Stuff in Space

[krenshala]

I thought you folks would find this site interesting. http://stuffin.space

It displays data pulled daily from space-track.org, and shows it in a nifty WebGL 3d (javascript) display.

From this, you can really appreciate how much stuff is just floating around our planet.

[ladajo]

Fun link. Seen others like it.
Maybe this is a clue to finding intelligent life on other worlds. Looking for a metal albedo signature.

[Tom Ligon]

But don't you think truly intelligent life would manage the junk?

There as the bro-haha a few months back, the speculation that a pattern of light dropouts around one star might mean they had a Ringworld under construction.

The methodology required for detecting small bodies orbiting planets around other stars will require better ability to image planets. So far we've managed to get a few hot pixels, but nothing like the resolution needed. But the approach is straightforward ... build multiple big telescopes in space.

Which might be some of the more conspicuous artifacts we could look for.

[paperburn1]

1

[paperburn1]

While a Dyson sphere is problematic and most likely undoable for many reasons there is a concept out there called a Dyson swarm.
The Dyson Swarm is made up of one-kilometer (0.6 mi) solar panels that orbit the Sun in hundreds of stable criss-cross patterns.

video at the bottom of article.

[ladajo]

[paperburn1]

[ladajo]

Hive minds make for a lot of snot to fling...

[Tom Ligon]

This beekeeper suspects Heinlein and Hollywood have missed the truth about hive minds entirely. Bees don't have a "hive mind," just 60,000 intelligent decision-makers all motivated to do some common good for their own home. They just reach a consensus. If we could learn to ....

My understanding is that we have found a few planets were we can manage about a pixel of resolution. Those pixels can be seen changing color. The color changes may indicate oceans.

A swarm of satellites would be more uniform in color, and harder to detect. However, there is a high probablility that they would be shiny. If flashes can be discerned, a bit of geometry might show that we're dealing with orbiting shiny bits. At certain positions and angles you might get reflected sunlight. They should not produce these flashes when in the umbra of the planet. So in parts of the orbit, the disk of the planet should not produce flashes but there might be a halo of them around it.

This still requires that one be able to resolve a planet from its near-by space. Another order of magnitude of resolution, or two, may get us there.

[krenshala]

[paperburn1]

[ladajo]

[Tom Ligon]

[Taliesin]

I have heard that bees body heat is also used to defend their hive. If an intruder inters the hive, the bees will surround the intruder and raise their body temperature, effectively baking the intruder in a bee oven.

[Tom Ligon]