Comments on: A Million-Year Picnic http://oklo.org/2006/07/03/a-million-year-picnic/ characterizing planetary systems Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:27:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: systemic - Toward Alpha Cen B b http://oklo.org/2006/07/03/a-million-year-picnic/comment-page-1/#comment-4450 systemic - Toward Alpha Cen B b Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:08:06 +0000 http://oklo.org/?p=106#comment-4450 [...] Interest in interstellar travel would ramp up if a truly Earth-like world were discovered around one of the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbors. Alpha Centauri, 4.36 light years distant, has the unique allure. Last year, I wrote a series of posts [1, 2, 3, 4] that explored the possibility that a habitable world might be orbiting Alpha Centauri B. In short, the current best-guess theory for planet formation predicts that there should be terrestrial planets orbiting both stars in the Alpha Cen binary. In the absence of non-gaussian stellar radial velocity noise sources, these planets would be straightforward to detect with a dedicated telescope capable of 3 m/s velocity precision. [...] [...] Interest in interstellar travel would ramp up if a truly Earth-like world were discovered around one of the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbors. Alpha Centauri, 4.36 light years distant, has the unique allure. Last year, I wrote a series of posts [1, 2, 3, 4] that explored the possibility that a habitable world might be orbiting Alpha Centauri B. In short, the current best-guess theory for planet formation predicts that there should be terrestrial planets orbiting both stars in the Alpha Cen binary. In the absence of non-gaussian stellar radial velocity noise sources, these planets would be straightforward to detect with a dedicated telescope capable of 3 m/s velocity precision. [...]

]]> By: systemic - A Miss is as Good as a Mile http://oklo.org/2006/07/03/a-million-year-picnic/comment-page-1/#comment-2690 systemic - A Miss is as Good as a Mile Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:41:48 +0000 http://oklo.org/?p=106#comment-2690 [...] At the moment, the Alpha-Proxima trio is the closest group of stars to the Sun, and they are currently drawing closer still. In 27,000 years, they will pass at a minimum distance of 2.75 light years. Already, the Alpha-Proxima system is beginning to have an effect on the Oort Cloud, and as a result of the encounter, roughly half a million comets will be delivered into Earth-crossing orbits over the next several million years. This will generate something like a 10% increase in the arrival of new comets above the long-term average. [...] [...] At the moment, the Alpha-Proxima trio is the closest group of stars to the Sun, and they are currently drawing closer still. In 27,000 years, they will pass at a minimum distance of 2.75 light years. Already, the Alpha-Proxima system is beginning to have an effect on the Oort Cloud, and as a result of the encounter, roughly half a million comets will be delivered into Earth-crossing orbits over the next several million years. This will generate something like a 10% increase in the arrival of new comets above the long-term average. [...]

]]> By: systemic - speculations http://oklo.org/2006/07/03/a-million-year-picnic/comment-page-1/#comment-348 systemic - speculations Fri, 29 Sep 2006 23:38:15 +0000 http://oklo.org/?p=106#comment-348 [...] Finally, it’s always good to look at costs. According to the Wikipedia, the total cost of building, launching, servicing, and running HST has been of order 6 billion dollars. It started working as planned in 1994, and will thus have ~15 years of fully functional use. The seven days of ACS time were therefore worth 7.6 million dollars. This is comfortably more than the cost of building a special-purpose telescope to probe the terrestrial planets that are almost certainly orbiting Alpha Centauri B. (For more information, see these oklo.org posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.) [...] [...] Finally, it’s always good to look at costs. According to the Wikipedia, the total cost of building, launching, servicing, and running HST has been of order 6 billion dollars. It started working as planned in 1994, and will thus have ~15 years of fully functional use. The seven days of ACS time were therefore worth 7.6 million dollars. This is comfortably more than the cost of building a special-purpose telescope to probe the terrestrial planets that are almost certainly orbiting Alpha Centauri B. (For more information, see these oklo.org posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.) [...]

]]> By: systemic - Earth. Ground. Inexpensive. Soon. http://oklo.org/2006/07/03/a-million-year-picnic/comment-page-1/#comment-241 systemic - Earth. Ground. Inexpensive. Soon. Wed, 09 Aug 2006 07:07:27 +0000 http://oklo.org/?p=106#comment-241 [...] The terrestrial planets orbiting Alpha Centauri A and B were likely assembled from dried-out planetesimals. Pertubations from Proxima, however, would have stirred up Alpha Centauri’s circumbinary analog of the Kuiper belt, providing a mechanism for the delivery of volatiles to terrestrial bodies orbiting A and B. [...] [...] The terrestrial planets orbiting Alpha Centauri A and B were likely assembled from dried-out planetesimals. Pertubations from Proxima, however, would have stirred up Alpha Centauri’s circumbinary analog of the Kuiper belt, providing a mechanism for the delivery of volatiles to terrestrial bodies orbiting A and B. [...]

]]> By: qraal http://oklo.org/2006/07/03/a-million-year-picnic/comment-page-1/#comment-189 qraal Tue, 04 Jul 2006 01:08:26 +0000 http://oklo.org/?p=106#comment-189 Hi Greg Vernor Vinge wrote a short story a few years ago called "Long Shot" which involved a multistage, 10,000 year mission to Alpha Cen - I read it in an anthology called "Explorers". From what I can gather he was trying for a similar orbit to the project you gave your students. Considering his non-fictional work in astrodynamics I'd say he probably figured it out also. Adam Hi Greg

Vernor Vinge wrote a short story a few years ago called “Long Shot” which involved a multistage, 10,000 year mission to Alpha Cen – I read it in an anthology called “Explorers”. From what I can gather he was trying for a similar orbit to the project you gave your students. Considering his non-fictional work in astrodynamics I’d say he probably figured it out also.

Adam

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