It would be trivially easy to rig a heliograph for communication from outer to inner planets at their closest passes. A field of a few hundred ~1m2 mirrors would do the trick. You aim them using this trick or something similar You can send a Morse code equivalent by having your several hundred assistants manually cover and uncover the mirrors in rough unison using signals from a horn or bell.

Inner-to-outer communication is a bit more challenging, as the geometry doesn't favor a heliograph during closest approach.

On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 10:52 AM, Jeffrey Schwartz <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
The thought crosses my mind....

If one were to stand on the night side of a planet, and aimed a strong
light at one of the outer planets, I suspect it would be visible
through even a primitive telescope.

If all (or even some of) the planets in the system independently
developed sentient tool users, you'd have interplanetary
communications at TL 4-ish?


On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 4:15 PM, Rob Davenport <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
> From that article: "In contrast to our sun, the TRAPPIST-1 star – classified
> as an ultra-cool dwarf – is so cool that liquid water could survive on
> planets orbiting very close to it, closer than is possible on planets in our
> solar system. All seven of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary orbits are closer to
> their host star than Mercury is to our sun. The planets also are very close
> to each other. If a person was standing on one of the planet’s surface, they
> could gaze up and potentially see geological features or clouds of
> neighboring worlds, which would sometimes appear larger than the moon in
> Earth's sky.
>
> The planets may also be tidally locked to their star, which means the same
> side of the planet is always facing the star, therefore each side is either
> perpetual day or night. This could mean they have weather patterns totally
> unlike those on Earth, such as strong winds blowing from the day side to the
> night side, and extreme temperature changes."
>
> That is a cool image - standing on one planet and seeing that level of
> detail on another planet with the naked eye.   Somehow feels like E.R.
> Burroughs' John Carter of Mars-ish.
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 2:21 PM, Peter L. Berghold <xxxxxx@berghold.net>
> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, 2017-02-22 at 19:01 +0000, Bruce  Johnson wrote:
>> > <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-ba
>> > tch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around>
>> >
>>
>> Breaks the system generation rules for MT. :)
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Peter L. Berghold                                 <xxxxxx@berghold.net>
>> Professonally: IT Professional (DevOps, Puppet, Perl...)
>> Advocations: Dog Training, Beer Brewing, BBQ, Cooking
>>
>> -----
>> The Traveller Mailing List
>> Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
>> Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
>> To unsubscribe from this list please go to
>> http://archives.simplelists.com
>
>
> -----
> The Traveller Mailing List
> Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
> Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
> To unsubscribe from this list please go to
> http://archives.simplelists.com
-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=PltOdItWBSgOP4y0Q6abkGbDI1eus0lz



--
"Eternity is in love with the productions of time." - William Blake