Is LV-426 an extrasolar capture?

interesting,

(From whats been introduced to us so far before we learn more thru the prometheus sequels) that planet was a lonesome, hostile rock ment for no life to thrive, (when nostromo crew landed) and later had to be terraformed by weyland yutani following the nostromo crew's departure.   

Your right, It does make you wonder.

Those engineers loved to keep whatever weaponized materials they've conjured up far from themselves.

kinda reminds me of what phobos is to mars. i love how the rocks are leaning like its beying pulled in a certain direction (like some kind of wind erosion or magnetic force) :D idk...cool theory! @Something Real  :)

The original intent way back, was that it was a fertile planet that suffered an ecological disaster.

HAWLEY GRIFFIN - Thank you ever so much for your kind words! :)

S.M - That premise always made me wonder - and gave me chills! I was always left asking "What could have been so bad as to leave a living world in such ruin?". Regardless, it is fun to speculate! :)

@s.m   interesting, but if that is so, ...are you saying that the original "alien" space jockey that nostromo found didn't crash there? but in theory, was trying to leave and never took off? and layed dormant? because it seemed lv426 isn't the home planet, but a neighboring rock.unless it was a fellow living planet that suffered a disaster...but then, why not the derelict ship be buried and completely covered in those leaning rock formations if that was the case?... and if those style ships are for cargo, why bring more cargo to an already infected disaster..?

Also I know Ridley's original "alien" differs than Cameron's depiction, but wouldn't you think if there was a disaster there, that the terraformed (colony, and not company) by weylandyutani would stumble upon it easily? there would still be traces of civilization, wouldn't they be?  it seemed all they found was the derelict by newt's parents. As Hudson put it "dumb ass colonist", wouldn't they panic at the site of a dead civilization at their doorstep and want to bail?

"interesting, but if that is so, ...are you saying that the original "alien" space jockey that nostromo found didn't crash there? but in theory, was trying to leave and never took off? and layed dormant?"

I never thought the Jockey crashed.  I think he just landed.  O'Bannon's original idea goes back to when there was a pyramid full of eggs and the Derelict was separate.

"because it seemed lv426 isn't the home planet, but a neighboring rock.unless it was a fellow living planet that suffered a disaster...but then, why not the derelict ship be buried and completely covered in those leaning rock formations if that was the case?."

In the context of the final film, a lot of the Derelict is buried.  The cave Kane descended into was below ground level.  And I think the Jockey was just flying along when his cargo got loose.  He got impregnated and set down before he died, rather than risk his ship flying on through space with that cargo.

Prometheus throws some questions at this, but there you go.

@Something Real ;D great topic thank you for posting!

@S.m indeed! nice reply & observation

Interesting SM... where did you come across the idea of it being a fertile land as Star Beast never seemed to suggest this or Alien original drafts... but they did seem to indicate a left over Temple and Culture of Some Alien Ancient race that teh Xenomorph/Star Beast was part of a Ritual Cycle and Sacrifice.

And so yes we had to ask, and in particular with Starbeast where are the Race who built the Pyramids and did they just use these places for Procreation or was the whole World at one point a Civilized Culture and more Habitable many many years before.

Alien did not give us many answers, even Ridleys after comments... we just seemed to be led to the Space Jockey being infected with his Cargo and setting down to Quarantine his Cargo and Warn his fellow Race that the Cargo and been compromised

A lot of people speculated the ship crashed... but more recently after Prometheus Ridley said the ship did not technically crash...  and so we are drawn to him saying maybe the Space Jockey knew he was infected and he made a decision to land on LV-426 and it was planned landing but its likely he was chest busted during the final stages of the landing.

Ridley had added a lot of information to the Event post Prometheus.

Prometheus did add some clues... and Ridley in his last of one of his latter comments added even more to the Event that links LV-223/426

And so when we can see the difference between Derelict and Juggernaught and how the surface of LV-426 looked... they you could get the impression that after a crash landing something on that ship had ended up evolving and mutating not only the Ship but the Surface of the Planetoid too

As far as the OP Theory... its a interesting one but sadly its not the case..

However the notion that Worlds being captured and moved from a place to place.... is something very possible....   and those above the Engineers may possess the ability to at very least not only Terra-form Worlds but to also manipulate the orbit of such Worlds and make them closer to the Sun perhaps.

"Interesting SM... where did you come across the idea of it being a fertile land as Star Beast never seemed to suggest this or Alien original drafts... "

Pretty sure it was in the Portfolio of Crew Insignia released in 1980.

BIG DAVE - Indeed! I have no doubt that the beings whom preside over the Engineers possess, at the very least, the ability to manipulate a planet's orbit. It is a very fun premise! :)

The key to your theory is how long ago did the SJ set down on LV426.  There seem to be some differences in the comments made by various cast members.  Someone said "thousands" of years before Prometheus, others have vaguely described it as closer in time line.

That's the problem with the narrative; it has always been very vague, ever-changing with different "directors", and now is being "re-written" with the prequels. 

As BD brought up, the original "Star Beast" story has some sort of temple/egg depository separate from the ship, which was written out for cost and continuity.  So we have this hint at some kind of facilities on the planet, but it is not shown in the movie, so the party line is a "barren planet".

As to the time line, I am hoping that is going to be explored in the prequel series.  The Space Jockeys are obviously an important piece of the puzzle, so how they fit with engineers, and humans, will be interesting. 

As to "jockeying" planets around.  Hmmm.  You know there is a theory out there that our moon was engineered and placed there to make our planet habitable for human life;  perhaps we are seeing a similar situation here- only it ended in a tragic accident. 

Perhaps the planetoid in its whirling orbit over eons of time slowly made the rock formations become "frozen" in their "pulled back" contortion(s).

