>..."margin of safety, perhaps underestimated" might be more
>appropriate, after having read Reunion 3. I don't know about you, but
>a light-hour sounds like it might have been a tad safer. Maybe. That
>was one heck of a shock wave.

Also, for what it's worth... 20 AU from a star is two light-hours (lh) away. Actually, it's more than that. According to my calculations, more like 2.72 lh, or 166.21 light-minutes. (Ignoring, of course, the ubertechnobabble sensor abilities of science fiction/science fantasy).The Sol System's Kuiper Belt is in the 30-50 AU range, though of course, with Zeta Cygni being a smaller star system, it'd be a little bit closer in.

When you start to think about it, the math and time scales just boggle the mind, doesn't it?

--- Philip
(who actually, while preparing this, DID THE CALCULATIONS for how long it'd take for visuals and other things to arrive in a normal non-scifi universe, so don't come complainin' to me, hombre's...)