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Launch a probe already! If the anomaly is a planet, ~you've discovered a new planet~ If the anomaly is a black hole, then ~you've discovered a local black hole~

by 1970-01-01 3y ago

Launch a probe already! If the anomaly is a planet, ~you've discovered a new planet~ If the anomaly is a black hole, then ~you've discovered a local black hole~ If there is literally nothing there, use the probe for interstellar science.

codesnik 3y ago
launch where exactly?
- 1970-01-01 3y ago
  That's the key, you absolutely need to design a probe where gravity is the guidance system. My take is a primary probe containing hundreds of hyper reflective microprobes, which scatter for billions of miles into space. After a few decades, the primary probe locates where the majority of mircoprobes went, and now you steer the primary probe into Planet 9's gravity well.
  - smitty1110 3y ago
    I think you're underestimating the area you need to search. See the wiki page[1]. There's so much space to look near, you need a much better guess before you can send any probes. A 9k year orbit, that starts at 340 AU, and has a lot of uncertainty in all the parameters, just leaves too much volume to check naively. And that doesn't even get into the fact that there's not enough light out there to feasibly find probes from their reflections. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine
  - lamontcg 3y ago
    Uhhhh, we've got all those "microprobes" which are all of the known objects in the Solar System. A couple of them are a bit macro though (Jupiter in particular).
  - blindriver 3y ago
    It would fly directly into the Sun
chaps 3y ago
"literally nothing there" 1. Space is big. 2. Space is REALLY big! 3. This thing would be tiny. 4. This thing would be invisible. Combine these four together and you'll quickly realize just how difficult even scoping out the probe's requirements and such would be. Would be cool though.
- ansible 3y ago
  I think we would be able to detect it. We can navigate spacecraft with high accuracy. If you can get a spacecraft somewhere in the vicinity of a black hole of decent mass (like a 10km asteroid equivalent) we could probably detect changes in trajectory of the spacecraft from the gravitational attraction. Or, here's an idea, blow out a tonne of radar chaff in the vicinity of the black hole and watch for how it disperses via radar. We could also try detecting Hawking radiation that a BH should generate, though that might be pretty faint (I have not done the math).
  - chaps 3y ago
    Friend, let me repeat: Space is BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG.
    - p1mrx 3y ago
      What if we create a time loop, launch the spacecraft in a random direction, and reset the loop if nothing is found?
      - chaps 3y ago
        We might just find it after 390.03 years!
        p1mrx 3y ago
        I assume that's 9,318,054 * 22 minutes, not counting leap years?
andbberger 3y ago
planet nine is not the eye of the universe
MaxikCZ 3y ago
Any singular probe would needed to know where to go searching. Any scanning instruments it could carry we can build and use better at Earth (soon Moon [1], fingers crossed). Your idea would require a swarm, an array, with Earth as a centre piece, effectively forming search beam rotating outwards. I agree tho, #LaunchTheProbe #NASA [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Crater_Radio_Telescope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Crater_Radio_Telescope
deleted 3y ago
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codesnik 3y ago

launch where exactly?

1970-01-01 3y ago
That's the key, you absolutely need to design a probe where gravity is the guidance system. My take is a primary probe containing hundreds of hyper reflective microprobes, which scatter for billions of miles into space. After a few decades, the primary probe locates where the majority of mircoprobes went, and now you steer the primary probe into Planet 9's gravity well.
- smitty1110 3y ago
  I think you're underestimating the area you need to search. See the wiki page[1]. There's so much space to look near, you need a much better guess before you can send any probes. A 9k year orbit, that starts at 340 AU, and has a lot of uncertainty in all the parameters, just leaves too much volume to check naively. And that doesn't even get into the fact that there's not enough light out there to feasibly find probes from their reflections. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine
- lamontcg 3y ago
  Uhhhh, we've got all those "microprobes" which are all of the known objects in the Solar System. A couple of them are a bit macro though (Jupiter in particular).
- blindriver 3y ago
  It would fly directly into the Sun

chaps 3y ago

"literally nothing there" 1. Space is big. 2. Space is REALLY big! 3. This thing would be tiny. 4. This thing would be invisible. Combine these four together and you'll quickly realize just how difficult even scoping out the probe's requirements and such would be. Would be cool though.

ansible 3y ago
I think we would be able to detect it. We can navigate spacecraft with high accuracy. If you can get a spacecraft somewhere in the vicinity of a black hole of decent mass (like a 10km asteroid equivalent) we could probably detect changes in trajectory of the spacecraft from the gravitational attraction. Or, here's an idea, blow out a tonne of radar chaff in the vicinity of the black hole and watch for how it disperses via radar. We could also try detecting Hawking radiation that a BH should generate, though that might be pretty faint (I have not done the math).
- chaps 3y ago
  Friend, let me repeat: Space is BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG.
  - p1mrx 3y ago
    What if we create a time loop, launch the spacecraft in a random direction, and reset the loop if nothing is found?
    - chaps 3y ago
      We might just find it after 390.03 years!
      - p1mrx 3y ago
        I assume that's 9,318,054 * 22 minutes, not counting leap years?

andbberger 3y ago

planet nine is not the eye of the universe

MaxikCZ 3y ago

Any singular probe would needed to know where to go searching. Any scanning instruments it could carry we can build and use better at Earth (soon Moon [1], fingers crossed). Your idea would require a swarm, an array, with Earth as a centre piece, effectively forming search beam rotating outwards. I agree tho, #LaunchTheProbe #NASA [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Crater_Radio_Telescope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Crater_Radio_Telescope

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]