Posted on 07/03/2011 10:34:44 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: The closest star system to the Sun is the Alpha Centauri system. Of the three stars in the system, the dimmest -- called Proxima Centauri -- is actually the nearest star. The bright stars Alpha Centauri A and B form a close binary as they are separated by only 23 times the Earth- Sun distance - slightly greater than the distance between Uranus and the Sun. In the above picture, the brightness of the stars overwhelm the photograph causing an illusion of great size, even though the stars are really just small points of light. The Alpha Centauri system is not visible in much of the northern hemisphere. Alpha Centauri A, also known as Rigil Kentaurus, is the brightest star in the constellation of Centaurus and is the fourth brightest star in the night sky. Sirius is the brightest even thought it is more than twice as far away. By an exciting coincidence, Alpha Centauri A is the same type of star as our Sun, causing many to speculate that it might contain planets that harbor life.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: 1-Meter Schmidt Telescope, ESO]
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Ohhhh...my apologies...
Slightly more than half of Sun-like stars (stars more or less equivalent in size/brightness to the Sun) located in our galaxy are multiple star systems, i.e. two or more stars.
I hate to rain on your parade and demonstrate the absolute waste of brainspace within my own skull, but the Centuarans are their own species. The Vulcans are found around the star 40 Eridani A.
The Vulcans are found around the star 40 Eridani A.
Not anymore. The home planet was destroyed.
But Zefram Cochrane WAS from Alpha Cent, no matter what, so called, Captn Pickard said.
I thought they had to go back to Vulcan when they went into rut?
Freegards
Don’t worry Jim Kirk will save the universe again.
Nah. Theycandoit anywhere 2 or more are gathered.
Naw, they sneak over to the planet where the hot green chicks come from.......Vulcans are logical about their rutting to.
I wish I had a 1-meter scope.
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We should have launched craft that direction years ago.
Ya never know, it might get there.. eventually. :-)
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Alpha Centauri Should Harbor Detectable, Earth-Like Planets
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080307121613.htm
ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2008) — A rocky planet similar to Earth may be orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors and could be detected using existing techniques, according to a new study led by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
That’s much more convenient. I looked it up, Theodore Sturgeon wrote “the Amok Time”. I think “Killdozer” is one of the best novella sci-fi stories ever.
Freegards
I have Killdozer somewhere around here. In one of those complilation books. I haven’t read that for a while. Might as well give it another go.
Our nearest neighbor, and they never even stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar, or even to say hello. Sigh... Alien races are so insular these days.
Hi Fred!
Killdozer! has a lot of his own experiences on the merchant marine and construction jobs in the pacific, if I recall. He goes into lots of details about the machines.
So sturgeon and Jack Vance(my favourite) were both in the merchant marine. Jack vance actually wrote a lot of the “Dying Earth” on ship.
Freegards
Prolly really for the best.
Might be like feeding a stray cat.
Indeed. I know how that goes.
I don’t think I have an all out favorite. Always liked Niven. Pournelle.
Pournelle and Niven are great(Mote,Ringworld(I think that is just Niven),legacy of Hereot are my favs), but for me it is Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe and then everyone else.
Pournelle on Vance, from the blurb on the back of “Throy”: “You can’t possibly pass up any book by Jack Vance...He has perfected the trick of creating new worlds so deceptively real that after a while your own home seems imaginary.”
Freegards
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