#operation annihilate

Spock has a tendency sometimes to make wild leaps of logic unjustified by the available information, and it’s even worse when Kirk eggs him on.

The flying pizza monsters of Operation Annihilate are pretty different to any other known lifeform. But they’re not even as different as, say, the Horta, and no one suggested that might have come from a whole other galaxy. It’s not weird to find life on other planets that evolved along a completely different pathway to humans; in fact, it’s far weirder that there are so many humanoids in the galaxy. So weird that the Preservers will be invented in season 3 to explain them.

But ok, let’s say the flying pizza monsters did originate from another galaxy. Imagine they infected a super-advanced species capable of traveling the 2.5 million light years from Andromeda, our closest galaxy. This wouldn’t really help this argument, because the same physical laws that apply here also apply in Andromeda. And even further afield than that; as far as we know, in the entire observable universe.

To get to somewhere with a whole other set of physical laws, you would have to go to a whole other universe. At least, according to some multiverse theories which explain that the reason the physical constants in our universe are so perfectly tuned to allow life is that this is just one of a multitude of universes all with different values of the key fundamental constants. Of course, if the flying pizza monsters are advanced enough to travel between universes, it’s weird that they can’t build their own ships in this one, but what do I know, I’m just a single-universe dweller.

I am by no means an expert on parasites (I had nightmares after a so-called “friend” compelled me to google the emerald wasp - don’t do this if you’re remotely squeamish). However, it seems like a parasite that drives its host so mad that it drives itself directly into the sun is kind of counter-productive. If you’re using your host for transport, you want it to retain sufficient mental faculties to take you to your desired destination. Which, in the case of the flying pizza monsters of Operation Annihilate, is definitely not the center of a burning sun.

That aside, the Enterprise makes a noble but futile attempt to rescue the infected Denevan, which proves difficult because the proximity to the sun considerably heats up the ship’s hull. Which is an excuse to talk about something really neat about stars: the corona.

The visible “surface” of the Sun (the quotes are because it’s not a solid surface, but you know what I mean) is about 5800 Kelvin (at these high temperatures Kelvin is about the same as degrees Celsius, but if you’re wedded to Fahrenheit we’re talking about 10,000 degrees F). You might think it would get hotter the closer you get to that surface, but it turns out that’s not true! Due to the weirdness of magnetic waves, there’s a region known as the corona that extends millions of miles out into space where the temperatures are around a million Kelvin/ degrees C (1.8 million degrees F).

How far from the star the Enterprise would have to be to experience hull temperatures of 1000 degrees depends on too many things to be able to calculate (what kind of star it is, the heat capacity of the ship’s hull, etc.) but suffice it to say, you probably don’t want to hang out right next to a star.

And since we’re talking about how awesome the corona is, you can see the corona of our Sun with the naked eye* during a solar eclipse. If you’re in the US, there’s one coming up this year on August 21st, and here’s a cool interactive map of where you can see it.

*Note that when I say “naked eye” I obviously mean through suitable protective eyewear such as eclipse glasses. Unless you are a Vulcan and have magical protective inner eyelids. Even then, it’s worth splurging a dollar to be safe.