I have heard about it, but I have no clue what it is.
2006-12-19 09:37:43 · 3 answers · asked by The Uber-Panda 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It's a hypothetical mega-structure to move a star. It belongs to a class of mega-structures called stellar engines which are designed to turn a star's energy into usable energy. The first poster is right, but "device" is really ambiguous. Device could mean anything from a microchip to a mega-structure like this. This mega-structure would be ginormous in order to have any noticeable effect.
Basically, it would be a huge mirror, that, instead of orbiting the star, would be in a static position where it would balance light pressure moving it away from the star and gravity pulling it towards the star. The net effect of the mirror is that a higher amount of the star's energy leaves the system in a direction away from the mirror. This accelerates the entire system--the star, the planets, and the mirror--along the ray that starts at the sun and moves through the center of the mirror. This acceleration would be *very* slight and would take many millennia to have any significant effect.
2006-12-20 04:52:13 · answer #1 · answered by incorrigible_misanthrope 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's the idea that Leonid Shkadov had to control the suns trajectory by placing a huge mirror near it, causing the suns radiation to leave the solar system in mostly one direction, imparting a small thrust to the solar system.
2006-12-19 10:34:38 · answer #2 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
SciFi device to move a star
2006-12-19 09:59:03 · answer #3 · answered by MarkG 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