very interesting website, but one thing it completely neglects to take into consideration is the fact that the tiny Nostromo relative to the refinery is completely hidden an to far side of it.
The Narcissus used its Retro jets to separate and escape the detonation, and flew "backwards". thus The Narcissus probably did not reach minimum safe distance, However the refinery being almost a Mountain in itself as compared to the Nostromo, did initially survive the Nostromo detonation, thus shielding the Narcissus from the full brunt of the exposure.
Blast 1 = Nostromo reactor detonation
Blast 2= secondary Nostromo detonation of chemical engines
Blast 3= Refinery detonation and all the weird colors coming out from the different chemical elements contained in the refinery.
But yeah, its just a movie anyway
