Re: Return to No Stealth in Space

On Mar 18, 7:01 pm, jdnic...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (James Nicoll) wrote:

> might have a peak power output of 5^16 Watts (plus whatever
> for ineffeciencies).
>
>         Could we spot this at 4.3 LY? Would we recognize it
> for what it was?

Cheap dumb answer: the power output of the Sun is 4 x 10^26 watts.
So, this is about 10^-10 as bright as the Sun.

One way to phrase the question: can we detect a one-ten billionth
change in luminosity?

As for absolute magnitude, Alpha Centauri is about as bright as the
Sun (it's a bit brighter actually, but this is BOTE).  Its visual
magnitude is just about 0.0.  So, your Centuarian torch****p would have
an absolute magnitude of about +25.

I'm thinking no, we wouldn't see it.


Doug M.