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Possible 5 Planets Found Around Tau Ceti
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Discovered but yet to be confirmed, five planets may be orditing the nearby star Tau Ceti. The sun-like star is only 12 light years from Earth. The smallest of these planets appears to be about twice the size of Earth, so a 150 pound man would weigh 300 lbs. here. Not a good place to go if you are dieting. The planet in the habitable zone (by our definition) unfortunately, has a mass of 5 times Earth. Don’t even think about what you would weight there. But its mass makes it the lightest planet yet found in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.
Present planet detection techniques make it much easier to find planets that are large and orbiting close in, often too close in to be in the star’s habitable zone, unless they are red dwarfs, which Tau Ceti isn’t. The fact that five planets have been discovered around a particular star does not negate the possibility that other smaller worlds may exist in favorable orbits for life though. We just can’t find them yet.
New Direction for Society Needed–Guest Article
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Still, I would, were I running for President, encourage the industry of a (deep) space economy. Heeding the warning of Eisenhower on the Military-Industrial Complex, and wary of Newt Gingrich’s Sci-fi colonization schema, I would revise the 1989 Rockwell Integrated Space systems flow chart for manned space travel (see below), and pursue areas of manned and unmanned research. We are prime for it. Our technology needs a new direction and new context to grow or construct new meaning, our workforce needs a new “cathedral industry” to build. We need new and appropriate benchmarks and goals. Space should become our new development of math/science/cultural growth, our new pyramids to build, our new castles that require generations to finish, our new mystery to send explorers into, our new transcontinental railroad, our new interstate system, our new race to put a man into space. We have an unexplored Louisiana Purchase before us. We are Jefferson and we need to hire Lewis and have him hire Clark and commission research.
Tags: astronomy, deep space, economic stimulation, economy, evolution, exploration, futurism, human settlement, jobs, Mars, research, rockets, solar system, Space, technology, travel, universe
Nearest Star System has Planet
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Astronomers have discovered a planet circling one of the stars in the triple star Alpha Centauri system, a group that is practically right in our back yard. Not only that, but the planet seems to be roughly earth-sized. Unfortunately, it orbits much closer than the earth to its star making a year on the surface equal to only 3.2 days. Scientists estimate the surface temperature might be as high as 2200 degrees Fahrenheit on this planet where the sun would fill about three-quarters of the sky. Not a good place to sun bathe and any pools would have to be made out of molten lava.
The discovery of this one planet makes it likely that other planets, perhaps small ones like Earth, also inhabit the Centauri system, which is made up of Alpha Centauri A. Alpha Centauri B and Proxima Centauri. While the general distance to this star system is considered to be about 4.3 light years, making it the closest star system to Earth, Proxima Centauri is slightly closer to us than its two companions. Still, it would take over 40,000 years to get there using current rocket technology.
.It took astronomers 450 days of observation to pin down the location and existence of the new planet. Alpha Centauri A and B are sunlike stars. A is slightly larger and brighter than our sun, and B is just a little smaller and about half as bright. The planet circles B. Alpha Centauri C is a red dwarf star.
The Alpha Centauri system is the home world for the blue-skinned Na’vi in the science fiction movie Avatar. Inhbitants of a planet in this system would see two suns in their skies, at least part of the time, just as Luke Skywalker did on Tatouine.
For many years astronomers thought that double or triple star systems couldn’t have planets because the gravitational perturbations wouldn’t allow it. They were wrong. This new discovery should fire up people’s imaginations, and perhaps, their desire for interstellar travel.
Tags: astronomy, deep space, esploration, futurism, human settlement, propulsion system, science fiction, the future, travel, universe
What Will Things be Like in 2312?–A Review
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Creating from scratch an entire detailed and convincing future covering human expansion into the solar system, global warming, the effects of longevity treatments, and the creation of artificial life forms would not be an easy task for a science fiction writer, but Kim Stanley Robinson pulls it off better than most could. Already accomplished for his Martian trilogy, Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, along with a dozen or so other books, Robinson presents a believable view of life in the year 2312 in his latest novel entitled, strangely enough, 2312.
Three hundred years from now, Mars has been terraformed. Venus and Titan are in the process of being made surface livable for humans, and thousands of asteroids have been hollowed out to create comfortable living environments. Earth is suffering from the effects of overpopulation and global warming. New York City has become the new Venice, Italy, as rising sea levels inundate its streets. Travel between planets is as common and as quick as travel between continents by ship is today thanks to propulsion system advances which are being worked on even in the present.
Mr. Robinson introduces two main characters, who are eerily reminiscent of certain individuals introduced in his Mars trilogy, through whose eyes we are treated to his grand view of the future. Swan Er Hong, 137 years old, (remember the longevity treatments), and Fitz Wahram who was born on Titan. They embark on a quest to find out who has destroyed Terminator, a city on Mercury and Swan’s home. Their travels take them all over the solar system and back to Earth several times, and, of course, they manage to eventually fall in love along the way, during which we are treated to extended musings on what love really is, and whether a marriage could really be sustained for hundreds of years.
The strengths of this novel are not so much in the plot as in the strong and lengthy character development, and the hopeful and detailed view of the future, along with the main characters’ inner struggles to answer age-old questions about the nature of humanity, the role of self-awareness, and what purpose can be generated within an individual existence that might last for a thousand years.
If you are looking for space opera with plenty of action centering around evil aliens, this book is not for you. None of Robinson’s books are. But if you’re interested in intellectual stimulation, and reasonably extrapolated and detailed looks at the future, then definitely read 2312.
Tags: 2312, exploration, human settlement, Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction, the future, travel
Humans on Mars by 2023?
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A Dutch company plans to put a human settlement on the red planet by 2023. Using spacecraft and habitat components built strictly by private companies from around the world, Mars will become Earth’s first extra-planetary colony without the use of any taxpayer money, according to scientist, Gerard ‘t Hooft, the project’s chosen spokesman.
“This appears to be the only way man will ever set foot on Mars,” he says.
A series of launches, planned for 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2023 will end with 4 astronauts landing on Earth’s second closest neighbor. The astronauts will live the rest of their lives there. Each year or so, additional people will join the colony.
All the components are there to accomplish this task, according to ‘t Hooft, buildable by different corporations worldwide. The whole project will be funded by a step-by-step reality show broadcast worldwide. For more information check out the video below.
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