New Planet May Support Life and Orbits Two Stars

Kerame Pxel Nume · July 19, 2011, 08:47:27 AM

http://www.geekosystem.com/planet-life-orbits-two-stars/

Nature immitates art

(from the description this reads a lot like Pandora)

Irtaviš Ačankif · July 19, 2011, 09:02:57 AM

Whoops. The only thing I will say about that article: "Oh, that is just wrrongg!"

55 Cancri f:
1. Does not orbit two stars
2. Is a gas giant
3. Is not recently discovered (2007)

55 Cancri f is a gas giant which is in the habitable zone of 55 Cancri A, a Sun-like main-sequence star (spectral type G). It has a very good probability of having habitable moons.

About the 55 Cancri system:
In short, it is quite similar to the Pandora system. Yay! (hope that the aliens there speak Na'vi!) 55C A is a Sun-like star, and 55C B is a red star with spectral type M. Only 55C A has planets. The planets do not orbit both stars.

Kerame Pxel Nume · July 19, 2011, 10:16:04 AM

Quote from: Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng on July 19, 2011, 09:02:57 AM
The planets do not orbit both stars.

Actually a few years back I've read some papers stating, that there are actually stable orbits in binary star systems. Have to look it up, though.

Irtaviš Ačankif · July 19, 2011, 10:19:51 AM

You can try out Orbiter or Spaceway space flight sim and edit the configs to make a binary system. Your ship won't last long orbiting the binary system. And yes, Orbiter is very well known for extremely accurate physics.

The paper probably stated that a system like Pandora is possible - orbiting close to one star with the other one so far away that its effects are almost negligible.

Clarke · July 19, 2011, 12:50:04 PM

There are stable orbits in a binary system if you're far enough away that the "near-field" gravity of the two stars drops off and they start to act like a single point mass.

But nevermind. Woo, more Earth-like planets! The only issue is that it's 40 lightyears away, so you're not coming back. Or at least, if you do, you're Rip Van Winkle, and most likely not in Kansas anymore.

Kerame Pxel Nume · July 19, 2011, 05:17:46 PM

Quote from: Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng on July 19, 2011, 10:19:51 AM
You can try out Orbiter or Spaceway space flight sim and edit the configs to make a binary system. Your ship won't last long orbiting the binary system. And yes, Orbiter is very well known for extremely accurate physics.

The paper probably stated that a system like Pandora is possible - orbiting close to one star with the other one so far away that its effects are almost negligible.

There was a third stable configuration mentioned, in which the planet "orbits" in a 8-like curve.

Irtaviš Ačankif · July 19, 2011, 09:02:35 PM

8-like curve very hard to manage. Again, run sim in Orbiter/Spaceway/Gravity Simulator. This would probably result in collision on one of the stars, and unless Eywa put it there for fun, I don't think that a planet and form between to rapidly rotating stars.

I am still experimenting though...

Raiden · July 19, 2011, 10:11:03 PM

Awesome.

If Xenobiology ever becomes a solid field of study, count me in.

Tsanten Eywa 'eveng · July 20, 2011, 05:14:29 AM

it is only two ways to find out if it is life on 55 Cancri f

the first way, is already done, it has been send a METI message to 55 cancri. 6th of july was it sent and the message will arrive in may 2044
the other way is to send a probe, or a satellite, spacecraft to 55 cancri

Yayo · July 20, 2011, 05:17:48 AM

Which would take even longer assuming no progression in propulsion technologies are made.

Clarke · July 20, 2011, 05:20:32 AM

Yeah, no relativistic spaceships yet, so we can't really do that in under a millennium.

Tsanten Eywa 'eveng · July 20, 2011, 05:24:15 AM

I mean 6th of july 2003 was it sent a METI message

Yayo · July 20, 2011, 05:28:02 AM

I know. I was just elaborating on your idea of sending a Spacecraft - manned or unmanned.

Irtaviš Ačankif · July 20, 2011, 08:26:20 AM

Broadcast Avatar there via TCP...

And the aliens there think, mmm... so Earthlings have blue skin?

Just kidding. The ship thing would take at least a thousand years to get there. However, if relavistic ships are developed, one can technically get there in a day (ship time - decades on Earth). However again, such a fast ship would require unimaginably high acceleration, which would destroy the ship and all instruments inside it.

Additionally, why don't we send out the message "Kaltxì! Ayoe 'Rrtayä lu!" to 55 Cnc?

Tsanten Eywa 'eveng · July 20, 2011, 09:29:54 AM

It takes 60 to 70 years to get to Alpha Centauri, if the spacecraft can go in 10% of the speed of light
but with antimatter will it take 200 years

Alpha Centauri is 4,365 light years away
55 Cancri is 40.3 light years away

how long time do you think it will take to 55 cancri in 10% of the speed of light, or with antimatter?

Clarke · July 20, 2011, 09:52:54 AM

Antimatter isn't a set speed, just an efficiency.

And at 0.1c, it'll take just over 400 years to get to 55 Cancri.

Irtaviš Ačankif · July 20, 2011, 08:43:22 PM

Yup. With enough antimatter you can go 0.99999 C, though that will take a HORRENDOUS amount of time to accelerate and decelerate.

Would something like the "cryo" in Avatar work? However, it would be quite distressing to know that when you return, all of your friends and family would be dead...and your advanced antimatter spaceship would seem like the artifact of a centuries-old "ancient civilization" and everybody would be speaking Na'vi

Clarke · July 21, 2011, 05:47:16 AM

(Only 5 years at 1g.

...OK, that is kinda horrendous, but we want to get there quickly, don't we?

)

Yeah, the space program itself is only 40 years old so... you're not going to be in Kansas anymore, even if you come back. Some people have predicted that humans won't be around by 2810, because they're slow, dumb and squishy compared to machines.

Irtaviš Ačankif · July 21, 2011, 08:40:14 AM

By 2810 most people would be having amplification suits more like an exoskeleton than the dumb Avatar AMP suit. That would be neither slow, dumb, or squishy. And yeah, most people would have there legs replaced by a Segway anyway.

Really, 5 years at 1g to get to 0.99999 C? Including relavistic mass distortions? I don't think so. As you get closer to C you get heavier and heavier. Or else what prevented me from saying 0.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 C? That would take the age of the universe to reach.

Clarke · July 21, 2011, 09:32:18 AM

I was more suggesting that all the humans will have uploaded themselves into machines. After all, if we get Avatars in 2150, how long do you think it'll take for us to crack whatever Eywa's does to shift minds around the place? And once we have that, how many people will want to stick around in their human bodies? (Wait, why am I even asking?

)

Re: relativity, the equation you're looking for is
v = c tanh(aT/c)
(where T is starship time.)

If we go completely mad for a sec:
0.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999c=ctanh(9.8T/c)
0.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999=tanh(9.8T/c)
68.272833834=9.8T/c
68.272833834c=9.8T
6.96662*(3e8)=T
T= 2,089,986,000s = 66 years 3 months 8 days 9 hours 40 minutes.

I can't turn that into universe-time, though. My calculator doesn't do 60 digits of precision.