3 ms·
No because they are only short bursts. If they were guiding a spaceship in our direction then we would observe them as a constant source of light.
by misja111 10y ago
No because they are only short bursts. If they were guiding a spaceship in our direction then we would observe them as a constant source of light.
- eunoia 10y agoOnly if they were aiming at where we are now, which doesn't make sense. They would have to aim the craft at where we are going to be in X years. X being the duration of the voyage. Come to think of it, even if they were aiming directly at where we are now I would assume the light source would still be occulted regularly by everything between us and them.
- downrightmike 10y agoThey could be checking for stellar drift.
- yazaddaruvala 10y agoGotta remember, if we are seeing light intentionally or unintentionally, they pointed these sails to our current position, almost X years in the past. Where X is the distance in light-years.