Sorry if I am late to the party again, but in case it wasn't mentioned: you made it into a Kotaku article with your finding, Mike: http://kotaku.com/months-later-elite-dangerous-players-make-major-disco-1736308597
Congratulations
UA Mystery Thread 3: The Canonn
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Sorry if I am late to the party again, but in case it wasn't mentioned: you made it into a Kotaku article with your finding, Mike: http://kotaku.com/months-later-elite-dangerous-players-make-major-disco-1736308597
Congratulations
I have a degree in astrophysics. Though you don't need one of those to do lorentz transformations in special relativity. Just basic algebra.
You're such a nerd!
Said in the nicest possible way of course. (if that's even possible with nerds)
Oh, and don't you mean spatial relativity? (got him)
"Darling..."
"Yes?"
"It is special relativity"
"dough!..."
I tried to replicate it. Dropped 2 UA simultaneously and separately in Merope, at various angles to the star. They both always aligned perfectly in every scenario. Video recordings available on request.
Fantastic. Kudos for the degree AND for the Baltar reference. This is why the Elite series is excellent this is the sort of people it attracts.
Points toward the star directly then? even in system?
You're such a nerd!
Said in the nicest possible way of course. (if that's even possible with nerds)
Oh, and don't you mean spatial relativity? (got him)
"Darling..."
"Yes?"
"It is special relativity"
"dough!..."
Spatial relativity is an accurate name for Lorentz length contraction actually. In this case it would be temporal relativity though
...but you can't really have one without the other. So technically you're not wrong. Btw, my "mother in law" insists on correcting people who "mispronounce" Oldtimers as Alzheimer's. She's so serious, It's adorable. And also kinda accurate. Yes im definitely a nerd, and also probably a dork, and something of a geek as well. It's a blessing and a curse.
I only tried it in Merope itself, and there they both definitely pointed straight at the core of the star in all four conditions (simultaneous/one after the other, hatch pointed at star/away from star). I assumed it points at Merope when you're in other systems. I haven't been following this quest when people found out about Merope, but I assumed it was found because it points at Merope from different systems. But science isn't based on assumptions, so I should be more thorough, even in a game. Will drop both under various conditions in different systems in a bit. Come to think of it, I've been asked by my physician to put my research for which I'm actually being paid on hold for a few weeks as I'm supposed to recover from medical nonsense, not sure if I should be doing this either.
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Cool! Still active in the field or walking a different path?
I only tried it in Merope itself, and there they both definitely pointed straight at the core of the star in all four conditions (simultaneous/one after the other, hatch pointed at star/away from star). I assumed it points at Merope when you're in other systems. I haven't been following this quest when people found out about Merope, but I assumed it was found because it points at Merope from different systems. But science isn't based on assumptions, so I should be more thorough, even in a game. Will drop both under various conditions in different systems in a bit. Come to think of it, I've been asked by my physician to put my research for which I'm actually being paid on hold for a few weeks as I'm supposed to recover from medical nonsense, not sure if I should be doing this either.
Well then... logic tells us that Merope is somehow different and interesting to the UA.
We can look at it - done
We can listen to it - done
We can scan it - done
We can scoop from it - done
We can crash into it - done...? <<<<< has anyone done this and see what happens? fairly disposable ship will be required here.
Merope can thus either be a blessing (a beacon of some sort...) or a curse (something to stay very far away from) we just need to find out what at this point.
You are sure that it points to the exact center of the star and not slightly off or somewhere very near it?
No doubt about it, straight at the center of the star. Btw, I just dropped three UA at Aries Dark Region XK-N b7-2, they all allign exactly to the same point, roughly (could be perfectly, I cant tell) in the direction of Merope. I really doubt multiple AUs are the key. I have two hypotheses now:
1) There is something special at Merope. I'm not sure what has been tested already, but all tests done so far (audio, ship scanning) should be repeated at Merope. First with one AU, then with two, then with other items combined, multiple ship combinations etc. Insanely much work, not very interested in it now.
2) There are multiple systems of interest, possible forming a path (a bit like Hansel and Gretel). The UA always points towards the nearest system of interest. Assuming it goes towards some final destination, Merope would be the closest beacon to Sol. It would mean that from any point closer to Sol than Merope it will point towards Merope. However, if we continue in a straight line from Sol to Merope and further, at some point it might start pointing towards a new system of interest. Does anyone know how far from Merope we've been dropping AUs and checking the direction they're pointing? Going thousands of LY with AUs burning in our hold could be challenging, but if no major attempts have been done so far I'll give it a shot tomorrow. First stop Witch Head Sector RY-R B4-0, after that straight to Orion. I have a 5A AFMU so can soak some damage, and with the changes to powerplants reaching 0% I guess I could go quite the distance. An interesting idea (without any evidence or reason for it): maybe there is a path somewhere with the nebulae forming systems of interest and we just reached the first? have we dropped AUs at more distant nebulae that are closer to Merope than Sol?
