8 ms·

Strange Signals from the Nearby Red Dwarf Star Ross 128

142 points by r721 9y ago

SubiculumCode 9y ago
I'm no astronomer, but interstellar mysteries are cool...so are stellar ones.
canadaj 9y ago
Shivans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent:_FreeSpace_–_The_Great_War# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent:_FreeSpace_–_The_Great...
- Fjolsvith 9y ago
  OMG the best space combat game ever! Wished it ran on modern windows in high res...
  - canadaj 9y ago
    Check out FreeSpace 2, it's got some incredible mods and runs on W10 at any resolution if I remember correctly.
    - sundvor 9y ago
      Nice, I loved Freespace and Freespace 2 - but haven't looked at the mods. I'm currently into Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, and have also backed http://starfighterinc.gamepedia.com/Starfighter_Inc_Wiki http://starfighterinc.gamepedia.com/Starfighter_Inc_Wiki which looks really promising. Oh and Eve-Online, however that's not first person as such.
      - King-Aaron 9y ago
        I loved Elite Dangerous, and poured many late nights into it. Would certainly recommend to anyone looking for a modern space sim.
      - TeMPOraL 9y ago
        > Nice, I loved Freespace and Freespace 2 - but haven't looked at the mods. Do check out FreeSpace Source Code Project[0]. They've upgraded the code and assets to make the game look great on current machines. AFAIK it still requires the original game for the Single Player campaign (easy to obtain through GOG). As for mods changing things, I highly recommend Battlestar Galactica: Diaspora Mod[1]. It's even better than it looks on the promo[2], and you can do most (all?) of the tricks Vipers did on the show. And you can fly a Raptor too. Single Player storyline is well made, with great voiceovers, and doesn't break continuity with the show. Oh, and I totally second 'Fjolsvith - FS/FS2 is the best space combat game ever! -- [0] - http://scp.indiegames.us/ http://scp.indiegames.us/ [1] - http://diaspora.hard-light.net/ http://diaspora.hard-light.net/ [2] - https://www.youtube.com/embed/DWt2m1xtJbw https://www.youtube.com/embed/DWt2m1xtJbw
        sundvor 9y ago
        Cheers, appreciate that. I've lost the physical installers for all my old games but will try to check it out. Looking forward to it!
      - Filligree 9y ago
        Elite:Dangerous is awesome. You should try it in VR--if you haven't already, it's almost a completely different game. Target/screen selection by head-tracking works great, immersion goes up significantly, and the holograms are actually holographic. The dramatically increased spatial awareness and FoV is also useful. I find myself sticking to ships with massive cockpit windows, because I look up at them all the time. Pity about the resolution, that's all. VR right now is good enough to use... but it'd be so much better with about twice the linear resolution.
        sundvor 9y ago
        Sounds great! I'm presently using a curved 3440x1440 34" 95hz screen with TrackIR, full HOTAS and a quality audio chain (ZXR+ATH-ADG1X). I'm hanging for next gen VR with improved resolution, but meanwhile I find the immersion quite incredible as is - can't imagine it without the head tracking. The soundscape is worth an honorable mention too.
  - BatFastard 9y ago
    My project team stayed late for weeks playing that game after work. Great multiplayer battles.
somedangedname 9y ago
It's worth pointing out that this is a different star than the dimming / 'Dyson sphere' star KIC 8462852 which was covered in the press earlier in the year. All very exciting!
- jorgec 9y ago
  A Dyson Sphere is impractical and not viable.
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    I think that the actual theory was phrased as a “swarm of megastructures”. While also "impractical and not viable", a Dyson swarm would be less so than an enclosed sphere.
    - vanderZwan 9y ago
      I dunno, the more I think about how we are a collective of trillions of cells coordinating a mobile, local, semi-closed ecosystem for decades before falling apart, the more I'm inclined to call us impractical and not viable too. Yet here we are.
  - baking 9y ago
    When people say "Dyson Sphere" they are frequently talking about Dyson Swarms or Dyson Bubbles because a solid "Dyson Shell" is inherently unstable.
    - CamperBob2 9y ago
      When people say "Dyson Sphere" they are frequently talking about Dyson Swarms or Dyson Bubbles because a solid "Dyson Shell" is inherently unstable. Gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that a civilization capable of building a Dyson structure is not entirely unfamiliar with control theory.
      - Filligree 9y ago
noahdesu 9y ago
Is seems like there is a more recent update [0] to the topic than the linked-to page, but it is really technical and perhaps just a data update. [0]: http://phl.upr.edu/library/notes/barnard http://phl.upr.edu/library/notes/barnard
pavement 9y ago
V* RY Sex How this particular red dwarf came to obtain such a name, gives me an inkling that whoever did it must have known the effect it would have on search engines. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex
- wolfgang42 9y ago
  This seems to be a perfectly ordinary name for a variable star: V* - Variable star RY - 16th discovered [^] Sex - in the constellation Sextans [^]: The numbering is a bit strange, it starts at R and goes R, S, T, ..., X, Y, Z, RR, RS, RT and so on. [Edit: I originally did the math completely wrong and said that this was the 50th.] For more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star_designation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star_designation
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    Starting a numbering system with "R" may seem weird, but it's perfectly in character for the discipline that declared "metal" to mean "everything in the universe except hydrogen and helium."
    - Factory 9y ago
      "the 2% of the universe that isn't hydrogen and helium", surely.
      - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
        "The interesting 2% of the universe." (Though I thought it was rather less than 1%? Enh, apparently I'm too lazy to check Wikipedia right now.)
  - peterburkimsher 9y ago
    It has 144 siblings. I wonder how that happened. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex&NbI...
thirdstonefrom 9y ago
Aliens.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
c3534l 9y ago
It's not aliens.
gbugniot 9y ago
SETI analysis: http://seti.berkeley.edu/ross128.pdf http://seti.berkeley.edu/ross128.pdf TL;DR No evidence of aliens.

