Tuesday, 26 June 2012

So Near Yet So Far

The distances between stars are huge. The distance from the Sun to Proxima Centauri is 4.22 light years which is equal to forty trillion kilometres. To walk this distance would take you about one billion years. Even our fastest space probes would take sixty thousand years to travel this distance.

 
Brice N. Cassenti, an associate professor with the Department of Engineering and Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, stated “At least 100 times the total energy output of the entire world would be required for the voyage to Alpha Centauri."

I read these two statements earlier tonight on Wiki and was flabergasted. Seeing the numbers invloved, of both the time and energy required, I can't see how we'll ever reach even the nearest Star system. Do you?

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