Can we construct something so we can use the sun as a signaling device?

[cosmictotem]

Definitely. They would be neither cheap nor easy - but at least once built they would keep signaling forever.

Additionally, it wouldn't be wise to make them fully orbital unless they were positioned beyond the orbit of earth. If your rings' orbits put themselves too often and too long betwixt the sun and the earth the reduced sunlight could have negative consequences for life on earth. We don't want to wipe ourselves out with our own signaling device, do we? Surely, the Darwin award of all Darwin awards.

 

[billvon]

Additionally, it wouldn't be wise to make them fully orbital unless they were positioned beyond the orbit of earth. If your rings' orbits put themselves too often and too long betwixt the sun and the earth the reduced sunlight could have negative consequences for life on earth. We don't want to wipe ourselves out with our own signaling device, do we? Surely, the Darwin award of all Darwin awards.

It wouldn't have to be in the same plane. If it was on a different plane, we would signal a different set of stars, and only be blocked about 12 hours out of a year.

 

[cosmictotem]

It wouldn't have to be in the same plane. If it was on a different plane, we would signal a different set of stars, and only be blocked about 12 hours out of a year.

Your idea would definitely solve the necessity to power such a device. And simple is better in this case.

 

[danshawen]

The only problem with this idea is that the Sun is also a powerful source of noise at all EM frequencies. Even geosynchronous telecom satellites suffer signal degradation once a year from "Solar Transit Events" which basically blot out all telecommunications for between 5-10 minutes.

ET could not receive such a signal without pointing their receiver more or less directly at our Sun. Or to put it another way, the signal to noise ratio would be very low for any such signal.

 

[cosmictotem]

The only problem with this idea is that the Sun is also a powerful source of noise at all EM frequencies. Even geosynchronous telecom satellites suffer signal degradation once a year from "Solar Transit Events" which basically blot out all telecommunications for between 5-10 minutes.

ET could not receive such a signal without pointing their receiver more or less directly at our Sun. Or to put it another way, the signal to noise ratio would be very low for any such signal.

Well, I'm sure the idea has a lot of problems but we can detect planets moving in front of nearby stars so isn't it safe to assume anything designed to simulate a planet moving in front of our own sun has just as much a chance of being detected as any of the other planets we've inferred are out there?