Re: BSG+ Centauri A, B, C and Cally (was Re: Anyone else notice...)

In article <aLudnQjj-8bGV5HVnZ2dnUVZ_uqdnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
catpandaddy <cpd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>Relevant question -- do the writers have a sufficient level of knowledge
to 
>take everything you point out into account?  In other words, are you
putting 
>forth that Starbuck is being deceptive, or do you take it that the she's
on 
>the level and it's just that the writers are messing it up? 
>

Hard to say.  They do have skilled science advisors.  Or it may be that
they just read somewhere that Alpha C is a triple star with flares and
decided to use it.

I simply point out that if you are some powerful being, and you want to
give Starbuck some clues on how to get to Earth, showing her Alpha
Centauri, a ringed gas giant and a "comet" is a pretty bizarre way to do
it.

Now of course, the easy way to do it would be to say, "Here are the
coordinates" but they obviously don't want to do that.  They don't want
to show their faces, they want her to be doubted.   So maybe they
deliberately handed her bad clues, who knows?

If you wanted to hand somebody some decent clues to how to get here,
the things you would provide are:

    a) A chance to take a spectrograph of the sun, plus a few other
	bright signpost stars

    b) A look at the Peiades.  Just 450 light years form Earth, they are
       the best signpost for our local area.  Bright, tightly bound,
       with nebulosity.   Easy to spot from thousands of LY away.

    c) Some of the closer globular clusters.  Visible from just about
       anywhere.   Get the angles of a few of them and you know where
       you are in the galaxy.  They would be the #1 target for any
       insterstellar navigator.    The magellanic clouds would be
       good too but they are pretty far away.

    d) Bright doubles with spectrum would be great, or just brightness
       ratio.   Sirius would be your last signpost -- it's the brightest
       star near Earth, and a double.
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