A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » Space Station
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giant mirror



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 16th 12, 03:59 AM
Bigchunk83 Bigchunk83 is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by SpaceBanter: Sep 2012
Posts: 2
Default If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giant mirror

Then come back to earth and look into the mirror. What would I see?
  #2  
Old September 16th 12, 09:36 AM posted to sci.space.station
Brian Gaff
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,312
Default If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giant mirror


At current attainable speeds you would be long dead by the time you got
there with your mirror.

assuming then that some alien over there had a huge mirror and pointed it
our way, then one assumes after 20 years you would see a reflection of our
system as it was around 20 years before. However he would have had to have
put the mirror there ten years before you sent this message for the
reflection to he there now, and in any case unless this alien had a mirror
as big as the solar system, you would not be able to see very much detail!


I'm sure the alien has better things to do with his or her time though, like
perhaps avoiding daft questions.

grin.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Bigchunk83" wrote in message
...

Then come back to earth and look into the mirror. What would I see?




--
Bigchunk83



  #3  
Old September 16th 12, 06:18 PM
Bigchunk83 Bigchunk83 is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by SpaceBanter: Sep 2012
Posts: 2
Smile

Great answer, thanks, I am amused by this question, and thought I would share it.
  #4  
Old September 16th 12, 06:56 PM posted to sci.space.station
snidely
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,303
Default If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giant mirror

After serious thinking Brian Gaff wrote :

I'm sure the alien has better things to do with his or her time though, like
perhaps avoiding daft questions.


Ah, but is this so very different from some the thought experiments of
Einstein or Schroedinger? (although the latter wasn't much into
astronomy, from what I've seen)

/dps


--
Who, me? And what lacuna?


  #5  
Old September 16th 12, 07:31 PM posted to sci.space.station
Brian Gaff
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,312
Default If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giant mirror

But I'd imagine apart from a very slight red shift the answer would be as I
said in any case.


The alien pun was semi serious. The idea of who actually wants to talk to
other beings and whether to transmit or not is an interesting one. I know
all about the fact that its been done once, and that the radio from here has
spread to to a certain distance, but given the huge electromagnetic output
in the universe which is not that well tuned, it would take a very lucky
alien to actually detect it, and then what?

Even Quantum entanglement needs to have the atom sent somewhere to work I
think. Reading the recent stuff on this it seems that this has its
drawbacks!


I had a horrible dream the other night where all this 'stuff' expanding the
universe was also being shoved inside atoms and sub atomic particles and
suddenly, it overcame the forces there and we all ceased to exist!

grin.

Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Snidely" wrote in message
news:mn.828f7dc9118a103d.127094@snitoo...
After serious thinking Brian Gaff wrote :

I'm sure the alien has better things to do with his or her time though,
like perhaps avoiding daft questions.


Ah, but is this so very different from some the thought experiments of
Einstein or Schroedinger? (although the latter wasn't much into astronomy,
from what I've seen)

/dps


--
Who, me? And what lacuna?




  #6  
Old October 11th 12, 04:49 PM posted to sci.space.station
David Spain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,901
Default If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giantmirror

On 9/15/2012 10:59 PM, Bigchunk83 wrote:
Then come back to earth and look into the mirror. What would I see?


If you could make the trips instantaneously, you'd see precisely what
was happening at the moment you left to head back, 10 years previously.

I always though the idea of interstellar travel would be very
interesting if you could use a 'teleporter' like device.

Sure you have to wait the centuries until the "transceiver" arrives at
its distant destination, but once activated, you'd step into the
teleporter on Earth and presto! you arrive at your destination at what
seems to you to be instantaneously because your "teleporter signal"
propagated through space at the speed of light.

Of course, for a destination 10 light years away, at the time of your
arrival 10 years would have passed on Earth. But any signal sent along
with you would also take the same amount of time to traverse the
distance so as far as you know nothing transpired "during" the trip.
BUT, on your way back, step back into the teleporter and presto! you
arrive now 20 years into Earth's future. A very different place than the
one you left behind!

A two-way trip through space becomes a 1-way trip through time.

Dave

  #7  
Old October 21st 12, 06:59 AM posted to sci.space.station
David Spain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,901
Default If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giantmirror

On 10/11/2012 11:49 AM, David Spain wrote:
On 9/15/2012 10:59 PM, Bigchunk83 wrote:
Then come back to earth and look into the mirror. What would I see?


If you could make the trips instantaneously, you'd see precisely what was happening at the moment you left to head back, 10 years
previously.

I always though the idea of interstellar travel would be very interesting if you could use a 'teleporter' like device.

Sure you have to wait the centuries until the "transceiver" arrives at its distant destination, but once activated, you'd step into
the teleporter on Earth and presto! you arrive at your destination at what seems to you to be instantaneously because your
"teleporter signal" propagated through space at the speed of light.

Here is one way you could 'postulate' how such a system would work. And it sort of dovetails nicely with the mirror analogy. After
centuries of elapsed time, the 'home' portal begins to receive the signal back from the "transceiver". What you see is a projection
of the 'remote' portal 10 years in the past. It might appear to be a picture of a room similar or nearly identical in appearance to
the 'home' portal. A traveler would start the journey by stepping into the 'transmitter' which might mean simply walking towards the
projected room at the 'remote'. For those observing from the base station our traveler would 'dissolve' during his 'walk' and then
reappear in the projected room 10 years later w/o even so much as a 5 o'clock shadow! A person at the 'receiving' end would not see
anything unusual at all!! Just a person walking from one room into another!

Dave

  #8  
Old October 21st 12, 07:23 AM posted to sci.space.station
David Spain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,901
Default If I travel to a star 10 light years away and install a giantmirror

On 10/21/2012 1:59 AM, David Spain wrote:

For those observing from the base station our traveler would 'dissolve' during his 'walk' and then
reappear in the projected room 10 years later w/o even so much as a 5 o'clock shadow! A person at the 'receiving' end would not see


I mean, 20 years later.... (errrgh, can't add this late at night! 10 years out + 10 years for 'projected' signal to come back = 20
years)

anything unusual at all!! Just a person walking from one room into another!

Dave


Dave
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The sun was a red giant 4.6 billion years ago - the planets were born from the solar wind of the red giant sun. - solarsystem.pdf (0/1) dan@@pixelphase.com Astro Pictures 4 December 13th 10 07:27 AM
The sun was a red giant 4.6 billion years ago - the planets were born from the solar wind of the red giant sun. dan@@pixelphase.com CCD Imaging 0 December 7th 10 01:47 AM
Hugh star exploded 7.5 billion light years ago in sky Uno Misc 0 March 23rd 08 01:56 AM
Star 26 light years away could harbour alien life Martin 53N 1W SETI 5 February 23rd 06 09:12 PM
UA Mirror Lab to Cast First Mirror for Giant Magellan Telescope [email protected] Misc 0 December 13th 04 10:01 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:07 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.