# The 3D Locations of Firefly/Serenity ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity.webp]] **Creator:** The Overview Effekt · **Published:** Aug 3, 2024 · **Length:** 7:17 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpDs3STggzk) ## Outline ### 00:00 Introduction to the 'Verse - Jayne (in *Serenity*): "I been to the edge, it just looks like more space." He is mostly right: the 'Verse is a single five-star system. - It is the fictional star system **34 Tauri (2020)**, about **40 ly from Earth**. Geoffrey Mandel, who also drew the Star Trek maps, mapped it in canon. Fans then extended it in a 300-page-plus document, *The Verse in Numbers*, with unusual scientific detail. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0025.webp]] ### 00:39 Interstellar travel methods - Firefly has **no faster-than-light travel**. People left Earth on **generation ships** that took about **120 years** to reach 34 Tauri (2020). - Ships have artificial-gravity **"gravity drives"**. That is the spinning device in Serenity's engine room. - Ships move by **"pulse drive"**, a form of **nuclear pulse propulsion** like Project Orion, where bombs go off behind the ship. That explains why burning inside atmosphere is illegal. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0105.webp]] - Pulse drives can cross the 'Verse's **55-light-hour** diameter in reasonable time. The video compares it to our solar system. The 'Verse is fairly accurate in detail, but the creator says it could not exist in reality. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0125.webp]] ### 01:26 Core Worlds of the Alliance - **Londinium**, the Alliance capital, orbits the White Sun. It never appears on screen and is described as a high-tech, rigidly ordered future England. The creator compares it to Singapore, or "the Mass Effect Citadel but more fascist." - **Sihnon** is modeled on an idealized ancient China. It is home to the Companions' Guild, where Inara Serra trained, and to the academy River Tam was sent to. - **Osiris** is the Tam family home. **Bellerophon** is the setting of "Trash." **Ariel** is a privileged high-tech world and the site of the St. Lucy's hospital heist ("Ariel"). ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0145.webp]] - **Persephone** orbits the protostar **Lux** at the edge of the Core. The series begins at its **Eavesdown Docks**, where Simon, River, and Shepherd Book come aboard. "Shindig" also takes place there. - **Stellification**: protostars are brown dwarfs that were ignited into stars. A brown dwarf above about **13 Jupiter masses** could start fusion after a large asteroid impact, or after a small temperature boost from reflective solar sails. "Stellification should be a video game." ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0245.webp]] ### 02:41 The Border Worlds - The protostar **Murphy** orbits the star **Georgia**. Around it are **Shadow**, Mal's home planet, and **Hera**, site of the **Battle of Serenity Valley**, the last battle of the Unification War, where the Browncoats (including Mal and Zoe) were defeated. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0335.webp]] ### 03:24 Border world planets - Georgia also has **Ezra**, with **Niska's Skyplex** in orbit; **Regina** ("The Train Job"); and **Whitefall**, the fourth moon of Athens, largely owned by Patience. It "looks suspiciously like southern California." - The **Red Sun** shares Georgia's orbit but sits directly opposite it, at the **L3 Lagrange point**. That still would not save the system. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0410.webp]] ### 04:17 Rim planets and locations - **Higgins' Moon** (Harvest, Red Sun) holds **Canton**, the mudder town that became "Jaynestown," where Jayne is an unwitting folk hero. The creator calls it one of the best episodes. - **St. Albans** is frozen and rugged; it shows Tracy's backstory in "The Message." **Jiangyin** is part of the setting of "Safe." - "Our Mrs. Reynolds" starts on **Triumph** (protostar Heinlein) and ends in the Rim on **Beaumonde** (star **Kalidasa**). ### 05:04 The Blue Sun and Miranda - **Haven** orbits the **Blue Sun** at the edge of the Rim. It is a moon of the planet Deadwood and a refuge for criminals, where Shepherd Book settles and dies. