Re: Detection by IR

>So, if my idea is right, that means you would for certain
detect a
>manouvring ship out at 76.8 million km (7600 mu at 10,000 km
per mu) . You'd
>for sure not detect it out at more than 750 million km.
Assuming drives run
>that hot.  If your thrusters only ran at 600 degrees Kelvin,
you'd only be
>detectable at 16 LS. This is still a long way.

Compared to what?  Not interplanetary distances.  (Yes, I know
it's a long way with respect to tactical ranges).

>So it seems that if you could close on a ballistic track with
baffling on
>and some method of dropping your hull to 150 K, you could
probably close to
>tactical ranges without detection.

If you come in on a ballistic track, how far out from your
target will you need to be?  If it's a couple AU (Weber) or a
30+AU (Mote in God's Eye--"merchant ships don't need to come
nearer to Earth than Neptune"), you'll either need to have high
velocity before you jump, or you'll need to drift in very, very
patiently.