Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderThe practical limitation isn't just magnitude, but resolving power. Atmospheric disturbance makes it difficult to resolve anything smaller than a meter from orbit, and the diffraction limit means the further are away from the thing you want to observe, the wider your telescope needs to be. Since the distortion effects near a black hole are near-asymptotic, the features we want to see have very small subtended angles, and we need much higher resolving power to "see" recognizable features. Stars? Definitely…
Reminds me of one of my favorite books (well, not really. The premise was incredible and the writing was impeccable but it was part one of a trilogy that never materialized): Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus It was basically a brilliant alternative historical fiction novel based around the premise of being able to rewatch the past.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 282
- Total comments
- 109
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-03-04 | Gravitational Lensing to Observe Ancient EarthFirst breakout · Best thread | pkrein | 140 | 64 |
| 2015-03-07 | Gravitational Lensing to Observe Ancient EarthLatest 20+ point return | pinko | 137 | 45 |
| 2019-04-10 | Gravitational Lensing to Observe Ancient Earth | tambourine_man | 3 | 0 |
| 2022-03-15 | Gravitational lensing to observer ancient Earth | graderjs | 2 | 0 |