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A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

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Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#281

Post by autosharp »

eb0la wrote: post #274
mcorning wrote: post #13

For reference 1 AU (Astronomical Unit) is about 150 million km. Saturn ranges from being about 7 to 11 AU away from Earth. Voyager 1 is 152 AU away. This object is excitingly close and will be fun to study.

Stupid question: The Hubble photos we have from Saturn are a 7-8 AU range, right? Even more stupid question: Pointing the Hubble there is worth the effort? how many pixels wide would be a 200km diameter object at 11 AU?

> how many pixels wide would be a 200km diameter object at 11 AU?

Depends on zoom and resolution of the camera.

Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#282

Post by [deleted] »

edgyquant wrote: post #234
earthboundkid wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thread of people discussing pronunciations without saying where they are from or using IPA is a pointless waste of time. You may as well be talking about what time it is by posting “well, it’s dark here!”

It doesn’t really matter where you’re from. If you pronounce Uranus as your-anus you are pronouncing it wrong.

[deleted]

Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#284

Post by residualmind »

While scientifically-minded folks are excited for a new object of study, or simply something awesome in the night sky - I can't wait until I see the first doomsday predictions by people with a different mindset... In a way it is also an object of study for those world views ;)

Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#285

Post by uCantCauseUCant »

Meerax wrote: post #23

Is this something we could plan and manage to launch an orbiter/lander to in time? Has anyone thought about the possibility of slapping something like a telescope on that and letting it beam back data and images from veryyyyy far out eventually?

It is a great opportunity for a interstellar slingshot though..

Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#287

Post by subroutine »

andy_ppp wrote: post #279

Suppose this, if there are advanced civilisations doing interstellar travel and there really is a 200km object that could hit Earth (I understand this is too far out), what would be the way to ask them for help?

Shoot a rocket into outer-space with a bunch of full human genomes (sequencing data), a backup of the internet, and a readme.

The probability of a starship being within 5 lightyears of earth is likely zero. If there is one, it's probably because it's already on its way here.

Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#288

Post by de6u99er »

eb0la wrote: post #274
mcorning wrote: post #13

For reference 1 AU (Astronomical Unit) is about 150 million km. Saturn ranges from being about 7 to 11 AU away from Earth. Voyager 1 is 152 AU away. This object is excitingly close and will be fun to study.

Stupid question: The Hubble photos we have from Saturn are a 7-8 AU range, right? Even more stupid question: Pointing the Hubble there is worth the effort? how many pixels wide would be a 200km diameter object at 11 AU?

Unfortunately Hubble has issues at the moment. There's a couple of HN submissions about that.

--> https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#289

Post by andy_ppp »

subroutine wrote: post #287
andy_ppp wrote: post #279

Suppose this, if there are advanced civilisations doing interstellar travel and there really is a 200km object that could hit Earth (I understand this is too far out), what would be the way to ask them for help?

Shoot a rocket into outer-space with a bunch of full human genomes (sequencing data), a backup of the internet, and a readme. The probability of a starship being within 5 lightyears of earth is likely zero. If there is one, it's probably because it's already on its way here.

Who is to say we aren't the product of such a disaster...

Re: A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

#290

Post by subroutine »

andy_ppp wrote: post #289
subroutine wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shoot a rocket into outer-space with a bunch of full human genomes (sequencing data), a backup of the internet, and a readme. The probability of a starship being within 5 lightyears of earth is likely zero. If there is one, it's probably because it's already on its way here.

Who is to say we aren't the product of such a disaster...

What do you mean "product"? Like...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_e...

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