In Aliens we see the LV426 plantoid from up close, but do we ever see it in Alien? In Alien, we see a set of planets, one of which hosts the Derelict. The Nostromo goes over the orange giant to get to it. But how does it look like? Which one is it? The answer isn't as simple as one may think. You may say that it's pretty easy to figure it out. There are 4 planets visible in Alien when Nostromo approaches. from LV426 only 3 are on the sky. The one that's missing from the view is the one that resembles the white planetoid seen in Alien. But is it?
Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to definitively determine the exact location of LV-426. As seen in the movie, the various shots of the planet and its moons have problems that rule out any conclusive determination. For reference, here are the major shots depicting the planet and the moons
The last image is flipped to match. It's actually reversed in the movie. One might chalk it up to a technical error, because if the movie version is assumed to be correct, it makes analysis of the moons even more problematic.
The more logical theory is that LV-426 is on the opposite side of the planet. However, as the Nostromo approaches the planet, it appears dark from our viewpoint, as the sun is illuminating the opposite side. So LV-426 were really on the opposite side of the planet, the planet as seen from LV-426 should be bathed in sunlight. But as we see in the surface shot of LV-426, that's not the case.
The other theory is that one of the visible moons is LV-426. However, there are problems with that theory as well. First off, the scene has what appears to be impossible lighting. Note that of the three moons seen during the approach, the middle moon is lit from a different direction than the others. There is no way the sun could illuminate the middle moon that way, because it should be so many millions of miles away that there would be essentially no change in perspective. This means one of two things: Either the "moon" is very far away and is actually a planet rivaling the sun in size, or its actually further away than the planet, and is receiving reflected light from the planet's surface. Either way, it requires the moon to be on the sunny side of the planet, meaning that it could not actually be one of the moons shown in the surface shot. Even if we pretended that it was actually somewhere other than where the lighting indicates, the moon is visible in the surface shot. It doesn't show up well in a still image due to the clouds, but of the two moons visible in the surface shot, it's the left one. It's easier to tell in the movie, since the clouds move.
This leaves two moons remaining. Of those two, the moon seen on the left in the approach shots--the moon directly in front of the planet--is also seen directly in front of the planet in the surface shot. Comparing the surface shot to the approach shots, the moon in front of the planet is in exactly the same spot relative to the planet in all four shots.
So this leaves the moon on the right, as seen in the approach shots. So, there's our answer, right? Not necessarily. The problem is that the view seen from the surface could not possibly be seen from the moon on the right. The moon on the left is clearly receiving light from the sun, which we know is peeking around the side of the planet. Because of this, from the perspective of the moon on the right, the left moon would have to be way out to the left of the planet, not overlapping it as seen in the surface shot. The closest way to illustrate it is to compare the third approach shot to the surface shot. As seen, the planet/moon layout is pretty similar, except for the absence of the moon to the right in the surface shot. Now, looking at the third approach shot, imagine removing the moon to the right and placing it exactly where the camera is, to simulate the surface view. The fact that the moon to the right has to be removed from the shot to make it match should be an indication of the problem.
Basically, no matter which moon a person chooses as LV-426 (visible or otherwise), there's at least one detail in the movie that would have to be completely disregarded in order to justify it.
Also, note how big the planet appears from space, yet notice how much smaller it is as seen from LV-426. For LV-426 to be any of the moons seen in the space shots, the planet would appear so large as to fill most of the sky. Since it's smaller than what we see in the space shots, LV-426 would have to be very far away from the planet--much further than any of the visible moons are.
The problem could have been born in post production, since in the making of video there are no planets on the skyline except for the ringed giant (see the first photo on the top of the page)
Special thanks to klasodeth of JamesCameronOnline forums
