The Flicker Method

Aug 222013

Flicker… A Bright New Method of Measuring Stellar Surface Gravity

Stellar brightness variation over a span of a few hours seems related to surface gravity. And if you know distance, brightness, temperature and surface gravity, you can calculate pretty much everything about the size and mass of the star.

The Unwanted Blog

Locked outta Twitter October 20, 2024
So I backed off blogging so much because yapping on Twitter was so much easier. But then…
Orion Battleship: found at last September 15, 2024
Rumored and discussed for years, in 1962 General Atomic reportedly built a “Corvette sized” display model of the 4,000 ton Orion spacecraft as a spacegoing battleship. This model was shown to President Kennedy, and the reported reaction was… not great. The model was described by a few who had seen it, but all evidence of […]
August 2024 APR Rewards September 1, 2024
The rewards went out this AM bright and early. They include: Diagram: Two sheets of Rocketdyne schematics for the Space Shuttle Main Engine and propulsion system Document: “B-1B New Strength for America’s Defense” An early 80’s brochure on the then-forthcoming B-1B Document: “Aerojet propulsion for Space Systems,” a very nicely illustrated booklet on the AJ10-137, […]
Space Sustainment & Maneuver: Advancing Strategic Superiority in Orbital Operations August 28, 2024
The USSF wants to actually be able to do their job. Could we see the return of the heady days of the Star Wars program? Now that we have actual almost-affordable and mostly-reusable space launch, we just might. Get ready for the pages of Aviation Week to be filled with artists concepts of space based […]
Destruction of nuclear weapons with a neutrino beam August 27, 2024
A scientific paper published more than 20 years ago was recently rediscovered by the internet: Sugawara et al. 2003, “Destruction of Nuclear Bombs Using Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Beam” https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0305062 A lot of this goes over my little post-Covid head, but the summary seems to be that, theoretically, an advanced high energy collider, similar to but […]
Polaris Dawn August 26, 2024
A reminder that at o-dark thirty tomorrow morning, SpaceX will, hopefully, launch the first all-private manned orbital mission. It’ll be the highest humans have orbited Earth (discounting Apollo astronauts who broke Earth orbit to head to the Moon), and will include a spacewalk with new spacesuits. Currently scheduling 2:38 AM central time. https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=polarisdawn
1/18 scale Skybolt ALBM kit August 20, 2024
Here’s the first nearly complete set of “sellable” 1/18 scale Skybolt ALBM parts. Only things missing are a stand(s) and a clear cover for the star tracker. There’ll be 2 variants… complete, and a simpler one without most of the innards (build with the stages/warhead joined). It takes about 2 *days* to print a complete […]
Sunset August 13, 2024
I miss having neat nature to take photos of. Utah was full of that. Illinois… well, it’s here, but usually obscured with buildings, power lines, light poles, etc. Still, every now and then something worth taking a photo of emerges.
Oh HELL Naw July 31, 2024
Oh, Fᚪᛣᚳ… Maybe it’s the Old Guy in me, but this set off every alarm bell I have. Maybe this sort of thing would be good for people with serious mental issues, but for regular people? I can’t foresee anything but Black Mirror horrors. Replacing jobs with AI is bad enough; replacing human interaction […]
First Metal Minis July 19, 2024
The first metal minis – 1/144 X-20, 1/285 X-20, 1/285 XF-103, 1/285 XF-108 – have been cast, cleaned and assembled. I’ve got enough to take care of the existing crowdfunders; I plan on trying to make a go of the 1/285 X-15s as well. However, the main mold is already falling to bits, so there […]