MovieChat Forums > Star Trek (1966) Discussion > Mirror, Mirror Question.

Mirror, Mirror Question.


Another dumb question, guys. I love Trek but I'm pretty much ignorant of what my dad called "spatial mechanics". (hope that is the right term) Are ion storms invisible? We see Big E's bridge crew getting shaken about as well as sound fx that suggest the storm is a major thing and is playing hard ball. But the space scenes show nothing at all. Even during the crossover scene.

🎀Always remember to keep Ridin The Storm Out, people!🎸🌿

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Are ion storms invisible?




Well ... I'm not sure there is agreement about this, even within Star Trek series. An ion is a charged particle, and in TOS the effect of an Ion Storm seems to be magnetic. Based on that, an Ion Storm could be invisible. In later series, though, Ion Storms were visual.

I don't think we see the Ion Storm in "Court Martial," either.

Science is not my best thing, either, so if anyone has a better explanation, I'm happy to be corrected.

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It would likely depend on which part of the spectrum the viewer sees in. Since the mechanics of an ion storm are never specified it is hard to be sure. However, I would think it likely that whatever an ion storm emits would likely be high on the electromagnetic spectrum so to humans and similar races oit would be unlikely to be visible.

In the later series you mention it is likely that the ship's screens are rendering the storm into the visible spectrum.

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A lot of the inconsistencies in Trek can be accounted for by the writers doing no research or there not being enough money for the in stomach special effects.

Feel free to make up your own explanations, thats what most of the fans do! Heck, feel free to loudly insist that yours is the only possible explanation for some canonical brain fart, lots of fans do that as well.

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you could call the aurora borealis an ion storm, it's not invisible.

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the analogy between space and the sailing the oceans is pretty much absurd. in the new star trek discovery they ran into a space whale ... what nonsense.

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"Ion Storm" is techno-babble.

Solar wind is ions from the sun. It is only visible when it interacts with magnetic fields, like the auroras near the poles.
Solar flares are shit loads of ions from the sun. CMEs are high-speed shit storms, but invisible until they hit us.

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