3 ms·

> How many stars are within 100,000 km of each other and what percentage of stars does that represent That's less than half the distance from the Earth to the

> How many stars are within 100,000 km of each other and what percentage of stars does that represent That's less than half the distance from the Earth to the Moon, so leaving binary star systems to one side, the answer is none and zero. A large asteroid passing 100,000 km from the Earth is a considered a near miss in my book, since it's easily cislunar. But you're missing the point entirely; parent is saying that individual craft in the swarm are within that distance of each other - that's the diameter of the swarm; the line "The swarm ends up around 100,000km wide" gives that away. The distance between stars is orders of magnitude larger. "the swarm" crosses interstellar distances and communicates back as a whole. But communications between elements of the swarm do not and cannot cross that distance, they have to stay quite close to each other, e.g. within 100,000 km as they cross the void together.

uoaei 2y ago
You're missing the point entirely: framing the swarm as "covering interstellar distances" is misleading and betrays a certain naivete in thinking about space travel that compromises the reporting on this plan.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
  > You're missing the point entirely I think not. > "covering interstellar distances" is misleading It can be read in 2 ways yes (is the interstellar distance crossed by the swarm who do that together, or does the radius of the swarm encompass interstellar distance) but it's clear which one is intended. Again, "The swarm ends up around 100,000km wide" tells you which one it is. Non-naïve people know or look up that 100,000km is not even an interplanetary distance, let alone an interstellar one. It's relatively tightly bunched when crossing the 40,208,000,000,000 km to Proxima Centauri. Yes I look this kind of thing up. > a certain naivete in thinking about space travel that compromises Don't be absurd.
  - uoaei 2y ago
    Is this the same argument you proffer every time clickbait language is used?
- mlyle 2y ago
  Bees swarm over distances of miles. But the swarm doesn't stretch out miles. They form a dense group that moves somewhere miles away.

uoaei 2y ago

You're missing the point entirely: framing the swarm as "covering interstellar distances" is misleading and betrays a certain naivete in thinking about space travel that compromises the reporting on this plan.

SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
> You're missing the point entirely I think not. > "covering interstellar distances" is misleading It can be read in 2 ways yes (is the interstellar distance crossed by the swarm who do that together, or does the radius of the swarm encompass interstellar distance) but it's clear which one is intended. Again, "The swarm ends up around 100,000km wide" tells you which one it is. Non-naïve people know or look up that 100,000km is not even an interplanetary distance, let alone an interstellar one. It's relatively tightly bunched when crossing the 40,208,000,000,000 km to Proxima Centauri. Yes I look this kind of thing up. > a certain naivete in thinking about space travel that compromises Don't be absurd.
- uoaei 2y ago
  Is this the same argument you proffer every time clickbait language is used?
mlyle 2y ago
Bees swarm over distances of miles. But the swarm doesn't stretch out miles. They form a dense group that moves somewhere miles away.