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> To Voyager, the Sun looks like an ordinary star – although one much brighter than the others. Not much energy can be harvested there. This blew my mind. Do

> To Voyager, the Sun looks like an ordinary star – although one much brighter than the others. Not much energy can be harvested there. This blew my mind. Do you have a reference that talks more on this topic?

wyldfire 7y ago
If you're talking about its apparent size in the sky -- just a guess but I think this one is relevant: [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter
RosanaAnaDana 7y ago
Inverse square law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law >(...) Intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity. Shit gets dimmer at the square of the distance. So if at a distance of 1 a thing has a brightness of one, at a distance of 2 it has a brightness of 1/(2^2), or 1/4. At a distance of 8, you are looking at a brightness of 1/(8^2) or 1/64th. Voyager 2 is ~122 AU distant. So the sun's apparent brightness would be 1/(122^2), or 1/14884, or 0.00067 % as bright as the sun as perceived at the earth-sun distance (ignoring the atmosphere of course).
brownbat 7y ago
Not as far out as Voyager, but I enjoyed this series of depictions of the sun from each planet, which illustrates the general point: https://www.iflscience.com/space/sun-looks-like-every-planet-solar-system/ https://www.iflscience.com/space/sun-looks-like-every-planet...
Daniel_sk 7y ago
Voyager snapped a picture of our Earch (sorry I thought it was the Sun) in 1990. It's the famous Pale Blue Dot picture. It's the small blue-white speck (or almost pixel) halfway down the brown band on the right. https://en.es-static.us/upl/2012/07/Pale_Blue_Dot.png https://en.es-static.us/upl/2012/07/Pale_Blue_Dot.png EDIT: Ooops, sorry - this is Earth and not Sun :-(.
- gpderetta 7y ago
  The pale blue dot is Earth, not our Sun.
- rimliu 7y ago
  That's Earth, not Sun.
Cthulhu_ 7y ago
You should look up or play Elite Dangerous, it's (I believe) a fairly accurate / to scale simulation of solar system navigation. You can go at several hundred times the speed of light and you're still waiting for ten minutes to reach your destination.

wyldfire 7y ago

If you're talking about its apparent size in the sky -- just a guess but I think this one is relevant: [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter

RosanaAnaDana 7y ago

Inverse square law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law >(...) Intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity. Shit gets dimmer at the square of the distance. So if at a distance of 1 a thing has a brightness of one, at a distance of 2 it has a brightness of 1/(2^2), or 1/4. At a distance of 8, you are looking at a brightness of 1/(8^2) or 1/64th. Voyager 2 is ~122 AU distant. So the sun's apparent brightness would be 1/(122^2), or 1/14884, or 0.00067 % as bright as the sun as perceived at the earth-sun distance (ignoring the atmosphere of course).

brownbat 7y ago

Not as far out as Voyager, but I enjoyed this series of depictions of the sun from each planet, which illustrates the general point: https://www.iflscience.com/space/sun-looks-like-every-planet-solar-system/ https://www.iflscience.com/space/sun-looks-like-every-planet...

Daniel_sk 7y ago

Voyager snapped a picture of our Earch (sorry I thought it was the Sun) in 1990. It's the famous Pale Blue Dot picture. It's the small blue-white speck (or almost pixel) halfway down the brown band on the right. https://en.es-static.us/upl/2012/07/Pale_Blue_Dot.png https://en.es-static.us/upl/2012/07/Pale_Blue_Dot.png EDIT: Ooops, sorry - this is Earth and not Sun :-(.

gpderetta 7y ago
The pale blue dot is Earth, not our Sun.
rimliu 7y ago
That's Earth, not Sun.

Cthulhu_ 7y ago

You should look up or play Elite Dangerous, it's (I believe) a fairly accurate / to scale simulation of solar system navigation. You can go at several hundred times the speed of light and you're still waiting for ten minutes to reach your destination.