• Exoplanet around Alpha Centuri is the nearest ever
    16 replies, posted
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"] [TR] [TD][B]Astronomers have found the nearest planet outside our Solar System, circling one of the stars of Alpha Centauri just four light-years away.[/B] The planet has at minimum the same mass as Earth, but circles its star far closer than Mercury orbits our Sun. It is therefore outside the "habitable zone" denoting the possibility of life, as the researchers report in Nature.[/TD] [TD][IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63512000/jpg/_63512516_eso1241e.jpg[/IMG][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE="width: 500, align: center"] [TR] [TD]However, studies on exoplanets increasingly show that a star with one planet is likely to have several. At the very least, the work answers the question first posed in ancient times about planets around our nearest stellar neighbours. The closest star to the Sun is Proxima Centauri, which is believed to be part of a three-star system that includes the brighter stars Alpha Centauri A and B. The planet was found near Alpha Centauri B by the Harps instrument at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla facility in Chile. That puts it far closer to Earth than any of the more than 840 confirmed exoplanets. Like a dance between one enormous and one tiny partner, as an exoplanet orbits its much larger host star, its gravity causes the star to move in a small orbit. Harps and instruments like it measure the subtle change in colour - the redshift or blueshift - of the host star's light as its orbit moves it slightly closer to and further away from Earth.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19959531[/URL] [B]EDIT:[/B] I just realized that this is late... BBC you decieved me! I haven't found it here though with a search.
Still bitchin far away. One can dream, can't he?
One day...
Its around 9460800000000km away. In space terms, it is round the corner!
[QUOTE=jamzzster;38124993]Its around 9460800000000km away. In space terms, it is round the corner![/QUOTE] I walk that every day.
What's the fastest a shuttle has ever went?
[QUOTE=Silikone;38125284]What's the fastest a shuttle has ever went?[/QUOTE] Not fast enough.... YET.
[QUOTE=jamzzster;38124993]Its around 9460800000000km away. In space terms, it is round the corner![/QUOTE] It would still take about 150 years to get there using the fastest probes (Helios deep space probes) ever (70km/s). Still, that thing got launched in the 1970's, so who knows what we can reach now.
[QUOTE=Silikone;38125284]What's the fastest a shuttle has ever went?[/QUOTE] The shuttle was only designed for low earth orbit, I'm not an expert but the Saturn rockets are more similar to what would go to another star, although the furthest man mad object from earth took 40-50 years just to get out of the solar system.
[QUOTE=Kingy_ME;38125400]The shuttle was only designed for low earth orbit, I'm not an expert but the Saturn rockets are more similar to what would go to another star, although the furthest man mad object from earth took 40-50 years just to get out of the solar system.[/QUOTE] Voyager isn't out of the solar system yet.
[QUOTE=scratch (nl);38125394]It would still take about 150 years to get there using the fastest probes (Helios deep space probes) ever (70km/s). Still, that thing got launched in the 1970's, so who knows what we can reach now.[/QUOTE] The only reason they went so fast was becuase they slung around the sun, new horizons is the fastest probe ever launched at 17km/s but speed degrades over time.
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;38125491]but speed degrades over time.[/QUOTE] I thought, in space, it was the opposite?
[QUOTE=AaronM202;38125548]I thought, in space, it was the opposite?[/QUOTE] Think of the sun's gravity like a well. The probe got loads of energy by riding down the side, but now it has to climb up the other side.
Even if we make a fast enough shuttle whats gonna stop small space rocks from slicing through it?
[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;38125582]Even if we make a fast enough shuttle whats gonna stop small space rocks from slicing through it?[/QUOTE] uhh shielding like we have already
Prepare for some clocks bro.. [URL]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1218791[/URL] Also, [QUOTE=scratch (nl);38125394]It would still take about 150 years to get there using the fastest probes (Helios deep space probes) ever (70km/s). Still, that thing got launched in the 1970's, so who knows what we can reach now.[/QUOTE] We've known how awesome Jupiter is for propelling spacecraft from previous missions.. Imagine a gravitational slingshot around the planet for a shit ton of orbits; each orbit accentuates into a larger orbit using controlled burns until you get slung away (Like the Cassini mission on crack). That would be fucking amazing.
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