo doesn’t say parsecs in his comment; he says "standard time unites," which is also interesting.
So which is it?
In the commentary for the DVD of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, George Lucas talks about his thoughts and reasonings behind the comment. There is some debate among Star Wars fans as to whether or not George Lucas just used the term parsec because it sounded cool and not because he knew anything about it. Lucas has yet to reveal the answer to that debate. He did, however, reveal this: The parsecs that Han refers to are due to the Millennium Falcon’s advanced navigational computer rather than its engines, so it can calculate routes much faster than other ships could.
“It’s a very simple ship, very economical ship, although the modifications he [Han] made to it are rather extensive, mostly to the navigation system to get through hyperspace in the shortest possible distance [parsecs].” – Lucas
We always knew the Millennium Falcon was special.
In Solo: A Star Wars story, we do actually get to see the famous Kessel Run, so obviously we learn that despite the comments made in the script for the original Star Wars, Han Solo is telling the truth (though perhaps exaggerating a little bit given his line, "Not if you round down"). And it is indeed due to his navigational systems. In this film, since most of the Star Wars canon was thrown after Disney bought the Star Wars franchise, Han Solo and his gang are actually smuggling coaxium instead of spice, and they need a fast ship to transport it before it becomes too hot and explodes. In the film, they add that Han Solo has to navigate around the Akkadese Maelstorm, which is a dense cloud of ionized gas, water vapor, and planet-sized carbon bergs that crash into each other.
Han does indeed make the Kessel Run in a shorter distance by not plotting a direct course through it. Basically, Han has to create a math problem to figure out how he could get from point A to point B while traveling a different, much faster trip. Kind of like what we do when we use Google Maps to find the quickest route to our grandma’s house. And to solve this math problem, Han builds the navigational computer on the Millennium Falcon to be able to track all the objects that could get in the way and predict their position before leaving for his destination. The navigation system has to track how to get through hyperspace in the shortest possible distance…or, as we like to call them, parsecs!
So again, the Millennium Falcon is the "fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy" with the best navi-computer in the galaxy making it one of the most unique and best ships in the Star Wars universe. And Han Solo isn't lying about his famous Kessel Run.
Source(s): Forbes, Wikipedia, Wookieepedia