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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
 Posted - 12/11/2011 : 21:28:47
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This is almost to bizarre to believe!
Edit to add: Geez, now I see the article is two and half years old.
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"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
Edited by - Randy on 12/11/2011 21:39:19
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2011 : 22:04:06 [Permalink]
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One would have to think the (multi)sources of the reflection would determine greatly the strength of the echo signal, taking in consideration the speed of the broadcast and the most likely varied distances of the reflective sources. The duration of this echo signal would maybe depend on the changing geographic positions of the echo source and the big ear.
Where are follow up news articles? Will dig some more later.
It's sure obvious that news of the weird like this does pass over a lot of us at one time. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2011 : 22:40:30 [Permalink]
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Obviously they received a very weak signal. I do know Arecibo can kick butt in receiving tiny signals. What would be interesting to read is just how attenuated a signal this is in relation to what the big ear can resolve.
I guess we can look forward to reruns now of I Love Lucy, Petticoat Junction, Combat, and eventually.......
Guess Aericebo didn't have their ears pointed in the right direction to receive one of TV's first broadcast of the late '30's Hitler Berlin Olympics, as portrayed in the movie Contact. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Tim Thompson
New Member
USA
36 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2011 : 22:52:29 [Permalink]
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First clue: that webpage is dated April 1 2009.
Second clue: It looks just like a BBC webpage but the host is rimmel.com, not BBC.
Might not be a real news item. |
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. -- Bertrand Russell |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2011 : 22:56:53 [Permalink]
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Oh well, I was going to suggest, maybe there are other reflective regions that will bounce back other shows from the past. There is a radio telescope called ALMA the largest in the world, so far, that recently went online. They should use that. but Tim let the cat out of the bag. We could have had a little fun you know! Maybe next time Randy. |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
| Edited by - sailingsoul on 12/11/2011 22:59:43 |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2011 : 23:08:58 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Tim Thompson
First clue: that webpage is dated April 1 2009.
Second clue: It looks just like a BBC webpage but the host is rimmel.com, not BBC.
Might not be a real news item.
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I didn't catch the url prefix.
[/embarrassed icon]
Edit to add: nice little bit of sci-fi anywho.
And SS, you deleted your earlier reply.
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"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
| Edited by - Randy on 12/11/2011 23:17:22 |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2011 : 23:16:20 [Permalink]
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I thought you knew Randy. My BS alarm was pretty loud until I checked the date , I was hoping to see what others would comment. ooops |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2011 : 23:29:15 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by sailingsoul
I thought you knew Randy. My BS alarm was pretty loud until I checked the date , I was hoping to see what others would comment. ooops
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Quite a wild story to begin with. Thanks to Tim seeing that 'now glaring' give-away on the URL.
Arecibo is one powerful ear; but would be fun to know, given this work of fiction's claim, just what would be the limits. I know many years ago, the surface of Venus had been mapped with Earth-bound radar (image shown in a many-years-old Time/Life book on the Solar System). |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 12/12/2011 : 00:03:13 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Randy
Edit to add: nice little bit of sci-fi anywho.
And SS, you deleted your earlier reply.
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Yeah, it would have been third. I said, what makes you say "almost" but on second thought I didn't want to give it away so fast so I deleted it and sent you an email. I was curious to see if others would be fooled and actually thought you were on to it from the beginning too. It is funny though. |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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Tim Thompson
New Member
USA
36 Posts |
 Posted - 12/12/2011 : 00:11:31 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Randy
Arecibo is one powerful ear; but would be fun to know, given this work of fiction's claim, just what would be the limits.
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The Arecibo antenna is capable of detecting its twin all the way across the galaxy, about 100,000 light years away (if it is beamed at maximum power). But it probably could not do what the "article" claimed. A reflected signal, unlike a direct signal, varies as the inverse fourth power of the distance, instead of inverse square, because the reflection adds an inverse square to the original inverse square. Broadcast signals are very weak and probably undetectable, even by Arecibo, over 50 light years under normal (inverse square) conditions. So making it a reflected signal probably makes it impossible.
Originally posted by Randy
I know many years ago, the surface of Venus had been mapped with Earth-bound radar (image shown in a many-years-old Time/Life book on the Solar System).
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Arecibo can do that (Arecibo Radar Images of Planets). But the real radar mapping of the surface of Venus was carried out by the Magellan Radar Mapper. I was unhappy with NASA when they changed the name of the mission to Magellan from Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar because the acronym VOIR is the infinitive of the French verb "to see", so it was a great double-entendre.
My graduate adviser was Roland Carpenter (who passed away in 2008). He was one of the first to use Goldstone radar to measure the rotation rate of Venus (Goldstein & Carpenter, 1963; Carpenter, 1964; Carpenter, 1966; Carpenter, 1970). This was his PhD thesis topic. He demonstrated that Venus was not really rotating in step with Earth, as some had previously thought. |
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. -- Bertrand Russell |
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Dr. Who reruns via Arecibo
