
550AU, Sun as gravity lens: see Center of galaxy in detail - marcolinux
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=785
======
marcolinux
I was reading [1], and was lectured on how the sun can be used as telescope
and a very potent one, btw. Picture at [2]. Searching, I found the linked
article. Quote:

"I anticipate that there will be a host of FOCAL space missions launched in
all directions around the Sun, each probe launched in the direction exactly
opposite to the star to explore with respect to the Sun position…. A FOCAL
space mission could be used to magnify anything of interest outside the Solar
System. One should then say that FOCAL will be used to magnify the nearby
planetary systems, meaning not just the nearby stars themselves, but also
their planets, halo disks, Oort clouds, etc."

According to some comments in the article (specially andy's, very
informative), one could see another stars' Mercury! Very impressive. And since
all EM range is focused, one can use the focal point for radio communication,
ala NASA space network[3]. Some catches though: we need to send a probe to
550AU. That would take almost 200 years. Talk about planning ahead :).

[1][http://edge.org/response-detail/26774](http://edge.org/response-
detail/26774) [2][http://www.centauri-
dreams.org/?p=22321](http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=22321)
[3][http://io9.gizmodo.com/5714777/the-suns-gravity-could-be-
use...](http://io9.gizmodo.com/5714777/the-suns-gravity-could-be-used-to-
create-an-interstellar-communications-network)

