Alpha Centauri « AmericaSpace

Can We Send a Probe to Proxima Centauri? Yes, But it May Get Banged Up on the Way There

By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 26th, 2016

Artist’s conception of a Breakthrough Starshot spacecraft, a tiny circuit board-like “wafer” attached to a lightsail. Image Credit: Breakthrough Initiatives

Now that we know the closest star system to us has at least one planet, an Earth-mass and potentially habitable one at that, there is one big question a lot of people are […]

Pale Red Dot: Astronomers Discover Potentially Habitable Exoplanet Orbiting Nearest Star

By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 24th, 2016

Artist’s conception of what Proxima b might look like. It is just slightly more massive than Earth and orbits in its star’s habitable zone. Temperatures might allow liquid water to exist on its surface. A potentially habitable world, it is also now the closest known exoplanet. Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Astronomers today announced […]

GJ 1132b: Nearest Earth-Sized Exoplanet Discovered So Far May Be a 'Venus Twin'

By Paul Scott Anderson, on November 11th, 2015

Artist’s conception of GJ 1132b, an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a nearby star. Conditions on this world, however, are probably more like Venus than Earth. Image Credit: Dana Berry

Astronomers have discovered another Earth-sized exoplanet that is the closest one to our own Solar System found so far, but it might not be a […]

It's an Alien Blue World—But Nothing Like Earth

By Paul Scott Anderson, on July 13th, 2013

Artist’s conception of exoplanet HD 189733b—a “deep blue dot” reminiscent of Earth from a distance. Image Credit: NASA / ESA / M. Kornmesser

The planets and moons in our Solar System come in a wide variety of colors, and the natural beauty can be breathtaking. Now, the true color of a much more […]

Hubble Space Telescope Reveals Evidence of Farthest Known Planet From Its Star

By Emily Carney, on June 14th, 2013

A gap in the protoplanetary disk of dust and gas whirling around TV Hydrae uncovered evidence of an unseen, growing planet, according to astronomers studying Hubble data. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Debes (STScI), H. Jang-Condell (University of Wyoming), A. Weinberger (Carnegie Institution of Washington), A. Roberge (Goddard Space Flight Center), G. Schneider […]

Hubble Space Telescope to Use Microlensing to Hunt for Nearby Exoplanets

By Steve Nerlich, on June 4th, 2013

Artist’s impression of a planet orbiting the red dwarf Proxima Centauri. Image Credit: Michael Kilderry.

It was announced this week at the 222nd meeting of American Astronomical Society that Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf and the closest star to the Sun, is predicted to pass in front of two unnamed background stars, one […]

Strange New Worlds: Exoplanets Abound in the Cosmos (Part 2)

By David Darling, on April 7th, 2013

A comparison of the sizes of the three known planets of the star Kepler-37 with some of the worlds of the solar system. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomers have been dazzled by the sheer number of planets there seem to be in the galaxy. According to a recent estimate, there’s on average at least […]

Pack a Bag for the Stars: A Shopping List for Deep Space?

By Ben Evans, on January 15th, 2013

At some indeterminate time in the future, our descendents will take the sage advice of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky—the father of modern cosmonautics—to its ultimate conclusion: by leaving the cradle forever and setting sail for the stars. To do so, our children and grandchildren will face daunting technological, biological, sociological, and engineering challenges. Photo Credit: […]

Reaching for the Stars Part 2: Practical Interstellar Travel

By David Darling, on December 15th, 2012

Artist impression of the Project Orion spacecraft traveling through the solar system. Image Credit: NASA

The idea of journeying to the stars is nothing new. As early as 1929, the British scientist J. D. Bernal wrote about the possibility of generation ships—enormous spacecraft, like miniature worlds, which would take hundreds or thousands of […]

Reaching for the Stars Part 1: First Steps

By David Darling, on December 14th, 2012

The trajectories of the twin Voyagers and Pioneers shown together with the more direct route to the edge of the solar system, which would be followed by a purpose-built interstellar probe. Image Credit: NASA

Will we ever be able to send spacecraft to the stars in a reasonable amount of time? The big […]

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