Yavin

Yavin is a planet in the fictional Star Wars universe. As seen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, it is an orange gas giant. Its core is composed of metallic substances and pieces of carbon and metallic hydrogen that form corusca gems. Although mining these gems is a promising venture, Yavin is mostly known for its moon of Yavin 4. The Super Star Destroyer Knight Hammer was destroyed here when it was diverted towards the planet's core after a collision with a rebel vessel. It is rumored that the Sith Darth Maul was from this region. No one has ever been able to land on the planet, because of its high speed wind storms, no one can get more than a few miles (kilometers) through the atmosphere.

Moons

In A New Hope and the Expanded Universe, Yavin has three other habitable moons.

Yavin 4

Yavin 4

File:Yavin-4.jpg
Distance from Galactic Core	40,500 light-years
Region	Outer Rim
System	Yavin Star System
Number of suns	1
Population	21.2 million. less than 5 after the rebellion left
Surface Water	8%
Affiliation	New republic/ Rebel Alliance

An ancient Massassi Temple on the jungle moon of Yavin 4

A Rebel sentry watches over the Rebel Base

Yavin 4 is one of the many moons of the gas planet Yavin in the Star Wars universe. It was home to the Rebel Alliance's main military base in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Filming

In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the scenes featuring the scenery of Yavin 4 were filmed in Tikal, Guatemala.

Fictional history

In the cinematic series

The Rebels established their base in the ancient Massassi ruins found in the lush jungles of Yavin IV following the abandonment of their previous base on the planet Dantooine. The Galactic Empire sought to use its new space station superweapon, the Death Star, to destroy the small jungle moon and crush the Rebellion. A force of twenty-two X-wing and eight Y-wing starfighters as shown by the special edition(some sources state that there were two Z-95 Headhunters, although the latter is very unlikely) were sent to destroy the Death Star. All except three were destroyed in the attack, the only survivors being Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, and an unnamed Y-wing pilot (who is sometimes thought to have been Keyan Farlander) with a possible gunner as four pilots, not including Luke, are seen in the film when Luke disembarks his X-wing. With seconds remaining and the timely assistance of his friend Han Solo, Luke Skywalker was able to fire a proton torpedo into a small thermal exhaust port along the Death Star's equatorial trench, thereby destroying the station and saving Yavin 4. A great ceremony was held following the Death Star's destruction, where Princess Leia bestowed medals of honor to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.

This battle became known as the Battle of Yavin, and its date is used as a place-marker for events in the expanded Star Wars universe. Events before the Battle of Yavin are marked by BBY ("Before the Battle of Yavin"), and events that occur after are marked by ABY ("After the Battle of Yavin").

The Yavin IV moon was also the site of giant Massassi Temples built ages ago by the Massassi to worship Naga Sadow, a Sith Lord who had enslaved and mutated the Massassi using Sith Alchemy. The Temple later housed the Rebel Alliance base who used it for shelter and camouflage during their stay there. The Alliance built tall observation towers to monitor entries and exits from their hidden base. The main temple was destroyed during the Yuuzhan Vong occupation of Yavin IV.

Expanded Universe

In Tales of the Jedi, it is stated that Yavin 4 was where Naga Sadow hid from the Republic in 5,000 BBY and was discovered several hundred years later by the fallen Jedi Freedon Nadd. According to the comic series, the Massassi warriors who built the ruins used by the Rebels were brought to the planet by the Sith Order in its early years.

In the Jedi Academy Trilogy, Kevin J. Anderson suggested that Exar Kun had the temples built. Enveloped in the dark side, Kun elevated himself to the stature of a god. He enslaved the Massassi and forced them to construct an intricate complex of massive temples that were used for arcane Sith ceremonies and rites as focii for the dark side.

In the young reader novel The Lost City of the Jedi, it is discovered, as the title suggests, that the ancient Jedi built a lost city on Yavin 4.

In the animated micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker has a fierce battle with Asajj Ventress, a follower of Count Dooku. Finally Anakin defeats Asajj, sending her falling down a dark abyss.

Luke Skywalker later returns to the moon to found a Jedi academy there, rather than on Coruscant. The academy was destroyed by the Yuuzhan Vong in 26 ABY.

Yavin 4 appears in the downloadable content for the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

According to the Keeper of the Holocron, Leland Chee, Yavin 4 (Yavin Four in dialogue), is the correct spelling, not Yavin IV.

Real-world relevance

Astronomers have been discovering "extrasolar" planets (planets that orbit stars other than the Sun) the last few years. Some of these extrasolar planets are large and resemble Yavin, although astronomers cannot yet tell whether any Earth type planetary moons exist around such extrasolar planets. The most intriguing of these extrasolar planets is HD 28185 b, which orbits in its star's habitable zone in a circular orbit. (However, while Yavin is orange, such planets are currently predicted to be white, with water clouds.) Another such planet is 55 Cancri f.

Yavin 8

A cold moon consisting mostly of tundra. It harbors some life, albeit not very diverse.

Yavin 13

Yavin 13, a hot desert moon populated by Gerbs and Sliths (a serpentine species, not to be mistaken for the infamous Sith). - In the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, it is possible to visit a space station orbiting Yavin 13.

External links

• Yavin Prime on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki