Red sun
From Smallville Wiki
Krypton's red sun is a giant star which is vastly larger than Earth's yellow sun. Under it, Kryptonians have no super abilities, stripping them of their superhuman powers and making them effectively human under it.
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[edit] Supernova
It is possible that Red Sun was located near Krypton and was destroyed as a result of the war with General Zod. During Season 2, Kyla Willowbrook mentioned that a constellation used to form the face of a wolf, the animal that Skinwalkers take the form of. She mentions that the eye of the wolf is missing and that the star has been destroyed; this star may have been Krypton's sun.
[edit] Kryptonians
Under a red sun, Kryptonians are practically human (or humanoid rather). Their cells simply absorb the red sunlight, whereas under a yellow sun, sunlight is stored into solar energy, like a solar battery and transformed, thus creating a Kryptonian's powers. After prolonged exposure to yellow sunlight, Kryptonians, when reintroduced into a red sunlight environment may seem weakened as Clark and Kara are seen in Apocalypse.
The cloned Kryptonians who were created by the Orb who's DNA are fused with Blue kryptonite, they recieve powers under a red sun instead of a yellow sun. This is the reverse effects of a natural Kryptonian who recieves and stores powers like a battery under a yellow sun, with the clones the same but under a red sun.
[edit] References
- Season 2, Skinwalkers - Kyla Willowbrook tells Clark that Naman's homeworld is a missing star, or rather its solar system's sun.
- Season 3, Relic - Jor-El tells Louise McCallum that where he comes from the sunsets last for hours.
- Season 7, Lara - Kara remembers her father sending her away from Krypton and remembers its landscape and dusty red skyline from its sun.
- Season 7, Sleeper - When looking at the satellite images Chloe Sullivan picked from the computer, Chloe and Clark look at the vortex and see a red sun with a bright dot beside it, which is Krypton.
- Season 7, Apocalypse - Clark travels to Krypton where the red sun strips him of his powers. At the end Krypton explodes with baby Kal-El's ship escaping and making its three year trip to Planet Earth.
- Season 9, Kandor - During flashbacks of Krypton, the Red Sun can be seen many times.
- Season 9, Pandora - In the future, Zod's solar tower recreates Red sun radiation effectively, turning the Yellow sun, red.
[edit] In the Comics
In DC Comics, Krypton's red sun, named Rao is a red dwarf that the planet Krypton orbited. Before Krypton exploded, Rao's red sun radiation suppressed the superhuman abilities of Kryptonians, as their powers only worked in the radiation of a yellow sun.
References to Rao began to creep into Superman's lingo in the 1970s under the editorship and policy of Julie Schwartz, with Superman occasionally exclaiming "Great Rao!" instead of his standard "Great Krypton!"
[edit] Trivia
- In both Superman: The Movie and Superman Returns, Rao is a red supergiant (as opposed to that of a red dwarf star in the comics) that undergoes a supernova explosion, causing Krypton's destruction by means of the shockwaves emitted by the dying star (in the comic series, Krypton was destroyed by the planet's unstable core).
- In the comics the name of Krypton's sun is Rao, which is also the name of ancient Kryptonian scrolls; the Scrolls of Rao.
- An inconsistency with modern astronomy and the destruction of Krypton in Smallville is Kyla Willowbrook's claim that the wolf constellation's eye is no longer seen in the constellation. Since Clark had to travel through 23 galaxies to get the Milky Way, it would have taken the light from the destruction of Rao millions of light-years to reach Earth. Clark's ship would have had to travel through the universe at around 19 times the speed of light. However, it was confirmed in Season 7's Apocalpyse that Clark's journey to Earth took three Earth years (factoring in the theory of relativity, the actual journey may have taken less time). Based on Kyla Willowbrook's story, the destruction of the star in the constellation would have taken place long before prehistoric humans inhabited Earth. Since the beginning of Clark's journey and destruction of Krypton would have been around Earth Year 1986, Kyla's claim of the missing star, according to science, astronomy and physics would not have been Krypton.