Some final random thought: does anyone know if there is something about the star at Merope that makes it different or remarkable from the other stars in/near the nebula?
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It's probably been said already, but when you want to transmit a signal, morse for instance, you usually point at a receiver that'll pick it up. Not sure how you could transform a star into a giant receiver or relay, however that would be pretty cool. Also the signal noise from all those hot photons must be staggering.
Maybe someone with a degree in astrophysics on this forum could set me straight?
(And did he just call me an OldTimer?)
Maybe someone with a degree in astrophysics on this forum could set me straight?
(And did he just call me an OldTimer?)
I found better ways to earn money while supporting the real self sacrificing scientists in other ways. I also do volunteer work at a local observatory
It's not NASA or JPL. Just me and some old guys shivering through the night while showing the next generation what is up there to see. I am happy to chime in with whatever astro lore might help with the Merope mystery. Since this is a video game, I think we are all on equal footing here.
They might be transmitting to Merope. Or they might be transmitting/receiving in respect to Merope. So Merope could be a significant place because of what is there, or it could be a significant place because it is a zero point on a coordinate system for instance.
As for using a star as a relay device, that would be very challenging. It would probably require using resonant frequencies of the star and tremendous amounts of energy to drive a gravitational signal that could somehow be focused at a point in space. Any EM radiation (like radio etc) or non-decoupled neutrino-like particles would just get absorbed in the upper layers and re-emitted randomly.
Then again we shouldn't necessarily assume that these signals are traveling at c since they would take quite a long time to reach Merope. If a signal is travelling at c then it seems more likely that Merope is the one sending a signal, which is quite old, and the UAs are responding to it by aligning along a radiative axis. If the signal is travelling at c from Merope, we could test this by seeing how far away the probes will align themselves to it. If there is a distance past which they don't align, then that distance in LY would be exactly how long ago the Merope signal began. So if it's from human colonists, then the probes would stop aligning themselves once they reached about 600 LY distance from Merope. This is of course assuming that any colonists successfully arrived there at least 600 years ago in non time dilated earth time.
Another possibility is that the transmission is happening in witchspace at "ansible" speeds, so any communication device could also be locked away in another dimension and yet somehow anchored in normal space inside the Merope system or the star itself. Maybe these UAs are just tethers in normal space? In this case, the devices could be communicating in real time. Which is a more threatening proposition imo.
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I like this ! - A communications rely in Merope - hidden in witch space ..... Nice
Has anyone figured out if the buzzing sound in the background of Merope's space is Morse? I know that people claim some Morse in other places is the name of the system like here. Maybe this is like that or maybe its something else. We were told to listen to the UAs and their noses(maybe) are pointed at the star. So I did the same. I dropped from super cruise and turned off my sensors. (They make pulsing noises.)
Recording here, the buzzing/morse stuff is best heard around 40 secs:
[video=youtube_share;LTV1OikDHkw]https://youtu.be/LTV1OikDHkw[/video]
Recording here, the buzzing/morse stuff is best heard around 40 secs:
[video=youtube_share;LTV1OikDHkw]https://youtu.be/LTV1OikDHkw[/video]
The trick for travel with UA: simple fly (jump) faster then the UA start degrading sequence ... Good luck
As the last 7 days have over 1000 posts a short reminder to #6929:
2.424Ly are enough? https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=175726&p=2907842&viewfull=1#post2907842
And of course there was a reason to go exactly to this system: a "non align to Merope" UA (V1.4) has targeted in this direction ...
Enjoy the ride.
We salute you!
Hey this is my first time posting here but I just had a slight question to do with our confused UAs. I have been following this thread for the past few days (Spurred on by MJK's discovery I know its been said but truly phenomenal work) and the UAs that we have caught pointing away from Merope have been puzzling me. I was wondering if those who have caught it have been able to get its vector, bug or no it seems to me as good a lead as any. If we are able to recreate it could we get a vector to follow? Assuming it is not a bug (which granted is as of this point a pretty heavy assumption) then it could be that the UAs are illuminating a path for us to follow.
Regarding the mothership being on a planet in Merope system in 1.5 ala Aliens:
Yes, I'm betting this is correct. Possibly no more to do until the next update, and eventually this thing will lead somehow to a thargoid intro into the game. Possibly not full scale until season 3 or later. Exciting and fun regardless though, it's given folks a goal to work towards. In some ways, the UA and surrounding story/mystery is the ultimate community goal.
Yes, I'm betting this is correct. Possibly no more to do until the next update, and eventually this thing will lead somehow to a thargoid intro into the game. Possibly not full scale until season 3 or later. Exciting and fun regardless though, it's given folks a goal to work towards. In some ways, the UA and surrounding story/mystery is the ultimate community goal.
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So either it's instantaneous communication, preprogrammed, or the source of the signal from Merope is incredibly ancient. I am guessing that it's one of the first two. Unless the previous reference to War of the Worlds:
Where can I find this?
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