# Astronomy: Visiting our nearest star - Scientists are working on it!  FYI - 1 light year = <5,878,625,373,184 miles.



## Em in Ohio (Jun 15, 2020)

*It’s not science fiction — scientists planning mission to nearest star using tiny spacecraft by Peter Fimrite 3/14/2020*

"An American starship powered by laser beams will make a rendezvous with another world within most of our lifetimes if physicists can solve a perplexing question — how to propel a craft 25 trillion miles to the nearest star fast enough for it to arrive while civilization as we know it still exists?  It is a vexing problem for scientists given that a launch today, using the most powerful rockets, would take 80,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, 4.37 light-years away."

Another approach: http://phl.upr.edu/press-releases/sailingtotheneareststars

"In April last year (2017), billionaire Yuri Milner announced the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative. He plans to invest 100 million US dollars in the development of an ultra-light light sail that can be accelerated to 20 percent of the speed of light to reach the Alpha Centauri star system within 20 years. The problem of how to slow down this projectile once it reaches its target remains a challenge. René Heller of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen and his colleague Michael Hippke propose to use the radiation and gravity of the Alpha Centauri stars to decelerate the craft. It could then even be rerouted to the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri and its potential Earth-like planet Proxima b."


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## RadishRose (Jun 15, 2020)

It seems impossible to me, yet.......


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## Em in Ohio (Jun 15, 2020)

RadishRose said:


> It seems impossible to me, yet.......


Well, I am unlikely to ever see details of Proxima B, even if they can explore it within 17 years.  Yet, it is the stuff of which my dreams are made!  Wouldn't it shake up us Earthlings to find that there was intelligent life elsewhere, long before we came along?  Space is so vast and it makes our short lifetimes seem rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things - at least, for me.  It's humbling!


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## Kaila (Jun 15, 2020)

I will come back to read this, at some more awake and alert time of day for me to read it.
It seems like it will be a subject to enjoy pondering.

Meanwhile, one of you might tell me....which is the closest star, and how long would that take?


Likely the posted article includes that info.... I will just wonder, and ponder that, for tonight!


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 15, 2020)

Em in Ohio said:


> *It’s not science fiction — scientists planning mission to nearest star using tiny spacecraft by Peter Fimrite 3/14/2020*
> 
> "An American starship powered by laser beams will make a rendezvous with another world within most of our lifetimes if physicists can solve a perplexing question — how to propel a craft 25 trillion miles to the nearest star fast enough for it to arrive while civilization as we know it still exists?  It is a vexing problem for scientists given that a launch today, using the most powerful rockets, would take 80,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, 4.37 light-years away."
> 
> ...


Have always been fascinated by all things space, and this does not disappoint.


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## Em in Ohio (Jun 16, 2020)

Kaila said:


> Meanwhile, one of you might tell me....which is the closest star, and how long would that take?


The closest star is too far and it would take too long!  haha.... But, some folks are working on plans to shorten the trip.


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## fmdog44 (Jun 16, 2020)

I saw a documentary on how the vehicle increases speed. It takes years to reach the maximum velocity.  Like Voyager now out of our solar system sending probes to the ends of the universe is haunting knowing in the deep dark loneliness of space are man made vehicles searching for answers to some of our questions while we go about our daily lives.


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## fmdog44 (Jun 16, 2020)

Speed of light in words: Five trillion, eight hundred seventy-eight billion, six hundred twenty-five million, three hundred seventy-three thousand, one hundred and eighty-four miles in one year.


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## Em in Ohio (Jun 17, 2020)

fmdog44 said:


> ...Like Voyager now out of our solar system sending probes to the ends of the universe is haunting knowing in the deep dark loneliness of space are man made vehicles searching for answers to some of our questions while we go about our daily lives.


The probing question: Are we alone in the universe?  What do you think?  

I often think back to Carl Sagan, who believed that in so vast a space (inconceivably vast to me), the odds are that we are not alone.  Finding signs of life present or past is likely, but what about intelligent life forms?  Are we really unique?


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