In truly groundbreaking Tuesday news that somehow got overshadowed by elections and stuff, an excerpt from the book The Physics of Star Wars: The Science Behind a Galaxy Far, Far Away was printed over at Wired and it figured out when exactly Star Wars took place, because being told "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…" just doesn't cut it for some people, especially in a fictional universe with insanely detailed backstories for incredibly minor characters.
Anyway by breaking down in surprising depth the age of the universe, the number of stars, how long it would take planets to mature, and how long it would take species to evolve (and build interstellar transportation), the author of the piece (who we should mention is Patrick Johnson, he did write a damn book after all) concluded that the events in Star Wars took place around 5 billion years after the first galaxy was formed, 9 billion years after the Big Bang occurred, and 4.7 billion years before modern times. I have no idea if that adds up at all but, honestly, I don't really feel that bad that I don't know that.
If you want, you can go read the math and science behind Johnson's theory over at Wired. You can also order the book, which came out today. Or you can skip both since we actually just gave you the answer. We must say though, it's pretty interesting stuff (if you're into that).
Whatever path you want to go down works.
