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demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1376: Jan 10th 2014 at 4:52:01 PM

Anything that would knock the Sun out of orbit around the Galactic center would also knock the planets loose from the Sun.

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Meklar from Milky Way Since: Dec, 2012 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
#1377: Jan 10th 2014 at 5:14:59 PM

[up] Not necessarily. It would depend what distance it was acting over. The farther the better.

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BestOf FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC! from Finland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
#1378: Jan 10th 2014 at 9:03:54 PM

If the Sun's trajectory would suddenly change, I imagine it would almost certainly cause massive changes in the orbits of the objects that orbit the sun - and even a very small change to the Earth's orbit would almost certainly kill us.

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soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#1379: Jan 11th 2014 at 9:28:15 AM

And now I'm thinking of writing a story where it is the stars who are the ones deciding to escape. We figure this out when we realize that Sol has decided to GTFO as well and starts to accelerate all on it's own.

Meklar from Milky Way Since: Dec, 2012 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
#1380: Jan 11th 2014 at 12:33:34 PM

If the Sun's trajectory would suddenly change, I imagine it would almost certainly cause massive changes in the orbits of the objects that orbit the sun - and even a very small change to the Earth's orbit would almost certainly kill us.
If the Sun is accelerated by the gravity of a sufficiently distant object, the Earth would be accelerated along almost the same vector. So the trajectory of the Earth relative to the Sun would remain almost the same. The closer the object, the more different the two acceleration vectors become. Essentially, it is not gravitational acceleration itself but the tidal effect that would change the Earth's orbit.

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demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1381: Jan 11th 2014 at 2:59:00 PM

I'm not sure about that. Earth has momentum in the direction of it's orbit that the Sun doesn't have. On the other hand, it's easier to deflect a small object than a larger one. So the resulting interaction of forces might be more complex than it might appear at first.

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storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#1382: Jan 11th 2014 at 5:46:53 PM

Planetary+ scale gravity is always more complex then it seems at first.

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joesolo Indiana Solo Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Indiana Solo
#1383: Jan 11th 2014 at 8:21:02 PM

if it wasn't too strong a force, it might just turn the solar system's "plane" into a jumbled mess of different angles.

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demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1384: Jan 12th 2014 at 4:59:07 AM

We might get some fantastic views of the galaxy before we froze to death, though.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Elfive (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1385: Jan 12th 2014 at 5:58:44 AM

We could survive if a decent fraction of the population got in submarines and headed down to the bottom of the ocean to find some volcanic vents.

demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1386: Jan 12th 2014 at 8:55:13 AM

I suppose that might be factionally less difficult than starting a colony on Europa.

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joesolo Indiana Solo Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Indiana Solo
#1387: Jan 12th 2014 at 9:47:54 AM

With nuclear reactors we could, in theory at least, have sustainable colony-ships right now. It'd just require a total mobilization of industry for exactly that reason, and they'd not be able to get anywhere very fast at all. Maybe we could luck out and have mars or Venus survive in a way they end up in a more human-friendly orbit, otherwise humanity'd be screwed in the long run.

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demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1388: Jan 12th 2014 at 1:52:00 PM

Well, the reason I mentioned Europa is that Juptiter is large enough to generate it's own heat.

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joesolo Indiana Solo Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Indiana Solo
#1389: Jan 12th 2014 at 2:07:03 PM

That would be helpful.

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Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#1390: Jan 12th 2014 at 2:18:58 PM

[up][up]Wait, it is? I thought Jupiter was just a small brown dwarf.

Elfive (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1391: Jan 12th 2014 at 2:19:50 PM

Europa is heated by tidal effects.

demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1392: Jan 12th 2014 at 2:26:32 PM

How hot is Juptiter?

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
QuestionMarc Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#1393: Jan 13th 2014 at 12:32:10 PM

[up] "Jupiter".


I don't know how many of you that may interest, but some NASA engineers held an AMA (Ask Me Anything, or "us" in this case) on Reddit. Said engineers work on Ion Propulsion.

If you're interested only by the answers, look out for the white-on-blue "NASAGlen" name tag. They went over quite a bit of stuff already, and according to the original post the engineers did, they might be taking more questions.

Just throwing that out there.

edited 13th Jan '14 12:32:55 PM by QuestionMarc

demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1394: Jan 13th 2014 at 1:13:36 PM

It seems to be all about contemporary ion propulsion research. Very interesting!

edited 13th Jan '14 1:13:57 PM by demarquis

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
QuestionMarc Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#1395: Jan 13th 2014 at 3:40:00 PM

It is pretty interesting. I also like how AMAs are more accessible than scientific papers. Well, to me at least, I have a pretty short attention span.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#1396: Jan 14th 2014 at 7:38:36 AM

Aren't most of the big science papers behind paywalls anyway?

Oh really when?
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#1397: Jan 14th 2014 at 7:39:21 AM

Some are accessible to people with college accounts.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#1398: Jan 14th 2014 at 7:40:26 AM

Bluh why do you have to have a college account. That sounds a little pretentious

Elfive (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1399: Jan 14th 2014 at 10:00:11 AM

There's a movement called Open Access trying to change that.

demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1400: Jan 14th 2014 at 10:14:38 AM

It's because university libraries pay for the journal subscriptions so that the students can access the studies. Public libraries typically have other priorities.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.

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