http://www.heavens-above.com is awesome. Register free, log in coordinates and let the site give you viewing times for different events and where to look. At the moment Comet Kudo-Fujikawa is just below the front foot of Orion (Betelgeuse), this is the data. I'll have to have a look tonight. Not...
We already have examples on Earth of civilisations that don't have technology as the west would recognise it. There could also be religious or cultural ethical consideration that would disallow the applications of technologies even if they knew about them. I once worked on a sci-fi story where...
I think Damgo got it too. The 'initiation' would seem to be the helium flash which continues into helium fusion. I think that's right, as the helium fuses to carbon 12, then you then have carbon flash and I assume you could have oxygen and neon flash but, for reasons that elude me, it would seem...