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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

#141

Post by pavel_lishin »

digging wrote: post #113
pavel_lishin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Thanks. I have yet to read the first 3, so I'll add them to the list. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll stumble into that art-project novel.

None of those are that novel, but I gave the answer in base64 elsewhere in the thread!

That particular novel isn't the author's best work, but it's decent - his other stuff is much, much better imo.

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

#142

Post by fullstackchris »

SamBam wrote: post #120
mapt wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is dynamically unstable; Any miniscule imperfection ends up being magnified by the forces involved. The angular momentum of the system is conserved, but resonances build chaotically and are likely to eventually concentrate enough in a smaller body to throw it off past escape velocity. Spaced-out resonant triplets of bodies in the same plane are often dynamically stable - an imperfect ratio is damped by various o…

That's why it would require alien technology to keep it perfect. Why they'd do this, though, would be a mystery.

seems like it'd be a primitive way (in one way, obviously not in the tech sense) of displaying power

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

#143

Post by [deleted] »

thereisnoself wrote: post #133

I've often thought planet TrEs-2b [0], the darkest planet ever discovered orbiting a star, would be the best candidate for extra terrestrial life. My theory is that its darkness is down to the fact that the civilisation there has figured out a way to harness solar energy to near 100% capacity, along the lines of a Dyson sphere [1]. [0] https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/1716/tres-2-b [1] https://en.wikiped…

[deleted]

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

#144

Post by dmazin »

thereisnoself wrote: post #133

I've often thought planet TrEs-2b [0], the darkest planet ever discovered orbiting a star, would be the best candidate for extra terrestrial life. My theory is that its darkness is down to the fact that the civilisation there has figured out a way to harness solar energy to near 100% capacity, along the lines of a Dyson sphere [1]. [0] https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/1716/tres-2-b [1] https://en.wikiped…

That’s an interesting exoplanet, though not sure how someone would live on a gas giant.

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

#145

Post by ben_w »

wombatpm wrote: post #129
arethuza wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Every megastructure is an invisible dot compared to the next size up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKSRKT0nzM

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

#146

Post by beambot »

stronglikedan wrote: post #127
NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #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_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.

Why would it be an equally good chance that only one exists?

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

#150

Post by thereisnoself »

dmazin wrote: post #144
thereisnoself wrote: post #133

I've often thought planet TrEs-2b [0], the darkest planet ever discovered orbiting a star, would be the best candidate for extra terrestrial life. My theory is that its darkness is down to the fact that the civilisation there has figured out a way to harness solar energy to near 100% capacity, along the lines of a Dyson sphere [1]. [0] https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/1716/tres-2-b [1] https://en.wikiped…

That’s an interesting exoplanet, though not sure how someone would live on a gas giant.

I don't think it makes sense for a humanoid species, but silicon based, perhaps? Iain M Banks' The Algebraist [0] has a near immortal species called Dwellers that manage it somehow :)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Algebraist#:~:text=Dweller....

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