A newly released study has concluded that Proxima Centauri, the closest star to us other than Sol, has a rocky planet in the Goldilocks zone. The planet called Proxima b is only about 1,000 years away using currently available technology.
Who's up for the trip?
Wow. And only 4.2 light years away, which like is the galactic equivalent of a city block away.
Proxima III, here we come!
Yeah, but it's got a wimpy sun. They call it a red dwarf for goodness sake. It always rankles me that our own sun is nothing to speak of compared to other stars, but a red dwarf? "Oh, you're the alien from that place with the red dwarf. Go sit in the back."
Wimpy!? Red dwarf stars will still be around long after all the heavier stars have ended their time in the main sequence. Future life may well appreciate them for their longevity!
Quote from: SGOS on August 24, 2016, 04:34:50 PM
Yeah, but it's got a wimpy sun. They call it a red dwarf for goodness sake. It always rankles me that our own sun is nothing to speak of compared to other stars, but a red dwarf? "Oh, you're the alien from that place with the red dwarf. Go sit in the back."
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/81/b6/92/81b6924824f98300c1e1786bb5e51840.jpg)
U wot mate?
Quote from: SGOS on August 24, 2016, 04:34:50 PM
Yeah, but it's got a wimpy sun. They call it a red dwarf for goodness sake. It always rankles me that our own sun is nothing to speak of compared to other stars, but a red dwarf? "Oh, you're the alien from that place with the red dwarf. Go sit in the back."
They're far more common than main sequence stars. For all we know, red dwarfs (almost wrote dwarves, heh) are the typical safe haven for life and main sequence stars supporting life are the abnormality. Red dwarfs are less massive and emit much less radiation and they don't often have gas giants (<12%), but they can support rocky planets like Earth (around 41%, though that figure is a very rough estimation) Source (http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=36565)
Quote from: Hydra009 on August 24, 2016, 07:46:22 PM
They're far more common than main sequence stars.
I didn't know that, and I always thought Alpha Centauri was our closest neighbor. To think there was a closer star and we couldn't even see it is kind of cool. It's closer right? I heard about the discovery on NPR today, but I may not have remembered everything right.
Isn't our future a solar system with a red dwarf?
Quote from: Mike Cl on August 24, 2016, 08:09:09 PM
Isn't our future a solar system with a red dwarf?
I heard that's in the future, but the way it was explained to me, at some point, it begins to expand and engulfs everything. But Mercury might be good place to live for a while.
Quote from: SGOS on August 24, 2016, 08:07:21 PM
I didn't know that, and I always thought Alpha Centauri was our closest neighbor. To think there was a closer star and we couldn't even see it is kind of cool. It's closer right? I heard about the discovery on NPR today, but I may not have remembered everything right.
Alpha Centauri is a star system with 3 stars - a binary pair (Alpha Centauri A and B) and a red dwarf (Proxima Centauri). The distances vary slightly depending on orbits, but the binary pair is around 4.37 light years away from us, while Proxima Centauri is around 4.24 light years away from us. So yes, Proxima Centauri is the closest.
The binary pair has been known for centuries, but the much dimmer dwarf star wasn't discovered until 1915.
Red dwarfs tend to have severe flaring early in their lives, so they're not so ideal shelters for life.
Plus, they're dim and cool, so even if a planet is sitting in the Goldilocks region, there's only so much you can do with the red photons chemically.
Yeah, they're not the best places for life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitability_of_red_dwarf_systems). But they're so common! If forming life was like randomly firing arrows into an archery field, Sol-like stars would be big but they'd be few and far between, while red dwarfs would be smaller targets but they'd be everywhere.
Quote from: Mike Cl on August 24, 2016, 08:09:09 PM
Isn't our future a solar system with a red dwarf?
No, the future of our sun is to become a red giant - quite different from a red dwarf.
Quote from: Unbeliever on August 25, 2016, 05:35:04 PM
No, the future of our sun is to become a red giant - quite different from a red dwarf.
But what's the stage after red giant? Cubs dwarf?
