4 ms·
The light wouldn't need to be continuous. You would only need a fraction of a second to catch the blip. So assuming that, and that the most powerful nanopulse l
by Rooster61 8y ago
The light wouldn't need to be continuous. You would only need a fraction of a second to catch the blip. So assuming that, and that the most powerful nanopulse laser on earth is ~500 Terawatts, I'd think you could have a laser with a discernible pulse at about the 100 Terawatt level (This is an ass-pull number, but so is this entire excercise so who cares anyways :D )
- wongarsu 8y agoIt doesn't need to be continuous, but we take pictures by looking at all the light over some short-ish time. Even at 60fps we are talking about up to 16ms of light, and with telescopes exposure times of minutes or hours are the norm. Unless the pulses are long or frequent you get more light from an equally long exposure with sun light
- kondro 8y agoNot to mention the diameter of the solar system is nearly 10 light days across. A return pulse is going to take a really long time… and you don't know if and when it's going to hit something to expect the return.