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Having followed that answer for years and read quite a bit, I am fairly certain that the "yes, but" answers are wrong. It's as simple as "you can't see a flashl
by throw1234651234 5y ago
Having followed that answer for years and read quite a bit, I am fairly certain that the "yes, but" answers are wrong. It's as simple as "you can't see a flashlight when it's being flicked on and off behind a lighthouse lamp". I am very interested in the topic.
- marcosdumay 5y agoWell, I'd suggest a basic introduction to optics. You seem unaware of the existence of lenses and mirrors. "What kind of mirror we would need to send a signal 10 light years away" is a much more reasonable question. And one of the answers there is about it.
- throw1234651234 5y agoYou mean mirror that's out of the way of the sun and is huge, or a mirror swarm. Do elaborate how you imagine this working in practice.
- ninjanomnom 5y agoIf we had to emit light just like a flashlight vs a lighthouse, aka roughly equivalent wavelengths, you'd be right, however we only have to beat the sun in a single wavelength. An extreme uv laser is probably the easiest option there. We also only need to beat the sun's output in a single pinpoint (in cosmic scale) Also to damage the example a bit, we can easily detect a flashlight shining from behind a lighthouse. Our eyes are just logarithmic and suck at detecting smaller absolute differences like that. Isaac Arthur does a good video on this topic and talks about some of the specifics of such a beacon starting at around 14 minutes https://youtu.be/DHoOjIEcRV8?t=829 https://youtu.be/DHoOjIEcRV8?t=829