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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

#121
Reminds me of Titius–Bode law[1], where simple equation correctly gave orbits of all the known planets, while predicting one more in asteroid belt and correct distance to Uranus. Only was considered disproven when Neptune didn't work.

I would not trust these relations even existing (other than by pure chance). Even less I'd trust any intelligent design behind it

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titius%E2%80%93Bode_law

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

#122

I think the authors do not understand how planetary resonances work and how precise (or imprecise) the orbits need to be for the resonance to hold. Resonances are very common. We have lots of resonances in our Solar system in all different places between bodies. For the resonance to be stable, two bodies do not need to have mathematically precise orbits in relation to each other. There is quite a wide margin for erro…

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

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good idea! Um9iZXJ0IEogU2F3eWVyIC0gU3RhcnBsZXgK

Holy cow. ChatGPT 4 actually decoded this. It went into analysis mode, wrote some python, ran it, and gave the correct answer.

Its base64. Its not an encryption.

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

#126
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume it takes more than a day to build a Dyson sphere. But more to the point from a distant observer's viewpoint the star isn't going to just blink out. The Dyson sphere has to radiate just as much energy as the star produces, so it would probably appear just as a red dwarf. Unless the alien civilization has some way to destroy energy it will be in a constant battle to avoid cooking the inhabitants of the s…

> Unless the alien civilization has some way to destroy energy (...) If the point of a Dyson sphere is to collect energy, wouldn't it be enough to just use it or store it?

To use, not to collect. And thermodynamics appears to say you can't just store it.

A stellar mass black hole might be an interesting "cold end" in this regard… if you can find or make one, but to do that you'd need to start with a Dyson swarm.

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

#127

Reminds me of Titius–Bode law[1], where simple equation correctly gave orbits of all the known planets, while predicting one more in asteroid belt and correct distance to Uranus. Only was considered disproven when Neptune didn't work. I would not trust these relations even existing (other than by pure chance). Even less I'd trust any intelligent design behind it [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titius%E2%80%93Bode_l…

> other than by pure chance

Barring intelligent design, there's an extremely good chance that at least one of these systems exist, and an equally good chance that only one exists, and we're just lucky enough to have observed it.

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

#128

Is the implication that we're seeing the actions of a species that can alter the orbits of planets?

I remember reading a book by some kook with "PhD" in the author line, proving that the pyramids were alien technology.

One of the key pieces of evidence was that the three great pyramids perfectly line up in the way that the three stars in Orion's Belt line up.

The three stars are such a perfect straight line that they must have been pushed into position by a hyper-advanced alien race. (You know, to get them to line up perfectly from the Earth's perspective, which clearly would be important.)

But wait, that's not all. Not only are they so perfectly lined up, but they also put ONE of the stars just out of alignment, to show us exactly which star they came from, so we could go visit them.

Even as a twelve year old I was like, wait... any three points form a "perfectly straight line with one point out of alignment..."

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

#129
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not convinced until they find a Dyson sphere...

I think Culture style Orbitals are more elegant - no need for shadow squares to create day/night cycles.

Orbitals - The Tiny Houses of solar scale structures

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

#130
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Children of Time is such a great series, one of my favorites. I really loved the two corvid characters in the latest book. Tchaikovsky really is a great sci-fi writer, I'd recommend his Shards of Earth trilogy.

I'm also surprised to see somebody recommend A Darkling Sea! I don't think I've ever met someone else who's read it and recommended it before. The somewhat odd sidestory of the aliens who communicate through sex has turned off the couple people I've recommended it to from the story, pun not intended.

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