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'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

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Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#71

Post by Ecoste »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #7

Reminds me of a bit from a novel I read (won't be naming the title to avoid spoilers) where one of the minor twists is that the gigastructure of galaxies that we observe in the universe - the thing that's conducive to things like "star formation" and "life" - is an art project by intelligent species who've been alive since around the time of the Big Bang. (No, it's not part of the Xeelee Sequence :P)

Comment the title is base64 to avoid spoilers because ChatGPT does not recognize what book this is.

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#72

Post by tossit444 »

RockCoach wrote: post #9
aqme28 wrote: post #3

Are we more likely to find alien tech in a "mathematically perfect" star system? Why? The article doesn't mention it.

The implication is that is the star system had potentially been artificially modified or even designed. Any entity capable of performing such a feat that must logically possess advanced technology. That's all.

Seems like they're missing something, eh?

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#73

Post by pavel_lishin »

digging wrote: post #53
pavel_lishin wrote: post #7

Reminds me of a bit from a novel I read (won't be naming the title to avoid spoilers) where one of the minor twists is that the gigastructure of galaxies that we observe in the universe - the thing that's conducive to things like "star formation" and "life" - is an art project by intelligent species who've been alive since around the time of the Big Bang. (No, it's not part of the Xeelee Sequence :P)

Well, on an unrelated note, do you have any scifi author recommendations?

I have so many. In real life, this is where I get a very intense look in my eye, and about 50% of the time, I can see that the person I'm speaking with has realized that they're now trapped in an hour-long conversation with me.

I'll make it a short list of recent authors I've liked:

- Adrian Tchaikovsky. He's best known for his Children of Time series, but his other scifi books are also excellent; I haven't read the fantasy ones. "The Expert System's Brother" is particularly excellent.

- James Cambias. "A Darkling Sea" is a tremendously cool novel set at the bottom of an ocean under a moon's icy surface. Arkad's World has some very interesting world-building & aliens. And Corsair is a fun near-future technothriller about near-space and moon mining.

- Stephen Baxter (author of the Xeelee Sequence) writes very good books, but just about none of them have a happy ending, and they're mostly grim - but very interesting.

- It's not HN if I don't recommend Greg Egan, Peter Watts, and Neal Stephenson.

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#74

Post by pavel_lishin »

Ecoste wrote: post #71
pavel_lishin wrote: post #7

Reminds me of a bit from a novel I read (won't be naming the title to avoid spoilers) where one of the minor twists is that the gigastructure of galaxies that we observe in the universe - the thing that's conducive to things like "star formation" and "life" - is an art project by intelligent species who've been alive since around the time of the Big Bang. (No, it's not part of the Xeelee Sequence :P)

Comment the title is base64 to avoid spoilers because ChatGPT does not recognize what book this is.

Good idea!

Um9iZXJ0IEogU2F3eWVyIC0gU3RhcnBsZXgK

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#76

Post by hef19898 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #68
hef19898 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just realized, I meant orbit speed and not rotation aeound the planets axis. Shouldn't write in parallel to meetings... Your answer was very interesting so, thank you!

I see! In the other case, the answer is: velocity vector determines the orbit. For any given point at any given orbit, there's only one valid velocity vector relative to the star (direction and magnitude) - tweaking it tweaks the shape of the orbit. One of the best way to get an intuition for orbits is to play Kerbal Space Program for a few hours :).

Going back to my buried physics knowledge, that is quite logic. Thanks again!

I am just afraid to touch Kerbal Space Program, I really cannot afford another time sink at the moment!

As one time ovner of a Star Wars RPG PC whos secret super weapon was his tremendous Astrogation skill, I really should so I guess!

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#77

Post by thfuran »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #58
rob74 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not convinced until they find a Dyson sphere...

Dyson spheres are probably really rare. It's just bad strategy, everyone within your galaxy knows you're there pretty much immediately when a star just up and disappears one day. Granted, the non-K2s just stare in awe maybe, but the other K2s will fuck your shit up. Can't exactly pack it up and run either, not with a medium-sized star in your suitcase.

>but the other K2s will fuck your shit up.

[Citation Needed]

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#78

Post by nicklecompte »

aqme28 wrote: post #3

Are we more likely to find alien tech in a "mathematically perfect" star system? Why? The article doesn't mention it.

This title is pure clickbait which preys on peoples ignorance about astronomy + millennia of unscientific ideology about the Golden Ratio.

Orbital resonance is a common phenomenon - the Galilean moons of Jupiter are in resonant orbits - and I suspect this system is interesting but not unique. In fact a quick search found a different system with 5 resonant orbits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOI-178 Orbital resonance is quite common with young solar systems so the interesting thing about HD 110067 is that it has remained in orbital resonance for billions of years. It is childish to think that aliens moved the planets around.

The paper itself[1] only briefly mentions the resonant property. Nobody is directly claiming that the aliens caused the planets to do this because making such a claim with zero evidence is ridiculous. But they certainly understand what they're doing with the clickbait title :(

[1] https://www.space.com/alien-technosignatures-exoplanet-mathe...

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#79

Post by tastyfreeze »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #58
rob74 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not convinced until they find a Dyson sphere...

Dyson spheres are probably really rare. It's just bad strategy, everyone within your galaxy knows you're there pretty much immediately when a star just up and disappears one day. Granted, the non-K2s just stare in awe maybe, but the other K2s will fuck your shit up. Can't exactly pack it up and run either, not with a medium-sized star in your suitcase.

> Can't exactly pack it up and run either, not with a medium-sized star in your suitcase.

If you're K2 just take the star and solar system with you. Stellar engines can be used to move stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine

Re: 'Mathematically perfect' star system being investigated for potential alien tech

#80

Post by TeMPOraL »

hef19898 wrote: post #41
sirsinsalot wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If aliens have vacuum cleaners, I hope they're better than ours tbh.

Mandatory mention of Spaceballs incoming... I just don't want the reverse function on my home vacuum.

IDK, I miss those old vacuums that could run in reverse - they're perfect for building hovercrafts for kids.

Make a big disk, punch the vacuum cleaner's pipe through it, put a blanket over the whole thing, add a chair on top. Turn power on, you have a hovercraft. A staple of city science fairs where I live.

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