If there are three known planets in the Proxima Centauri, why are they called b, c and d — why is there no Proxima Centauri a?
Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
221–230 of 351 posts
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another atomic rockets enjoyer. I've killed so much time on that site. I don't agree with every one of Winchell's conclusions. But they are small things. And I don't know of a more comprehensive and grounded take on future spaceflight technologies.
I was saddened to hear about Winchell's cancer diagnosis last year[1]. I've wasted a ton of time there too, it's an oddity compared to the rest of the modern internet. I know very few other useful sites like it, and I love it all the more for its strange aesthetic. I don't agree with everything there either, but usually it's only very minor gripes. In this case though, it's hard to argue with the reality of the rocke…
Oh man, I hadn't heard about that. Best of luck to him but he's right prostate cancer is a pretty bad one.
What are the other few sites you do know of?
And you are absolutely right about the rocket equation. You can't really get around it.
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hollow out the asteroid and spin it.
That tech is decades in the future.
Is it? Assuming an asteroid of appropriate structural strength, it's just a question of time + propulsion. And acceleration adds up pretty quickly when you're in a vacuum and have all the time you want.
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
>We know the path we chose, limited global use of fission power, mostly avoided nuclear weapons proliferation, and did avoid nuclear exchanges. So it's provably a successful (or probably successful) path. Only if you value the lack of nuclear exchanges over the impacts of climate change. Which one of the two is more likely to cause a mass extinction type issue on the planet, one puts the control in the hands of peopl…
I'd say I do. Climate change is colossal in problem magnitude, but temporally slow and distributed in impact. Nuclear weapons are terrifying fast and centralized in impact. Unfortunately, our civilization is also mostly centralized. Cities, ports, highly productive land : total land area. If you're talking persistent radioactive effects for a decade+, it doesn't take many to severely cripple the world. As an example,…
How would the increase in the number of nuclear power plants lead to more nuclear weapons? There is no direct connection besides edge cases like Iran using it as a cover to develop nuclear weapons.
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#225There seems to be some confusion about the meaning of "within the habitable zone". From the paper (Introduction and Conclusions, respectively) [1]: The habitability conditions of Proxima b, which orbits within the HZ of the star, have been extensively studied (e.g. Barnes et al. 2017; Ribas et al. 2016; Turbet et al. 2016; Meadows & Barnes 2018). On the other hand, the candidate Proxima d orbits much closer to the st…
Here's a good collection of details about the entire star system of Proxima Centauri, including its planets. https://www.star-facts.com/proxima-centauri/ Also fascinating, a relative distance vs time graph of close stars. It turns out we'll have closer distances for 6 in the next 10,000 - 50,000 years. https://www.star-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Neares... Somehow I feel like Elon Musk has a print out of tha…
"Unlike the Sun, which will evolve into a red giant in 6.5 billion years and reach the end of its life at an age of about 10 billion years, Proxima will stay on the main sequence for another four trillion years due to its low mass and low energy production."
They laughed at me when I bought investment property on Proxima Centauri b, but who'll be the one laughing in 10.000000001 billion years?
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not exactly. For you to think you are traveling 20x faster than light, your friends that stayed at home would have to see you traveling at 0.99995c. For 233x faster than light, that's a lot of 9's in that number.
I get 0.999c for 20x and 0.99999c for 220+
I'll trust your numbers more than mine.
But, for all intents and purposes, this is impossibly fast ;-)
Unless you are on the Bistromath, that is.
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good catch "With the small stellar radius, Proxima d ... equilibrium temperature may reach 360K," NB: Earth's is 255K. Venus 260K, Mars 215K. So this doesn't tell the whole story, but is probably quite hot.
It is certainly tidally locked. So it has a hot side, a cold side, and an intermediate ring at the terminator. Probably not very comfortable.
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Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
Making an assumption here about Proxima Centauri's own Oort Cloud, but seems like if it's the same size as ours, they'd overlap? Seems like a potentially interesting way for "stuff" to get transferred from one solar system to another.
I believe we are discovering that space isn’t as empty as we once imagined. Rock-hopping could be a viable method of (slow) interstellar travel.
Eh, we're talking about a section of an arm on a galaxy that we're in. I'm pretty sure there's nothing in between most galaxies.
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
Going to {the Middle East, Europe / Asia, Australia, the New World, interior South America, the North American West) seems pretty useless to me at this time. It’s a super hostile environment and we don’t have the technology yet to have a self sustaining base there. Give it a few decades and progress in {insert technology} will make a base much easier. There is plenty of work to be done on {current place}. We have to…
Nobody ever believed that America is a super-hostile environment.
Roanoke, Ajacan, Fort Caroline, Sable Island, Charlesfort, Pensacola, San Miguel de Gualdape, Charlesbourg-Royal, France-Roy, Pensacola?
Re: Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
Making an assumption here about Proxima Centauri's own Oort Cloud, but seems like if it's the same size as ours, they'd overlap? Seems like a potentially interesting way for "stuff" to get transferred from one solar system to another.
I believe we are discovering that space isn’t as empty as we once imagined. Rock-hopping could be a viable method of (slow) interstellar travel.
Isn't that how you end up in an endless Solar System war?
Belta-lowda! Belta-lowda! Belta-lowda!