@BigDave
While I agree with you that i dont believe Paradise will end up being LV426 for several reasons. I will play devils advocate using three of the points u placed above as reference, as its never certain what these screenwriters or Sir Ridley will throw at us:
*Holloway is showing his findings and the Star Map, he said they found ONE System that Matches the star Maps and this System had a Star with a Planet that had ONE Moon that may be able to support life and they arrived their that morning. We have to assume he meant LV-223
On a related note, i feel that if they go this route, and i hope they do explore this, that the prime controlers and the beings higher than the Engineers and the instigators of it all are much further away in the darkest most remote and beyond study or analysis corners of the universe.
*David told Shaw once he worked out the broad strokes then finding the path to Paradise would be relatively easy, i would assume if Paradise was within the same System then this would be a odd thing to mention...
*If Paradise is in that System (LV-223, LV-426) Shaw would not need to go into Cryo-sleep... but then we dont know 100% if she had done so at any point.
$$$$-While they did find one system they thought matched the Star Maps found in the caves, its very possible that Paradise is the in that system, it just didnt fit the 5 planets configuration. That would be like us knowing for certain, from like a 1000 lightyears away that solar system the size of the Milky Way had no life on any any of its planets or moons. I actually feel that LV223, LV426, and Paradise are all either in the same system or fairly close to one another, for one why would the cave paintings point to just their military black goo testing facility on LV223?? Why wouldnt it point to their actual planet and place of origin? I feel that using the Cave Star Maps that Holloway and Shaw found the correct system or the correct vicinity of space but unluckily landed on LV223 where the black goo testing was taking place, it just doesnt make sense that the cave paintings indicated this location instead of the actual home planet of the Engineers or another similar faction of humanoid beings. And we already know due to the charred remains that Paradise was at least home to a faction of humanoid beings, so maybe Paradise is actually the location they intended to find in a nearby location rather than LV223, just makes the cave painting make more sense than saying "Hey come find us at our military outpost"
David probably did have to work out the broad strokes to locate Paradise because one all this is new, he is using data and information gleamed from using an ancient Alien dialog. For example when they leave the planet do they "turn right" and leave that solar system to go to the next one or the one after that or do they "turn left" and go deeper into that system to locate Paradise. It may not be super close like our Mars is to Earth but it may rest behind a larger planet at the outskirts of that system, much like Pluto sits at the edge behind Neptune and Uranus. Or perhaps there is a large gas giant like Jupiter hiding it and kept them from seeking it out instead when they becan their original journey from Earth on Prometheus? Remember this realm of the galaxy kind of was hinted at being unexplored in Prometheus, because Holloway stated "we found a system" if humans had already been in that system and were very familiar with it he would have indicated by name and announced it in another manner. I feel Paradise is far perhaps like Earth is to Pluto or perhaps this system is more vast than the Milky Way and its further away than that, but i feel that Paradise is in this system because they would have lucked on to LV223 otherwise as i still feel there is no reason the cave paintings would have indicated the Engineer military testing facility on LV223 insted of their homeworld or at least a location of their population or maybe the section of Engineers that were helpful. Because maybe their was different factions of Engineers, the ones on LV223 dont seem like the kind Earthlings would even know about because of what their purpose was, which was to destroy with the goo, so why would man paint cave paintings of these beings that destroy them, in actuality they wouldnt know if them as the Engineers on LV223 would just do their deed and kill everything, no one left to paint....now if there were a different type of Engineers a more helpful, peaceful type, less militaryish, as has been hinted at by rumor and speculation then perhaps these types did visit Earth and helped or assisted with ancient man in some way thus leading to the cave paintings, its just more logical in my mind.
Just possibilities and speculation, but after writing all of this out i think i just further convinced myself that the cave paintings did not indicate LV223 because why would they ...just sayin'
