Difference between revisions of "Talk:1231: Habitable Zone"
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::: What if there's a mirage-like effect in space, that causes light rays to mirror back to us with some variability, maybe different sizes, shapes, colors, and the universe is actuallly quite small? I mean, other than light, do we seriously detect gravity and other stuff out there (other than the visible effects of those properties on other stuff we see)? [[Special:Contributions/189.5.110.148|189.5.110.148]] 06:17, 29 June 2013 (UTC) | ::: What if there's a mirage-like effect in space, that causes light rays to mirror back to us with some variability, maybe different sizes, shapes, colors, and the universe is actuallly quite small? I mean, other than light, do we seriously detect gravity and other stuff out there (other than the visible effects of those properties on other stuff we see)? [[Special:Contributions/189.5.110.148|189.5.110.148]] 06:17, 29 June 2013 (UTC) | ||
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+ | :::: If the universe is curved spherically, something similar to this would actually happen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_of_the_Universe [[Special:Contributions/174.88.153.125|174.88.153.125]] 16:28, 29 June 2013 (UTC) | ||
Wouldn't reflected light make the mirror extremely bright and impossible to view directly? | Wouldn't reflected light make the mirror extremely bright and impossible to view directly? | ||
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+ | : Depends on how far the aliens decide to put the mirror. Light gets weaker with distance, which is the same reason that distant stars (many of which are brighter than our sun) don't overwhelm us with light. Also...what if the sun is merely a reflection of something? [[Special:Contributions/174.88.153.125|174.88.153.125]] 16:28, 29 June 2013 (UTC) |
Revision as of 16:28, 29 June 2013
Even if you placed the mirror in Space, it would be incredibly obvious what is going on. I don't think this would work. 96.251.85.48 06:56, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
- For this trick to work, the mirror would need to be placed AT LEAST two light years away and be at least 1AU big. Somehow I don't think this is worth it. Alternatively, you need more complicated optical system which would not only mirror Earth, but also create illusion it's further away. I still think such system would be more costly to build that ISS. Or ... well ... you could put an LCD display directly over the telescope. That's doable, cheap and as a bonus you can display planets from sci-fi there. -- Hkmaly (talk) 08:44, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
Since when do we have terrestrial telescopes that can directly resolve exoplanets? I think we're still at the stage where we get excited by troughs in light curves EDIT: TIL that there are specific techniques for exactly that: Nulling interferometry and Vortex coronagraphs. Still, they may work for hot Jupiters, but don't think we can detect Goldilocks exoplanets from the ground yet; much less see oceans and visible weather. 220.224.246.97 09:14, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
My first thought was that you need to point the mirror so that it's aimed perfectly at the Earth. Then, I realized that you can use a corner reflector so that the aim doesn't have to be precise at all. Then, I came to the following realization: what if a significant portion of the stars we see are simply reflections of our own solar system due to a massive prank done by aliens? 174.88.153.125 15:22, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
- Or all of them? Of course including additional variable features like red shift. So they were right! Forever alone... --Kronf (talk) 16:31, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
- Where would these aliens reside? Either we're pranking ourselves, or there are other stars. 220.224.246.97 17:57, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
- What if there's a mirage-like effect in space, that causes light rays to mirror back to us with some variability, maybe different sizes, shapes, colors, and the universe is actuallly quite small? I mean, other than light, do we seriously detect gravity and other stuff out there (other than the visible effects of those properties on other stuff we see)? 189.5.110.148 06:17, 29 June 2013 (UTC)
- If the universe is curved spherically, something similar to this would actually happen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_of_the_Universe 174.88.153.125 16:28, 29 June 2013 (UTC)
Wouldn't reflected light make the mirror extremely bright and impossible to view directly?
- Depends on how far the aliens decide to put the mirror. Light gets weaker with distance, which is the same reason that distant stars (many of which are brighter than our sun) don't overwhelm us with light. Also...what if the sun is merely a reflection of something? 174.88.153.125 16:28, 29 June 2013 (UTC)