On Fri, Mar 5, 2021 at 07:49 Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson at port.ac.uk (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:


On Fri, 5 Mar 2021 at 14:17, Thomas RUX <xxxxxx@comcast.net> wrote:
Hello Timothy,
 
I've seen this happen while at sea on the USS Simon Lake


oooh, fun!  If it ever happened in our vicinity (two years mostly in SE Asia) I must have not been on watch.

I'm trying to think of a Traveller equivalent.

Perhaps there are 'conditions' under which ship appears to be much closer/larger than it really is.   See that 500,000-ton Free Trader just off the port bow?!  But sensors would reveal it's an illusion and as I don't think you do much optically from a bridge in Traveller anyway it wouldn't work...  ah well, it was just a thought.

Perhaps the 'conditions' are such that sensors give the iffy readings?

Sensor Op: Captain's there's a Beowulf just a 1000 klicks ahead.
Captain: That close?
Sensor Op: Yes, and readings say it's... urh, Captain, I'm reading a Beowulf class that's 500,000 tons.
Captain: Ah yes... have you not done your stage two exam reading yet?  That'll be the kuiper-oort shadow [1] giving you a ghost blip.  Give it three minutes and try again.

tc

[1] I'm pretty sure there are people on this list who could come up with *much* better double talk...
Junk reflection. Happens with clouds of micro ice crystals that have a relatively high metal content.