Re: Movie ;contact

Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Sun, 26 Oct 1997 21:32:20 -0500


Cam Christie wrote:
>
> an interesting proposition, likely to occur a some stage in our extended
> lifespan, but perhaps we are looking at the wrong angle of contact.
> Surely a more advanced technological species would have developed a
> faster , by the laws of physics, transfer of of communication such as
> laser pulses, are our radio telescopes searching for the right source of
> signal. should we not have optical based electronic receptors scanning
> the skies.
>
> cam christie

Radio is just as fast a laser signals : the speed of light. You don't
want a signal transmission to be in a band of the spectrum that the
natural environment pollutes with its own noise. The visible spectrum is
one of these. There are far fewer and far lower powered radio sources in
the sky than visible light sources, and natural radio sources can be
easily distinguished from artificial sources, though pulsars had
astronomers confused for a bit.

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!
			Michael Lorrey
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mailto:retroman@together.net	Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering
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How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?