Starship Asterisk*

kingam6@msn.com wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 3:28 am Isn't MK2 so small that it is unlikely to be spherical as illustrated?

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1004/1004.1091.pdf wrote:Summary: Gravitational and electronic forces produce a correlation between the mass and
shape of objects in the universe. For example, at an average radius of ~ 200 km – 300 km, the
icy moons and rocky asteroids of our Solar System transition from a rounded potato shape to
a sphere. We derive this potato-to-sphere transition radius -- or “potato radius” -- from first
principles. Using the empirical potato radii of asteroids and icy moons, we derive a constraint
on the yield strength of these bodies during their formative years when their shapes were
determined. Our proposed ~200 km potato radius for icy moons would substantially increase
the number of trans-Neptunian objects classified as “dwarf planets”.

Fred the Cat wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:41 pm Who says nothing travels faster than light? Through animation you could go anywhere, as fast as you want.

Might need a pretty big computer but the sky isn’t the limit. From the comfort of your living room, I could see ever larger data sets enabling your virtual ship to sail anywhere your imagination desires.

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 6:21 pm

pferkul wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 6:08 pm Very nice rendering. Do we have any sense of how the sun and background starts would actually appear to a human at that location? I think our pupils would shut down because of the sun's brightness (the apparent magnitude of the sun at that distance is around -18). However, it would be easy to block the sun with your hand, and since there is essentially no scattering medium (or is the dust in our solar system enough?), would the background stars then become visible as our pupils opened up? Could the Apollo astronauts shield the sun and see background stars?

The size of our pupils only plays a small role in our accommodation to varying brightness. Most of what's going on is retinal. The problem with blocking the Sun with a hand is that it still scatters off the glass in front of you - window or helmet. But if you can fully shield yourself, you should see the stars just fine. The Apollo astronauts could see stars, but it was limited by the fact that their visors were basically dark glasses.

To the eye, the stars and Milky Way from space would look very similar to how they appear to us on the the Earth from a dark location.

pferkul wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 6:08 pm Very nice rendering. Do we have any sense of how the sun and background starts would actually appear to a human at that location? I think our pupils would shut down because of the sun's brightness (the apparent magnitude of the sun at that distance is around -18). However, it would be easy to block the sun with your hand, and since there is essentially no scattering medium (or is the dust in our solar system enough?), would the background stars then become visible as our pupils opened up? Could the Apollo astronauts shield the sun and see background stars?

Fred the Cat wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:41 pm Who says nothing travels faster than light? Through animation you could go anywhere, as fast as you want.

Might need a pretty big computer but the sky isn’t the limit. From the comfort of your living room, I could see ever larger data sets enabling your virtual ship to sail anywhere your imagination desires.

De58te wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:31 pm Something doesn't add up. If the Hubble Space Telescope "Spacecraft" took this picture, and as far as I know the Hubble is still in orbit around the Earth, then how can it take a picture of the night side of the mini planet when it is even farther away than Pluto?