(You not baseball types might want to look away.)
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on August 25, 2016, 06:52:55 PM
But what's the stage after red giant? Cubs dwarf?
(You not baseball types might want to look away.)
White dwarf.
Then comes the never observed but hypothetical black dwarf.
Quote from: PopeyesPappy on August 25, 2016, 08:08:48 PM
Then comes the never observed but hypothetical black dwarf.
I met one of those once........(da bum tish)
I confused red dwarf with red giant. When I wrote that post, I kept asking myself if red dwarf was what I was thinking of, and I couldn't remember red giant.
Quote from: SGOS on August 25, 2016, 08:47:57 PM
I confused red dwarf with red giant. When I wrote that post, I kept asking myself if red dwarf was what I was thinking of, and I couldn't remember red giant.
Never met a red giant, but I've met a really short Navajo. :2thumbs:
Quote from: PopeyesPappy on August 24, 2016, 02:10:25 PM
A newly released study has concluded that Proxima Centauri, the closest star to us other than Sol, has a rocky planet in the Goldilocks zone. The planet called Proxima b is only about 1,000 years away using currently available technology.
Who's up for the trip?
I'll settle for the Breakthrough Starshot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot) mission. Best-case scenario is that it launches in 20 years and takes 20 years to get there -- and living another 40 years is not impossible.
Quote from: trdsf on August 25, 2016, 10:21:26 PMI'll settle for the Breakthrough Starshot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot) mission. Best-case scenario is that it launches in 20 years and takes 20 years to get there -- and living another 40 years is not impossible.
You'd have to wait another 4 years for them to let us know that they successfully arrived, so it'd be more like 44 years. Doable for the young and healthy among us.
But what might not be quite as doable is inventing/constructing propulsion systems capable of safely attaining 15%-20% the speed of light within 20 years. New Horizons hit 58,536 km/h, but it would've taken 78,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri. The Helios probes hold the record at 252,792 km/h. Cranking that up to 216,000,000 km/h (20% the speed of light) might take some doing and perhaps more time than the project bargained for.
What I want to know about Starshot is how they plan to send data back. A centimeter sized probe is going to have a hard time carrying a radio or laser that could transmit any data back to us.
Quote from: PopeyesPappy on August 26, 2016, 07:27:04 AM
What I want to know about Starshot is how they plan to send data back. A centimeter sized probe is going to have a hard time carrying a radio or laser that could transmit any data back to us.
Hush, they're on a roll.
Quote from: Hydra009 on August 26, 2016, 02:32:41 AM
You'd have to wait another 4 years for them to let us know that they successfully arrived, so it'd be more like 44 years. Doable for the young and healthy among us.
But what might not be quite as doable is inventing/constructing propulsion systems capable of safely attaining 15%-20% the speed of light within 20 years. New Horizons hit 58,536 km/h, but it would've taken 78,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri. The Helios probes hold the record at 252,792 km/h. Cranking that up to 216,000,000 km/h (20% the speed of light) might take some doing and perhaps more time than the project bargained for.
Oh, yeah. It's profoundly unlikely to happen in my lifetime. But there is that teeny chance, and I will be optimistic without having any actual expectation of it.
Luckily, we kaiju never die, so I'd have a shot.
Quote from: Unbeliever on August 25, 2016, 05:35:04 PM
No, the future of our sun is to become a red giant - quite different from a red dwarf.
Ah, yes. Dwarf---giant--easy to miss the difference. :)) In any case, it will fun to watch. Now if I can only figure out how to live another 3.9 billion years............
Quote from: Hydra009 on August 26, 2016, 02:32:41 AM
You'd have to wait another 4 years for them to let us know that they successfully arrived, so it'd be more like 44 years.
What?? And miss the rapture?
Quote from: PopeyesPappy on August 25, 2016, 08:08:48 PM
Then comes the never observed but hypothetical black dwarf.
He was a character on the TV show, Red Dwarf. He was a highly evolved and hep cat.
If they mention beach front property in regards to Proxima, then I'll get interested.