142 points by r721 9y ago

I'm no astronomer, but interstellar mysteries are cool...so are stellar ones.

Shivans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent:_FreeSpace_–_The_Great_War# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent:_FreeSpace_–_The_Great...

Fjolsvith 9y ago
OMG the best space combat game ever! Wished it ran on modern windows in high res...
- canadaj 9y ago
  Check out FreeSpace 2, it's got some incredible mods and runs on W10 at any resolution if I remember correctly.
  - sundvor 9y ago
    Nice, I loved Freespace and Freespace 2 - but haven't looked at the mods. I'm currently into Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, and have also backed http://starfighterinc.gamepedia.com/Starfighter_Inc_Wiki http://starfighterinc.gamepedia.com/Starfighter_Inc_Wiki which looks really promising. Oh and Eve-Online, however that's not first person as such.
    - King-Aaron 9y ago
      I loved Elite Dangerous, and poured many late nights into it. Would certainly recommend to anyone looking for a modern space sim.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      > Nice, I loved Freespace and Freespace 2 - but haven't looked at the mods. Do check out FreeSpace Source Code Project[0]. They've upgraded the code and assets to make the game look great on current machines. AFAIK it still requires the original game for the Single Player campaign (easy to obtain through GOG). As for mods changing things, I highly recommend Battlestar Galactica: Diaspora Mod[1]. It's even better than it looks on the promo[2], and you can do most (all?) of the tricks Vipers did on the show. And you can fly a Raptor too. Single Player storyline is well made, with great voiceovers, and doesn't break continuity with the show. Oh, and I totally second 'Fjolsvith - FS/FS2 is the best space combat game ever! -- [0] - http://scp.indiegames.us/ http://scp.indiegames.us/ [1] - http://diaspora.hard-light.net/ http://diaspora.hard-light.net/ [2] - https://www.youtube.com/embed/DWt2m1xtJbw https://www.youtube.com/embed/DWt2m1xtJbw
      - sundvor 9y ago
        Cheers, appreciate that. I've lost the physical installers for all my old games but will try to check it out. Looking forward to it!
    - Filligree 9y ago
      Elite:Dangerous is awesome. You should try it in VR--if you haven't already, it's almost a completely different game. Target/screen selection by head-tracking works great, immersion goes up significantly, and the holograms are actually holographic. The dramatically increased spatial awareness and FoV is also useful. I find myself sticking to ships with massive cockpit windows, because I look up at them all the time. Pity about the resolution, that's all. VR right now is good enough to use... but it'd be so much better with about twice the linear resolution.
      - sundvor 9y ago
        Sounds great! I'm presently using a curved 3440x1440 34" 95hz screen with TrackIR, full HOTAS and a quality audio chain (ZXR+ATH-ADG1X). I'm hanging for next gen VR with improved resolution, but meanwhile I find the immersion quite incredible as is - can't imagine it without the head tracking. The soundscape is worth an honorable mention too.
- BatFastard 9y ago
  My project team stayed late for weeks playing that game after work. Great multiplayer battles.

