Frantic,
	Anybody who believes -that- tale, please stand on your head.  Bad luck, or
something, takes out about HALF (really!) of what Earth sends there...  How
unlucky does one planet get!?
:-)
	Anyway, ya gotta hit the asteroid *before* it gets too close, and not wait
until we need sunblock, to fire that thing.  Sheesh.  ;-)
Cheers,
Red
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FranticInFresno wrote:

Geez, one of the Mars missions in recent memory crashed because of a
conversion error between meters and feet.  Do you really want these same
people pointing an energy beam at an Earth crossing Astoroid THAT close to
the Earth?  SPF5000 anyone?

"red" <read@xmission.com> wrote in message
news:41214330.8DC22F0D@xmission.com...

Eric,
Good post.
The science fiction writer E.E. "Doc" Smith proposed modulating the output
of a star, our own Sun, in the Lensman Series.  These six books were
written about 1940 or so, and that series is the ultimate of sci-fi
space-operas.  This book series inspired the TV series "Babylon 5".
"Doc" had Sun-orbiting conductors that were energized to briefly focus
Solar energy (most of it) into a beam weapon, to defend Earth against an
invading fleet.  If you know vacuum-tube electronics, this is actually
somewhat realistic.
You are probably familiar with charged wire/charged grid beam-steering
technology; in most homes, it is called TV.  Unless you have a flat-screen
monitor, you also have similar magnetic or electrostatic fields in your
monitor that focus the electrons of the computer-display (Cathode Ray Tube
or CRT) into a picture.  Focusing all solar output could "beam" some

rather

noticeable intensity in one direction, and that would "dim" the output in
all other directions.
That much beam energy could quickly vaporize an Earth-crossing asteroid:
we could even save ourselves from the threat that may have wiped out the
last big dinosaurs.  :-)
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Cheers,
Red
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Eric Albers wrote:

Since we know that stars are excellent at being seen from very far
away, would a civilization slightly more advanced use some kind of
modulation on their star to send a message out?
Eric Albers