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0510.webp]] - **Miranda** orbits the protostar **Burnham**. There the Alliance "tried to make people better" and created the **Reavers**, people with their aggression turned way up. The creator calls them "fast space zombies." - Serenity runs the Reaver blockade and broadcasts the message from **Mr. Universe's** planet. Its location isn't clear in canon, but it is probably a terraformed asteroid sharing Kalidasa's orbit (*Verse in Numbers*: "Station 2E Sygnus"). ### 05:57 Scientific analysis and conclusion - **Gravity simulation**: the stars can't even start in their canon orbits. Placed in those positions, the system would be **destroyed within about 60 years**. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0605.webp]] - Real quintuple systems usually pair close binaries, with the other stars much farther out. The 'Verse is about **400 AU** across. By contrast, Alpha Centauri A and B are at most ~35 AU apart, while Proxima orbits at ~13,000 AU. ![[images/The 3D Locations of Firefly Serenity-t0625.webp]] - Outro: the creator calls this a short video and says a long Halo video is coming next. He plugs his new poster and merch store and Patreon wallpaper downloads, and says likes, subscribes, shares, and comments count "as currency." ## Things Mentioned ### Stars and astronomical objects 34 Tauri (2020) / the 'Verse; White Sun; Lux (protostar); Georgia; Murphy (protostar); Red Sun; Heinlein (protostar); Kalidasa; Blue Sun; Burnham (protostar); Alpha Centauri A, B, and Proxima; Sol / our solar system; brown dwarfs ### Firefly worlds and locations Londinium; Sihnon; Osiris; Bellerophon; Ariel (St. Lucy's hospital); Persephone (Eavesdown Docks); Shadow; Hera (Serenity Valley); Ezra (Niska's Skyplex); Regina; Athens / Whitefall; Harvest / Higgins' Moon (Canton, "Jaynestown"); St. Albans; Jiangyin; Triumph; Beaumonde; Deadwood / Haven; Miranda; Mr. Universe's planet (Station 2E Sygnus) ### Spacecraft and propulsion Serenity (Firefly-class); generation ships; gravity drive; pulse drive; Project Orion nuclear pulse propulsion ### Physics concepts Light-hours, light-years, astronomical units (AU); nuclear pulse propulsion; artificial gravity; stellification (fusion ignition above ~13 Jupiter masses); L3 Lagrange point; n-body orbital instability; hierarchical multiple-star systems ### Sci-fi works *Firefly* (episodes "Serenity," "The Train Job," "Shindig," "Safe," "Our Mrs. Reynolds," "Jaynestown," "Ariel," "Trash," "The Message"); *Serenity* (2005 film); *Star Trek* maps; *Mass Effect* (the Citadel; music by MrHulthen); upcoming Halo video ### Tools and sources Blender; Firefly Wiki (Fandom); *The Verse in Numbers* (fan atlas); "Project Orion Nuclear Pulse Rocket" animation by HazeGrayArt; Heavy Class Firefly 3D model by McCarthy3D (Sketchfab); Proton VPN (sponsor); Patreon; the creator's poster and merch store ## Biographies - **The Overview Effekt**: a YouTube channel that makes Blender-rendered 3D maps placing real stars, spaceflight history, and sci-fi settings in context, including the Stellar Cartography series. The creator narrates with self-deprecating humor and cites sources in each description. - **Geoffrey Mandel**: an artist and cartographer known for the *Star Trek Star Charts*. He drew the canon map of the Firefly 'Verse. - **Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds and Zoe Washburne**: Browncoat veterans of Serenity Valley; Serenity's captain and first mate. - **Jayne Cobb**: Serenity's mercenary, the accidental folk hero of Canton ("Jaynestown"). - **Inara Serra**: a Companion trained on Sihnon. - **Simon and River Tam**: siblings from Osiris. River was experimented on at the Alliance "academy," and both came aboard at Persephone. - **Shepherd Book**: a preacher with a mysterious past who settles on Haven and dies there. - **Adelai Niska, Patience, Tracy, Mr. Universe**: recurring or one-off characters tied to Ezra, Whitefall, St. Albans, and the final broadcast. - **The Reavers**: Miranda's survivors, driven violent by the Alliance's Pax pacification agent. - **MrHulthen, HazeGrayArt, McCarthy3D**: credited creators of the music, the Orion animation, and the Firefly 3D model.