Huge Water Ice Deposits Cover South Pole Of Mars

[Nufy]

With ice there has to be hockey right ???????

Can you say new draft market.............

[JimmytheT]

Originally Posted by worth

I say screw terraforming mars. lets go to alpha centauri...it's only what, 4.3 light years away? much faster than terraforming...just have to figure out the travel at the speed of light part... and then off we go!

Well take into account that Alpha Centauri is one star in a triple star system also composed of Beta Centauri and the more distant and much smaller red dwarf Proxima Centauri. Note: Alpha and Beta Centauri orbit each other ellipticly at an average distance of 23 AU*. Proxima Centauri orbits A and B at a distance of 13,000 AU.
You would need to know there is a planet to settle there. I imagine there would be planets circling both Alpha and Beta Centauri, but would they be gas giants, or terrestrial planets? More than likely terrestrial because of the gravitational effects of binary systems theoretically limit the formation of Gas Giants. Anyways, going to the Centauri Star system poses just as many obstacles as terraforming mars


*denotes Astronomical Units; 1 AU = The average distance between the Earth and the Sun.

[Daradon]

Hmmm, Alpha and Beta Centauri orbit each other rather close, at least in planetary terms, wouldn't that make any possible orbiting planets very hot?

Great post by the way.

[worth]

A and B are 11AU at their closest point. So it's entirley possible for an earth like planet to orbit either star.

Alpha Centauri is pretty much exactly like our sun, thats why it's so interesting.


And it was more of a joke. I know there are just as many complications in traveling light years to a star system when we can barley get out of our own solar system.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by worth

And it was more of a joke. I know there are just as many complications in traveling light years to a star system when we can barley get out of our own solar system.

I think many people understood that, just carrying on with an interesting side topic.

[octothorp]

While it might not be realistic for us to travel to alpha centauri, if we engineered a race of malaria-resistant, egg-laying uber-humans who had a extra-life expectancy and resistance to extremely cold environments...

[ken0042]

That's a pretty cool pic, Worth.

I would think that seeing as our life zone is ~1 AU, and the two main stars in Alpha Centauri are at closest 11 aus apart, maybe the proximity to the other star would be what would give them their seasons.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by ken0042

That's a pretty cool pic, Worth.

I would think that seeing as our life zone is ~1 AU, and the two main stars in Alpha Centauri are at closest 11 aus apart, maybe the proximity to the other star would be what would give them their seasons.

Probably one of those things that scientists could speculate on and come to reasonable hypothesis on, but would never know exactly without direct observation.

I'm sure a host of different possibilites are possible.

[troutman]

That must be quite the gravity well between A and B?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_centauri

Computer models of planetary formation suggest that terrestrial planets would be able to form close to both Alpha Centauri A and B, but that gas giant planets similar to our Jupiter and Saturn would not be able to form because of the binary stars' gravitational effects.[1] Given the similarities in star type, age and stability of the orbits it has been suggested that this stellar system may hold one of the best possibilities for extraterrestrial life.[2] However, some astronomers have speculated that any terrestrial planets in the Alpha Centauri system may be dry because it is believed that Jupiter and Saturn were crucial at directing comets into the inner solar system and providing the inner planets with a source of water. This would not be a problem, however, if Alpha Centauri B happened to play a similar role for Alpha Centauri A that the gas giants do for the Sun, and vice versa. Both stars are of the right spectral type to harbor life on a potential planet.

[Bobblehead]

Let's just find the nearest ringworld and move in.

(note: don't try to pick up the thin wires)

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by worth

A and B are 11AU at their closest point. So it's entirley possible for an earth like planet to orbit either star.

Alpha Centauri is pretty much exactly like our sun, thats why it's so interesting.


And it was more of a joke. I know there are just as many complications in traveling light years to a star system when we can barley get out of our own solar system.

Also for those curious, an AU is the space between the earth and the sun

[JimmytheT]

[quote=worth;814155]A and B are 11AU at their closest point. So it's entirley possible for an earth like planet to orbit either star.

Alpha Centauri is pretty much exactly like our sun, thats why it's so interesting.


And it was more of a joke. I know there are just as many complications in traveling light years to a star system when we can barley get out of our own solar system.[/quote]

Very true, the fastest vehicles human's have ever manufactured, the Voyager probes, still have not reached the heliopause*.

*Dictionary Definition: The region surrounding the solar system at which pressure from the outgoing solar wind equals the pressure from the interstellar medium (made up mostly of hydrogen and helium), and the solar wind can penetrate no further. It is considered to be the outer boundary of our solar system. It is Approximatly 100 AU from the Sun

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by JimmytheT

*Dictionary Definition: The region surrounding the solar system at which pressure from the outgoing solar wind equals the pressure from the interstellar medium (made up mostly of hydrogen and helium), and the solar wind can penetrate no further. It is considered to be the outer boundary of our solar system. It is Approximatly 100 AU from the Sun

OK, my turn for a pretty picture:
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/images/Heliosphere3b.jpg

[JimmytheT]

[quote=worth;814155]A and B are 11AU at their closest point. So it's entirley possible for an earth like planet to orbit either star.

Alpha Centauri is pretty much exactly like our sun, thats why it's so interesting.


And it was more of a joke. I know there are just as many complications in traveling light years to a star system when we can barley get out of our own solar system.[/quote]

Very true, the fastest vehicles human's have ever manufactured, the Voyager probes, still have not reached the heliopause*.

*Dictionary Definition: The region surrounding the solar system at which pressure from the outgoing solar wind equals the pressure from the interstellar medium (made up mostly of hydrogen and helium), and the solar wind can penetrate no further. It is considered to be the outer boundary of our solar system. It is Approximatly 100 AU from the Sun