Our recent look at the possibility of technosignatures at Alpha Centauri is now supplemented with a new study on the detectability of artificial lights on Proxima Centauri b. The planet is in the habitable zone, roughly similar in mass to the Earth, and of course, it...
Search Results:
Closing in on Centauri A and B with Astrometry
When it comes to finding planets around Centauri A and B, the method that most intrigues me is astrometry. At the recent Breakthrough Discuss sessions, Rachel Akeson (Caltech/IPAC) made the case for using the technique with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array...
In the Days before Centauri Dreams… An Essay by WDK
Wes Kelly has pursued a lifetime interest in flight through the air, in orbit and even to the stars. Known on Centauri Dreams as 'wdk,' Wes runs a small aerospace company in Houston (Triton Systems,LLC), founded for the purpose of developing a partially reusable HTOL...
New Horizons Parallax Program Targets Proxima Centauri, Wolf 359
In a few short months, New Horizons will be almost 8 billion kilometers out, a distance that still boggles the mind until we remember that Voyager 1 has reached 22.2 billion kilometers (over 148 AU). Then, of course, we're humbled again with the thought that the inner...
A Possible Proxima Centauri c
While we continue to labor over the question of planets around Alpha Centauri A and B, Proxima Centauri -- that tiny red dwarf with an unusually interesting planet in the habitable zone -- remains a robust source of new work. It’s surely going to be an early target...
Axial Tilt, Habitability, and Centauri B
Our fascination with Alpha Centauri doubtless propels at least some of the recent interest in binary star systems, as we ponder the chances for habitable worlds around the nearest stars. But given that the population of binary or multiple star systems in our galaxy is...
First Light for NEAR: Searching for Planets around Centauri A and B
I marvel that so many of the big questions that have preoccupied me during my life are starting to yield answers. Getting New Horizons to Pluto was certainly part of that process, as a mysterious world began to reveal its secrets. But we're also moving on the Alpha...
Proxima Centauri c?
A possible second planet around Proxima Centauri raises all kind of questions. I wasn't able to make it to Breakthrough Discuss this year, but I've gone over the presentation made by Mario Damasso of Turin Observatory and Fabio Del Sordo of the University of Crete,...
Proxima Centauri b: The Habitability Question
Proxima Centauri b is back in the news, although I'll confess that in my case, it's rarely out of my thoughts -- I've been obsessed with the Alpha Centauri system since my youth. The latest comes through work by Anthony Del Genio and colleagues (NASA GSFC), who...
Omega Centauri: Improbable Venue for Life?
Although it appears in the same constellation as seen from Earth (Centaurus), Omega Centauri has nothing to do with the Alpha Centauri stars that so interest interstellar flight theorists. The brightest globular cluster visible in our skies, Omega Centauri is anything...