If that is a discarded lightsail, maybe it's payload is right now decelerating towards Sol. THAT would be something (pun intended).
‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
21–30 of 112 posts
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#22But if it was, is it friendly, or is this place a Dark Forest?
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#23Although unlikely to be a lightsail I think, this reminds me of the Rama series by Arthur C. Clark. I really wish someone like HBO, Netflix, or Starz would pick that series up and make a show out of it.
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#24Betteridge's law of headlines. No.
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Always amazes me how people won't acknowledge there is plenty of things we humans don't know. I didn't think this was clickbait, it's just some interesting ideas based on our limited knowledge of something, nothing pretentious or over reaching IMO
We have knowledge of probability. The probability of the interstellar object being a light sail is equal to the probability of the flying spaghetti monster existing. So in other words, the probability is not Zero. Meaning it is very much worth considering and this article is legit.
We have knowledge of probability. The probability of the interstellar object being a light sail is equal to the probability of the characteristics matching a known light sail. That's not zero, since it's lining up. It's low enough that it's discountable by many people, to be sure, but not zero.
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#26If I were a funny alien civilization and had some time to kill I would totally play skimming stones involving solar systems and Oumuamua like objects.
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#27If that is a discarded lightsail, maybe it's payload is right now decelerating towards Sol. THAT would be something (pun intended).
What if it's payload contains an AI in a tiny container rather than a biological being?
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#28Although unlikely to be a lightsail I think, this reminds me of the Rama series by Arthur C. Clark. I really wish someone like HBO, Netflix, or Starz would pick that series up and make a show out of it.
Morgan Freeman owns (owned?) the rights and has been trying to make it since the late '80s: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/morgan_freeman_insists_re
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#29If we send a Voyager-sized probe to Alpha/Beta Centauri, could we use a similar gravity assist to slingshot around one of the stars? How good is our aim across 4.4 light years?
Judging from New Horizon's targeting capabilities and assuming the "discarded" light sail still has guidance then I'd conclude our aim could be amazingly good!
Re: ‘Oumuamua, Thin Films and Lightsails
#30Although unlikely to be a lightsail I think, this reminds me of the Rama series by Arthur C. Clark. I really wish someone like HBO, Netflix, or Starz would pick that series up and make a show out of it.
Morgan Freeman owns (owned?) the rights and has been trying to make it since the late '80s: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/morgan_freeman_insists_re
He wants to make it into a movie though. I hope he is considering a high-level TV series a la Game of Thrones. I feel like there are a lot of nuances that would get lost if made as a movie or series of movies.