@drspacejunk.bsky.social Okay I nerd sniped myself…. a typical Oort cloud of 1 trillion comets of 1km radius intercepts only 1e-14 of the flux from its central star…. cool to estimate though!
@drspacejunk.bsky.social Okay I nerd sniped myself…. a typical Oort cloud of 1 trillion comets of 1km radius intercepts only 1e-14 of the flux from its central star…. cool to estimate though!
@drspacejunk.bsky.social Have you done the calculation for the light scattering halo from exocomets? I presume it’s an insanely small signal, but… small scattering * 1 trillion comets = ??? probably looking for a 1e-12 halo several degrees in diameter is tricky :)
@melina-iras07572.bsky.social Yes, and yes! I believe there was a lensing opportunity for Proxima Centauri about 12 years ago: science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble… but not sure if there’s an active campaign right now for other BD and companions
@artologica.net I was a postdoc at an astrobiology conference and had a senior NASA scientist tell me at my poster why my idea was stupid and would clearly never work. That one stung.
@mattkenworthy.bsky.social and I forgot - thanks! I appreciate that you will be giving it a go.