Starship Asterisk*

I was reading somewhere that Milky Way A* object threw some star outwards at more than galaxy escape velocity. So I was thinking, if it can do that to objects as large as stars, how much more speed can small spaceship gain by passing close to such an object? Assuming it does not get close enough to be torn apart by tidal forces.

makc wrote:I was reading somewhere that Milky Way A* object threw some star outwards at more than galaxy escape velocity. So I was thinking, if it can do that to objects as large as stars, how much more speed can small spaceship gain by passing close to such an object? Assuming it does not get close enough to be torn apart by tidal forces.

Escape velocity is the same for any object, regardless of mass. And a low mass object doesn't get a bigger boost in a slingshot maneuver than a high mass object. The only major difference is that a physically small body can get closer to the slingshot body than a large one, which does allow for a greater effect.

According to wiki it is even less than that, and is defined by relative velocity of heavy object:

In case of Sun and A* this would be our radial velocity in the galaxy, which I assume is pretty small (if we move along anything close to circle)

On the other side, there are some pretty fast stars orbiting A*, arent there, so we could definitely use those to give us some boost Unfortunately, we don't live close enough, so this trick is up to near-galaxy-center aliens.

So, for this plan to work for _us_, we need some binary neutron star nearby. Any candidates?

Man, what is A*? It's impossible to look up such a name because * isn't counted as part of the keyword. And the Wikipedia article has nothing to do with astronomy.

geckzilla wrote:Man, what is A*? It's impossible to look up such a name because * isn't counted as part of the keyword. And the Wikipedia article has nothing to do with astronomy.

Maybe, look inside the numbers?


1 Getting to close to the 4 m/s/m black hole is not wise? The object in question was a very solid object.

2 How did voyager boost its speed? http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

3 If gravity did boost its speed, on the other side, why did it not slow it down?

4 How do you use this >>> http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Escape_velocity To gain speed?

Mark, I just wanted to let you know that you made things even more confusing for me. Maybe you should not have responded if you did not want to explain it more clearly to me.

geckzilla wrote:Man, what is A*?

Sagittarius A*

Thanks, bystander. By the way, how many *-named things are there out there? I can't recall seeing any others but sometimes my memory fails me. Why is it named with a *?

Sgr A* is just the central part of Sgr A.

See http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... =8&t=14493

geckzilla wrote:Thanks, bystander. By the way, how many *-named things are there out there? I can't recall seeing any others but sometimes my memory fails me. Why is it named with a *?

Because there is so much to name? http://www.ianridpath.com/starnames.htm


Just a few.

mark swain wrote:

geckzilla wrote:Thanks, bystander. By the way, how many *-named things are there out there? I can't recall seeing any others but sometimes my memory fails me. Why is it named with a *?

Because there is so much to name? http://www.ianridpath.com/starnames.htm
Just a few.

Uh... you do know that the asterisks in that list are not part of the star names? They just mean that those stars are found in the Nautical Almanac.

Come on, we all make mistakes don't we....

There ya go, ..... sorry guys.