From: kiemschies@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Re: Dyson Spheres ##Spoilers## : |
Date: 5 Nov 92 17:41:15 EST
Distribution: rec.arts.startrek.current

In article <1992Oct30.042443.17456@news.unomaha.edu>, torsten@cwis.unomaha.edu (Torsten Wesley Adair) writes:
> ewright@convex.com  writes:
>> In <6114@ucsbcsl.ucsb.edu> 6500njk@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Nicholas Kibre) writes:
>> 
>> >(1) Dyson spheres are big, *really* big.  Consider
>> >ing our inability to see the curvature of the Earth from a similar 
>> >distance, the surface of this sphere ought to have appeared as a plain,
>> >stretching off in all directions towards a perfectly flat horizon.
>> 
>> Yes, but the curvature of the Earth is "downward" toward the center.
>> If you were standing inside the sphere, it would curve "upward," so
>> that you see the sphere everywhere (except where it is obscured by
>> the sun).  There would be no horizon, just the ground curving up 
>> around you.  (This assumes you're above the atmosphere, so that
>> you don't get the "blue sky" effect.)  I suspect that distances
>> along the curve would appear to be much closer than they actually
>> are, simply because the human brain isn't built to deal with distances 
>> on that scale.
>> 
> Interesting.  I didn't see any night panels (like in Ringworld).  Of course,
> the sun wouldn't move in the sky, which makes for some interesting ideas.
> Shadows would "burn" into objects.  Passive solar homes would all look the 
> same since the sun's inclination would always be the same on the entire planet.
> There would be no yearly fluctuations in temperature unless the sphere's
> center was placed off-center of the sun's center and the sphere rotated.  
> "Air" travel across the sphere would be faster than land travel on the sphere,
> even withought the rotation of the sphere.    
> 
>> >(2) This can be considered more of an open question than a complaint,
>> >but just what holds the atmosphere down to the sphere's interior  
>> >surface?  Is the shell really massive enough to generate an Earth-like
>> >gravitational sphere? 
> 
> 	Ask Larry Niven.  I will when he comes to Omaha in July 1993.  Also,
> read some of Freeman Dyson's books.  Most of his general science books are
> pretty clear.  
>  
>> No, it makes no difference how massive you make the sphere.  The
>> gravitational pull of the "nearside" and the "farside" will always
>> cancel one another.  Obviously, they use the same gravity generators
>> as every other space ship/space station on Star Trek.
> 
> 	What about the gravitational force on the outside (if there is
> rotation)?  Given the general characteristics of a Dyson sphere, what 
> characteristics would it need to be structurally sound?  
>  
>> >It seems to me that it would have been more in keeping with the Starfleet 
>> >mission to have stuck around and charted some of this 250 class-M
>> >planet's worth of surface area.
> 
> The Enterprise's main mission is to make space safe for other people.  Science
> vessels were being sent to explore the sphere.
>> 
>> But less in keeping with Paramount's. :-)  Seriously, I think
>> it could have made a more interesting spinoff than Deep Space
>> Nine.  
> 	Actually, the "strange new world" idea has been done before.  The 
> Starlost used this, as did a series in the 1980's about a family that gets
> transported through a pyramid to another planet.  In general, you need a 
> pursuit to make the series interesting, or else the explorers will settle
> down somewhere.
> 
>> BTW, that's 250 *million* planets' surface area.  If the
>> Enterprise stuck around, they could have been there until the
>> crew was ready for retirement and 99.99% of it would *still*
>> be unexplored.
> 
> 	How to Find a Needle in a Haystack in the 24th Century
> Scan the rivers and coastlines for cities.  Send out messages.  Equip 
> shuttlecraft with sensors and assign sectors to each.  Have other starships
> join the search.  Investigate the portal.  Use the Guardian of Forever.  Bury 
> a case of Canadian Club somewhere on the sphere and hold a scavenger hunt.  
> 
> I wonder what type of ship the portal was designed for, if the Enterprise 
> could manuver thorugh the "crack".
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hmmmm, Maybe something big and cubical?
> 
> Torsten at Omaha