Tag: Alpha Centauri
-
Breakthrough Watch and ESO kick off the search for more planets at Alpha Centauri
The NEAR instrument, shown here mounted on one of the telescopes at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope facility, came into use with ESO’s VISIR imager and spectrometer on May 21. (ESO / NEAR Collaboration Photo) The European Southern Observatory and the billionaire-backed Breakthrough Watch program say they have achieved first light with a…
-
Project Blue tries again with crowdfunding campaign for planet-watching telescope
An artist’s conception shows a preliminary design for the Project Blue telescope. (Project Blue via Vimeo) Project Blue is launching a second try to attract crowdfunding for a space telescope designed to study planets in the Alpha Centauri system, months after the first try fizzled. This time around, the BoldlyGo Institute and its Project Blue…
-
Breakthrough Starshot tests smallest space probes for interstellar mission
Russian billionaire Yuri Milner holds a “Sprite” mini-probe like the ones that are being tested in low Earth orbit. (Breakthrough Starshot via YouTube / SciNews) Breakthrough Starshot says it’s been testing prototype interstellar spacecraft no bigger than postage stamps in orbit for the past month, and they seem to be working just fine. Six of…
-
How do you stop a speeding starship?
The aim of the Starshot project is to send a tiny spacecraft propelled by an enormous rectangular photon sail to the Alpha Centauri star system, as shown in this artist’s conception, (Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo) Millions of dollars are being spent on a scheme to speed up swarms of tiny…
-
Very Large Telescope joins Breakthrough search for Alpha Centauri’s planets
The ESO’s Very Large Telescope looms in the foreground of this image, and a star map has been superimposed on the night sky to show the locations of Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri. (ESO Photo) One of the most powerful observing instruments on Earth, the Very Large Telescope, will join the search for potentially habitable…
-
Video: How will we get to Alpha Centauri? Researchers work on an antimatter drive
An artist’s conception shows a positron rocket engine. (Positronics Research via NASA) Project Blue’s scientists still have to raise more than $800,000 over the next 15 days to reach their initial crowdfunding goal for a mission to observe Alpha Centauri’s alien planets, but they’re already thinking about how future explorers could get there. It would take…
-
Project Blue kicks off $1 million crowdfunding campaign to seek out Alpha Centauri’s alien Earths
An artist’s concept shows Project Blue’s telescope monitoring Alpha Centauri. (Credit: Project Blue) How much would you pay to find out whether Alpha Centauri’s twin suns possess blue planets like Earth? Project Blue is hoping it’s at least $10, and maybe thousands of dollars. That’s the point behind the project’s Kickstarter campaign, which aims to raise…
-
Shields up! Scientists tweak design of Alpha Centauri probes to minimize damage
An artist’s conception suggests how light from a battery of laser-equipped antennas can power a sail to the Alpha Centauri system. (Credit: Breakthrough Initiatives) The scientists behind the Breakthrough Starshot mission are already fine-tuning the design for their nano-probes to increase the odds they’ll survive the trip to Proxima Centauri b. In a paper posted…
-
Proxima Centauri b confirmed! Potentially habitable planet orbits the star next door
An artist’s conception shows Proxima Centauri b orbiting its parent star, a red dwarf, with the two other stars of the Alpha Centauri system in the far background. (Credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO) The rumors you’ve heard are mostly true: Scientists say the star that’s closest to our solar system has a planet that could be…
-
Russian billionaire devotes $100 million to star flight initiative
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Entrepreneur Yuri Milner, holding up a prototype StarChip spacecraft he hopes to develop and, within a generation, launch to the nearest star using ground-based lasers and ultra-thin light sails. Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Breakthrough Starshot Russian billionaire Yuri Milner plans to spend $100 million over the next…