11-14-2018, 06:32 AM | #41 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
Assuming you were aboard that time traveling spaceship. You can sort of measure it with ground based radio telescopes, but accuracy isn't very good - I suspect if the difference were big enough to reliably detect from the surface of the Earth there wouldn't *be* a surface of the Earth yet.
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-- MA Lloyd |
11-14-2018, 09:03 AM | #42 | |
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The plutonium rich regions of Washington State
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
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Luke |
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11-14-2018, 09:14 AM | #43 | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
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The CMBR at least is something that exists though, unlike as-yet-undiscovered speed of light decay.
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Collaborative Settings: Cyberpunk: Duopoly Nation Space Opera: Behind the King's Eclipse And heaps of forum collabs, 30+ and counting! |
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11-14-2018, 09:18 AM | #44 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The plutonium rich regions of Washington State
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
For journeys into the very deep past, you could also observe the positions and orientations (and general shapes) of the galaxies in our local cluster. Again, you will probably require calibration observations at various times in the deep past, and again it will only give approximate dates. Combine this with observations of starts and planets (using ephemera and star charts made with calibrated observations across a wide range of times) to home in on more precise dates.
Luke |
11-14-2018, 12:10 PM | #45 |
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
Beyond a certain point in human history it probably doesn't matter what the exact date is because it's not like there's a specific event to watch out for.
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11-14-2018, 12:49 PM | #46 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
There would be specific events like volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes such as the dino-killer. But it's not like we know that the Chicxulub crater formed on a Tuesday at 9:51 A.M, for example.
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Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
11-14-2018, 01:21 PM | #47 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Denver, CO
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
That depends upon how thoroughly the past has been "mapped" at this point. This could totally be in an almanac after some historian spent a bit of effort tracking it down specifically. If our lost traveler is one of the first, then not so much.
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11-14-2018, 04:03 PM | #48 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
It occurs to me that a time travel agency might put in place beacons - maybe in an orbit that will decay before anyone is around to notice it, or in a location soon to be under lava or in an impact crater - featuring a warning and a countdown to something you probably don't want to be around to see.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
11-14-2018, 06:36 PM | #49 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
With only a little thought given to how reflective your satelite is i.e. avoiding the "Iridium flare" you can put satelites into Earth orbit until at least 1900.
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Fred Brackin |
11-14-2018, 06:58 PM | #50 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Melbourne, Australia (also known as zone Brisbane)
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Re: How do time-travelers calculate the date?
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For my own campaigns time travellers need to be aware of local conditions such as: gravity, time, location, entropy, fundamental constants (because they aren’t constant) and acceleration. If they don’t know these for their initial position and destination they risk arriving way off course.
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The stick you just can't throw away. |
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