somedangedname 9y ago

It's worth pointing out that this is a different star than the dimming / 'Dyson sphere' star KIC 8462852 which was covered in the press earlier in the year. All very exciting!

jorgec 9y ago
A Dyson Sphere is impractical and not viable.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  I think that the actual theory was phrased as a “swarm of megastructures”. While also "impractical and not viable", a Dyson swarm would be less so than an enclosed sphere.
  - vanderZwan 9y ago
    I dunno, the more I think about how we are a collective of trillions of cells coordinating a mobile, local, semi-closed ecosystem for decades before falling apart, the more I'm inclined to call us impractical and not viable too. Yet here we are.
- baking 9y ago
  When people say "Dyson Sphere" they are frequently talking about Dyson Swarms or Dyson Bubbles because a solid "Dyson Shell" is inherently unstable.
  - CamperBob2 9y ago
    When people say "Dyson Sphere" they are frequently talking about Dyson Swarms or Dyson Bubbles because a solid "Dyson Shell" is inherently unstable. Gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that a civilization capable of building a Dyson structure is not entirely unfamiliar with control theory.
    - Filligree 9y ago

noahdesu 9y ago

Is seems like there is a more recent update [0] to the topic than the linked-to page, but it is really technical and perhaps just a data update. [0]: http://phl.upr.edu/library/notes/barnard http://phl.upr.edu/library/notes/barnard

pavement 9y ago

V* RY Sex How this particular red dwarf came to obtain such a name, gives me an inkling that whoever did it must have known the effect it would have on search engines. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex

wolfgang42 9y ago
This seems to be a perfectly ordinary name for a variable star: V* - Variable star RY - 16th discovered [^] Sex - in the constellation Sextans [^]: The numbering is a bit strange, it starts at R and goes R, S, T, ..., X, Y, Z, RR, RS, RT and so on. [Edit: I originally did the math completely wrong and said that this was the 50th.] For more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star_designation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star_designation
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  Starting a numbering system with "R" may seem weird, but it's perfectly in character for the discipline that declared "metal" to mean "everything in the universe except hydrogen and helium."
  - Factory 9y ago
    "the 2% of the universe that isn't hydrogen and helium", surely.
    - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
      "The interesting 2% of the universe." (Though I thought it was rather less than 1%? Enh, apparently I'm too lazy to check Wikipedia right now.)
- peterburkimsher 9y ago
  It has 144 siblings. I wonder how that happened. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=V*+RY+Sex&NbI...

thirdstonefrom 9y ago

Aliens.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

c3534l 9y ago

It's not aliens.

gbugniot 9y ago

SETI analysis: http://seti.berkeley.edu/ross128.pdf http://seti.berkeley.edu/ross128.pdf TL;DR No evidence of aliens.