Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Moving Suns To Different Galactic Neighborhoods

Astrophysicist Matt Caplan might have been reading science fiction when he published a new paper in the journal Acta Astronautica, suggesting that moving the Sun could be the solution to a variety of possible problems.

Stellar engines, megastructures used to control the motion of a star system, may be constructible by technologically advanced civilizations and used to avoid dangerous astrophysical events or transport a star system into proximity with another for colonization.

This work considers two designs for stellar engines, for both human applications in the solar system and for advanced civilizations around arbitrary stars more generally, and presents analytic calculations of the maximum acceleration and deflection of a star in its galactic orbit.

The first is a large ‘passive’ solar sail, similar to that proposed by Shkadov, which we find produces accelerations of order for sun-like stars. The second ‘active’ engine uses a thermonuclear driven jet, as in a Bussard ramjet, which collects matter from the solar wind to drive He fusion. This engine requires additional mass to be lifted from the sun, beyond what is provided by the nascent solar wind, but may achieve accelerations up to producing deflections of 10 pc in as little as 1 Myr for a sun-like star.

While passive engines may be insufficient for catastrophe avoidance on short timescales, they can produce arbitrary deflections of a star in its galactic orbit over a stellar lifetime. Active engines are sufficient for retrograde galactic orbits or galactic escape trajectories, which we argue are useful to expansionist civilizations. These populations of stars may be candidates for observationally detecting megastructures.

(Via Stellar engines: Design considerations for maximizing acceleration.)

The idea of moving stars has been around for a while in science fiction. In his classic 1928 novel Crashing Suns, Golden Age great Edmond Hamilton described the process by which the sun might be steered to a new location:

To accomplish this, to swerve their star from its course, the globemen made use of a simple physical principle...

The problem, then, was to increase their sun's rate of spin, and to accomplish this they gathered all their science. A mighty tower was erected over their city, on whose great top-platform were placed machines which could generate an etheric ray or vibration of inconceivable power, a ray which could be directed at will...
(Read more details about steering a star)

If you're just a little bit less ambitious (or possibly just marginally more practical) you might enjoy this article on Moving Whole Planets, Revisited. For moving planets, see the barytrine field from George O. Smith's 1952 story Troubled Star, as well as the Puppeteer's Kemplerer (Klemperer) Rosette in Larry Niven's 1970 classic Ringworld.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/29/2019)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")

Philippines Coast Guard Cuts Chinese Barrier
'Each of the four areas is enclosed by a sonic wall...'

Giant Lunar Surface Test Bed Built On Earth
Astronauts first walked the site, then flew over the site at a few hundred feet in a small Cessna.

Zai Pits (West Sahel) And Dew Collectors (Dune)
'Each is planted most tenderly in its own little pit.' - Frank Herbert, 1965.

Away Rude Mechanicals! I Want Self-Sensing Variable-Stiffness Artificial Muscles.
'... it is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature.' - HG Wells, 1898.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

18 Wheels Mutant Centipede Vehicle
'If a centipede were a dinosaur and made of metal to boot...'

Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
'...a capsule which he placed against his wrist.'

Robotic Hands Have More Than One Use
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'

Space Weather To Universe Weather
'It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across.'

That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.'

'No, I'm Not A Robot' - Robot
'... with a weird simulation of life, the ten forked ends of each arm commenced a rattling pressing of the buttons.'

Missing Jet Finally Found
Ah, what could have been - still in the future.

Philippines Coast Guard Cuts Chinese Barrier
'Each of the four areas is enclosed by a sonic wall...'

Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'

Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'

The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'

'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.'

ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.

CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'

Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.