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A solar gravitational lens will be humanity's most powerful telescope (2022)

(phys.org)
197 points amichail | 3 comments | 15 Oct 24 11:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.627s | source
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holografix ◴[17 Oct 24 00:48 UTC] No.41865371[source]▶
Is this a similar principle to the concept in the 3 Body Problem series of books? As in, how one of the main characters is able to boost the transmission power of an earth bound antenna
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1. marmakoide ◴[17 Oct 24 06:44 UTC] No.41867030[source]▶
It's not a way to boost a signal.

It's using the Sun as a (gravity) lens, with probes at the focal point to gather the image. Because it's a very large lens, that's allow to have a massive zoom on whatever object we are interested in.

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2. gus_massa ◴[17 Oct 24 12:30 UTC] No.41869031[source]▶
But you should be able to use it as a "parabolic" mirror, to make a very directed ray to the planet. (Assuming diffraction is not a problem.) (Assuming no time delay, because to see the planet you should look to were it was many years ago, but to send a message you should aim to where it will be many years in the future.) (Assuming I'm not missing a few more technical problems that are not impossible to solve, but extremely difficult.)
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3. largbae ◴[17 Oct 24 13:09 UTC] No.41869325[source]▶
Wouldn't you have to have very accurate information about where the planet is going to be when the light arrives?