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We (mostly) all know that when the second Death Star was destroyed, it rained down burning debris forever changing the fate of that moon. Most accounts estimate that all life on the moon of Endor would be wiped out.

What could have been done to avert this catastrophe?

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AncientSwordRage
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    Protego Maxima – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 18 '12 at 15:36
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    BTW, is there any reference for "Most accounts estimate that all life on the moon of endor would be wiped out"? – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 18 '12 at 15:37
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    If only the rebels had thought of the ewoks first, they might have be able to prevent this catastrophe. – Xantec Jan 18 '12 at 15:51
  • @DVK There was a website that explained why that was liekly to happen, and takes the fact that it isn't mentioned as propoganda. I can't find that site right now, but if I could that would be my reference. – AncientSwordRage Jan 18 '12 at 16:07
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    Possibly the vast majority of the Death Star's mass actually fell into whatever planet Endor is a moon of. – Blazemonger Jan 18 '12 at 16:08
  • @mblase75 it was too close to the moon. As an aside the moon and the planet are both called Endor, as far as I know. – AncientSwordRage Jan 18 '12 at 16:09
  • @DVK I've updated the question. I managed to find the link. – AncientSwordRage Jan 18 '12 at 16:10
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    The moon was referred to as "the forest moon of Endor". I don't know of any reference in the movies that called the forest moon the name of Endor. Endor was the gas giant it orbited. – BBlake Jan 18 '12 at 17:22
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    @BBlake I was reading it from the wookiepedia page Endor: "This article is about the moon. You may be looking for the lesser-known host planet Endor or the starship." – AncientSwordRage Jan 18 '12 at 17:25
  • I'd imagine that the mere fact of having such a large object in orbit would cause all kinds of havoc even while it was intact. Look at our own moon's effects on Earth. – Chad Levy Jan 18 '12 at 17:53
  • @Paperjam That would depend on how large of a gravitational influence the Death Star had on space around it. Considering the advanced level of artificial gravity available in the SW universe, its possible that they were able to reduce or minimize the Death Star's impact on the spacial environment. – Xantec Jan 18 '12 at 18:59
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    The Death Star was large but it was also mostly hollow as are most manmade structures. If you're going to build something that size, you need the interior space. Otherwise, why bother? So despite the volume enclosed by the Death Star 2 its mass would be negligible compared a planet-sized ball of rock or a gas giant. – Kyle Jones Jan 22 '12 at 06:57

2 Answers2

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What you are referring to is "The Endor Holocaust".

In universe, it was "a theory put forward by Imperial propaganda agents after the Battle of Endor." In fact, Endor was saved :

Much of the debris of the superweapon was sent through a hyperspace wormhole that briefly opened up when the Death Star's hyperdrive regulator was destroyed.
[...]
According to the man's fellow cantina patrons, most of the Death Star's mass was obliterated in the explosion, while the Rebel Alliance used tractor beams to ensure the rest did not damage the world. [...]
At least one Imperial Star Destroyer did crash onto the moon's surface, though, and some debris was reported to have caused minor damage to Ewok habitats.

Out of universe, the link you submitted is "Original content is © copyright Dr Curtis Saxton 2002." (scroll to the bottom to see this mention) There's a mention of this work in the behind the scenes section of the Wookieepedia article.

The Endor Holocaust theory was first put forward by Curtis Saxton on his Star Wars Technical Commentaries fansite. Saxton claims that it is scientifically inevitable for the holocaust to happen, though it has never been identified as happening in any canon source. Some sources, such as X-wing: Wedge's Gamble and the comic book Apocalypse Endor, mention the theory, though reports in these sources are either propaganda or myth.

DavRob60
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Update.

According to the official Star Wars twitter feed, the Rebellion deployed a substantial number of ships to tractor any planet-killing pieces out of harm's way.

enter image description here

Assuming the second Death Star suffered the same level of destruction as the first Death Star, then the pieces of remaining material would have been very small indeed, with the bulk of the station cannibalising itself to fuel the energetic explosion.

Space filled temporarily with trillions of microscopic metal fragments, propelled past the retreating ships by the liberated energy of a small artificial sun. The collapsed residue of the battle station would continue to consume itself for several days, forming for that brief span of time the most impressive tombstone in this corner of the cosmos. - Star Wars: A New Hope: Novelisation

Note that when such a station is destroyed, the initial explosion appears to liberate a great deal of material but the bulk presumably stays in the vicinity and was consumed by the final throes of the ship's power generator.

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