The gravitational electo-magnetic field lines are what the rock formations are seemingly "riding back/leaning back" on/following in their "petrified" state(s).

In Avatar the rock arches are formed from ancient flux-vortex anomalies that become physically exposed and open to the elements when the rock formations erode away at the peripheral out-croppings but the central curving "worm-like" curved rock-arches are left behind because they are denser magnetically in its central core of the arch(s). The same effect is apparent from the base-ground up in Monument Valley. The same effect(s) could be/could have been apparent upon ancient LV-426. 

" So we have this hint at some kind of facilities on the planet, but it is not shown in the movie, so the party line is a "barren planet"."

I think this is where Promethues came in with LV-223 and that LV-223 is basically what replaces where the Temple and Eggs/Spores where held.. to now being a place maybe they was created or at least taken to be experimented on.

Its all very vague... and its all pretty open still....

Ridley if we take him as the best SOURCE of information... then he indeed claimed that the Space Jockey event is related to LV-223 goings on (there is Xeno DNA Related Shenanigans).

He claimed the Derelict was on LV-426  for thousands of years and indeed this event happened within a few hundred years of the LV-223 OUTBREAK that lead to nearly all those Engineers dying...

which puts the event as 1800-2200 approx... Question thats not answered is it something after or prior... But there are clues that suggest after... (which Chest Busted Engineers could contradict, or maybe not?)

Ridley also said the Space Jockey was heading to a undisclosed place, but he did not get far before he got infected...   he then set a course for the nearest baron place to Quarantine the Cargo and set off a Warning SOS and he laid in a course to LV-426 but during the landing he would have gone through the Chest Buster Process.

This could imply thus the Derelict left LV-223

Ridleys other comment was something in the Cargo Evolved.... this was his latest one on the subject and around the same time he called the Black Goo a Bacteria and Evil Biology... Evil Drums of Bacterial Sh!@ is what he said....

So if i was to guess at the Space Jockey, i would say after a Outbreak he went into Cryo-Sleep like the Engineer in Prometheus.... he survived like the Engineer did.... but latter he fell to maybe the same thing that the other not so lucky Cryo-sleep Engineers did.

But its a question of how did the Cargo get to him, because Ridley hinted that something in the Cargo Hold evolved and got to him.... prior he said Cargo as in Eggs/Face Huger.

And so again its logical that he went into Cryo-Sleep like the Last Engineer... he then awoke hundreds of years latter and then he set off to go where he was going thinking his Cargo was Urns? only for something to Evolved and got to him....

Something got on board and was infected with the Goo, or something caused the Urns to evolve into Eggs?  Who knows... but this is what Ridley seems to hint now..

Just how valuable are these Juggernauts(and the precious cargo!) Can the Engineers afford to loose a ship and shrug it off? Did they attempt a rescue? They must be aware of where every Juggernaut is located. A flight Op's on Paradise.

Or was this the last journey of the Space Jockey race? The last mission to save the race.

Maybe... there are a lot of questions to be answered as to why was LV-223 abandoned...

Only logically one is a War, between Factions or Creator/creation  as in Gods/Angels.... Titans/Olympians..

Which took its Toll, and left Paradise as far as those who survived in a weak position so that those who survived made a Covenant to cease from the activities that are connected to those Ships and Cargo.

Question is those who remained on Paradise, are they aware of LV-223, if so are they aware of the conditions at the time after the Outbreak...  2000 years ago?

Are they aware of Mankind, if so the mission, if so are they led to believe we are destroyed?  

Or they abandoned us and the plan... and in their arrogance they felt we would never advance to a level to be able to reach LV-223 without their help...  or maybe that a Warning would keep us away?

I wonder if Ridley will attach a name to the Engineers? A Earth based name perhaps. Ancient Astronaut related....I'd like 'Eldritch'.

Fox needs a name the Engineers contest! lol

What's wrong with 'Engineer'.

Boring. "We call ourselves.... 'Engineers'!"  maybe in the Marvel universe.

How about 'Chaugnar Faugn'

Engineers are what maybe we refer to them as.... like the Alien is called the Xenomorph..

I think Monster Zero is referring to what do the Engineers when translated actually refer to themselves as and the Xenomorph.

Bit like how the Predators are Predators... but some references they was given the name Yautja

So i think maybe it would be interesting to find out what they are actually called... we know Greek Gods where Titans... and we have the Annunaki but the question is would the Engineers be given a name... surely they are not just ENGINEERS...  their culture must have a name for themselves.

But then the Question or rather Answer maybe is..... does it matter and does it change anything? or would it have a greater effect on the Plot?

The OP is correct, LV-426 is an orbit capture by Calpamos (ζ2 Ret IV), and is not an original Calpamos moon. It's the reason why ζ2 Ret IV has a ring system.

From the canonical Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual:

"According to the appendix, the world was unsurveyed at the time of the Nostromo's encounter. Given that the world is only 11 parsecs away, how do you account for that?"

"When it was first cataloged by a, -uh, French fly-by probe, the presence of ζ2 Ret IV's well-developed ring system seemed to indicate that none of its moons were particularly massive — it was assumed they were all low-density Galilean-type ice balls with an ice crust over a silicate core. It wasn't until the first comprehensive system survey back in the '30's that the actual composition of LV426 was ascertained. It's been hypothesized that Acheron is a recent captured body — acquired in the past 40 million years, maybe — and that the rings orbiting the brown dwarf may be the debris from a smaller body fractured by the tidal stresses inflicted by LV426's appearance. In time, the rings should break up again. This could explain many things: the presence of cometary material in the system; debris at the L- points; and the shattered nature of Acheron's geography — despite the relative lack of tectonic or seismic activity."

Any fan should really have the ACM-TC just search for the ful name and pdf, its a free download nowadays.