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

space.com

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

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Did you ask it to create code for this? Me: Um9iZXJ0IEogU2F3eWVyIC0gU3RhcnBsZXgK ChatGPT: "xxxx" is a science fiction novel by Robert x xxxx. It explores themes of discovery, the nature of the universe, and the potential for cooperation among diverse life forms. The story revolves around a space station, xxxxxx, and its crew as they encounter mysterious wormholes, alien species, and cosmic phenomena, challenging thei…

I'm under the impression that the spoiler is what they said about the gigastructure of galaxies. If you don't know the title, you can't related it to the spoiler they just told you

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

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not at all clear to me why the harmonics makes it any more worth searching for aliens than any other solar system. a) Why would aliens expend the enormous energy required to engineer this? b) Isn't it vastly more likely to occur naturally as some sort of resonance effect?

> Why would aliens expend the enormous energy required to engineer this? So there are these great big buildings in Egypt...

That’s what they want you to think!

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

#273
post #251
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As detailed in the companion article [1], for every 54 orbits of planet 1, planets 2..6 orbit 36, 24, 16, 12, and 8 times respectively, giving successive ratios of 2/3, 2/3, 2/3, 3/4 and 3/4. After those 54 planet 1 orbits, all planets are in the same relative position. [1] https://www.space.com/six-sub-neptunes-found-100-light-years...

This could be a natural phenomenon. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_resonance

It's mentioned in the preceding article and the two papers that are linked.

In spite of the title no one is wondering if aliens moved planets around to park them in special orbits. It's infinitely more likely the resonances developed naturally.

Also, none of the planets are in the habitable zone, so it's unlikely there's life on them.

Which is a shame, because if the star was much dimmer and they were in the habitable zone, the views would make a stunning tourist attraction.

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

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not at all clear to me why the harmonics makes it any more worth searching for aliens than any other solar system. a) Why would aliens expend the enormous energy required to engineer this? b) Isn't it vastly more likely to occur naturally as some sort of resonance effect?

"Why would aliens expend the enormous energy required to engineer this" Is a very similar answer to why humans would make microprocessors out of logic gates. I'm in school for digital design at the moment, and stuff like oscillators and frequency dividers are at the very base/root of almost all electronic circuits. One guess could be that alignments of planets in specific ways could be used to generate specific impul…

Or maybe, instead of using radio or a golden disc, the aliens decided to synchronize planets of some system (not necessarily theirs), in order to try to communicate intelligent life using the gravitational waves, so the message can reach much further - maybe even to other universes (there are various theories, that we might communicate with other universes in the multiverse using gravity, or maybe with the previous universe before the Big Bang... As well as an idea that the dark matter is another universe that we interact with only gravitationally).

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

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me think about the blunder from the first season of Star Trek: Picard . A mysterious, unknown star system, hidden deep in Romulan space[0], with 8 stars and a habitable-ish planet suspended in the middle. Clearly engineered. But I can't imagine how it could stay hidden; I'd expect it to stick out like a sore thumb from across the galaxy on any star survey, even with present-day telescopes... -- [0] - An antagon…

(Haven't seen it) Engineered when? Just because they can send information and travel faster than light doesn't mean that the light from there has reached federation space. A survey would have to have been done nearby to see it

Fair point. Unfortunately, the lore says 200-300k years ago, which is enough time for information about it to cross the galaxy 2-3 times.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Eightfold_Stars

Now, while it's quite away from the Federation, the system sits in or close to Romulan space, so it makes zero sense for it to be a mystery that only the secret police inside the secret police of the Romulan Star Empire knows about it. I mean, it's like suppressing the existence of Mount Everest from citizens of Nepal. I can't imagine how strong the intelligence/counterintelligence apparatus would have to be to actually pull it off, given most people in that country can probably see it with their bare eyes on most days.

(And of course this only matters for real-life telescopes; Star Trek sensors work FTL (except when it would have inconvenient consequences)).

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

#277

> radio waves from satellites and telescopes beaming out in the plane of our solar system Surely radio telescopes don't "beam out" radio waves? They receive them. If they are configured to transmit, like the Deep Space Array, they don't beam in the plane of the solar system; they beam at whatever spaceship they are trying to communicate with. Satellites even less; they have to conserve power, so they don't send radio…

Not to mention if we did pick up an alien signal it would have been sent a very very very long time ago

Yeah, if we ever actually received an alien signal, it wouldn't change much, other than some people going wild about knowing that extraterrestrial life exists.

We'd never be able to make meaningful contact. At best, we could send a high-powered signal aimed at where the aliens are, but by the time they received it, we'd likely already be extinct. Heck, they're probably extinct by the time we even receive their signal.

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

#278
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As detailed in the companion article [1], for every 54 orbits of planet 1, planets 2..6 orbit 36, 24, 16, 12, and 8 times respectively, giving successive ratios of 2/3, 2/3, 2/3, 3/4 and 3/4. After those 54 planet 1 orbits, all planets are in the same relative position. [1] https://www.space.com/six-sub-neptunes-found-100-light-years...

Easily explained by natural and common resonance. A good keyword is entrainment.

Do you doubt that alternate theories are part of the calculus? Why have an investigation at all?

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

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

It's a reference to the movie/book 2010: Odyssey Two, by Arther C. Clarke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010:_Odyssey_Two

I know the film sequel is shunned (and I presume rightfully so) but does the same apply about the book?

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

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a reference to the movie/book 2010: Odyssey Two, by Arther C. Clarke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010:_Odyssey_Two

I know the film sequel is shunned (and I presume rightfully so) but does the same apply about the book?

I’m probably not the best person to ask. I loved all four books and both movies. I actually saw 2010 before 2001 and dare say I kind of prefer 2010. 2001 is beautiful art but the pacing is slow. 2010 is a solid 80s sci-fi flick.
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