A star is a gigantic ball of self-sustaining fusing gases and plasma in space. The star in Earth's Solar System, the homeworld of humans and the Space Corps, was often simply referred to as "the Sun" or "Sol".
Various stars around the Galaxy were also sometimes referred to as stars or suns. There were possibly up to a hundred billion stars in the galaxy, many with their own solar systems.
The JMC mining spaceship Red Dwarf was named after a common type of star also called a "red dwarf". The ship also had solar panels to make energy from sunlight. The Engine Core of Red Dwarf acted on the same principal as a star; using hydrogen from space in an endless fusion reaction.
Three million years into Deep Space, the gang from Red Dwarf fired an explosive device into star, to cause a solar flare with the intention of knocking a planetoid out of orbit and block up a White Hole. ("White Hole", Series IV)
Later, during the time that they had lost Red Dwarf, the gang nearly crashed into a burning star with Starbug, although Lister and Cat were able to swerve Starbug away just in time. ("Duct Soup", Series VII)
The homicidal computer Pree tried to destroy Red Dwarf by disengaging the carbon-carbon heat shields and flying Red Dwarf into a star, in accordance with the Space Pollution Act as Pree had designated Red Dwarf as "space junk". However, Lister was able to convince Pree to uninstall herself, saving the ship before it reached the star. ("Fathers & Suns", Series X)
Rimmer named the star which Planet Rimmer orbited as "Sunny Rim". ("Timewave", Series XII)
Trivia[]
- In the novels, the Earth World President, John Milhous Nixon, accidentally destabilised Earth's Sun in a weather control experiment. This was the reason for the construction of the human Ark, Mayflower. (Last Human)