VIRB

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our solar system to date. Initial detection has revealed that it could have liquid water running on its surface. And it's close: a mere 20.5 light-years away. Exciting stuff, no doubt. But... what would a trip to this far away planet be like? How long would it take to get there? Would we get a potty-break?

The discovery of this new "exo-planet" (the term given to planets outside our own solar system) has been getting a lot of press. If, however, you haven't heard about it, read the BBC article (I think it's the most informative). To summarize, this planet is orbiting a red dwarf star called Gliese 581. The star is much smaller than our sun, but the planet in question is orbiting at such a distance that, if the astronomers are right, it holds a good potential for having water; the most important element to life as we know it.

When hearing about this, our imaginations soar. Is there actually life there? How possible is it? What would that life be like? Could this be the home planet of "The Grays?" When will we be sending spacecraft to find out?

When dealing with astronomy, the search for extra terrestrial life, and physics; it's often surprising how unaware people are of exactly what kind of a scale you're talking about regarding the distances of interstellar object. As Douglas Adams said in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:"

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."

Gliese 581 is amongst the 100 closest stars to us at only 20.5 light-years distant. Which means that if you were to send a beam of light from our sun to Gliese 581 it would take 20.5 years to get there. That really doesn't sound that bad, does it? But, as we all know, we're nowhere close to being able to travel at the speed of light.

Okay, so... how fast can we go?

The Helios probes to our own sun are the fastest things we've ever sent in to space. They left the influence of Earth's gravity at around 150,000 miles per hour and managed to zip pretty damn fast the rest of the way, too. But they don't count. Traveling from here to the sun gives you a speed advantage we don't see moving out of the solar system. The fastest of our spacecraft to go in that direction so far has been the New Horizons probe, currently on it's way to an encounter with the planet... er... comet, Pluto. It escaped the pull of Earth's gravity at about 35,800 mph. As it makes it way to the edge of the solar system, it will get a boost from our pal Jupiter. This boost will speed the craft to around 50,000 mph. When it finally leaves the solar system it will likely slow down again to a speed around that of Voyager I: 38,600 mph.

Now... let's pretend for a moment that we could make a probe that would leave the solar system at speeds like those of Helios probes when they left Earth's orbit, and maintain that speed all the way to our destination (even though this sounds reasonable, it's really not; the only reason it seems that way is because we watch too much sci-fi). 150,000 mph in a straight shot to Gliese 581 to meet our interstellar neighbors. We'd get there in no time! What? Maybe 50 years? A hundred, tops, right? I mean... it's only 20.5 light-years, and we are zippin' along at a really good clip.

What's your best guess? How long do you think it would take? Answer that in your head before you read the next bit.

It actually is possible to estimate how long it would take for that fast little ship to travel to Gliese 581. As it happens, 1 light-year is equal to 5.87849981 times 10 to the 12th power miles. To travel 1 light-year at 150,000 miles per hour, it would take just over 4,470... years. Gliese 581 is 20.5 light years away, which means it would take (roughly) 91,650 years (and a few months).

I truly believe that life is abundant in the Universe. I'm also a huge fan of science fiction, and understand how cool it would be if we could do the things they do on the Enterprise. I also get really excited when I hear about scientific discoveries that show that someday we will be able to bend some of the laws of physics (actually, technically we're still bound by the laws, it's just that our understanding of those laws is growing and changing all the time). It is, in fact, possible that something akin to a "warp drive" could someday exist. That day, however, is not within our lifetime. I highly doubt that even the children of the children of the children of anybody alive today will ever see that day.

It is because of these realities that scientists seem like downers when they tell you that we "almost certainly" have not been visited by extraterrestrials. The ability to travel between the stars is something they understand. They do not believe it's ultimately impossible, but it is a matter of physics and maths that lead them to conclude that even a race of beings more advanced than ourselves would not be able to do so. The odds truly are "astronomical."

There are, however, other things that are possible. We will still be able to say with increasing certainty where life exists off of our planet. If there are sentient beings out there, we will eventually find them (or vice versa). We will even learn to communicate with them. Even if we can not visit them. These things are not only possible, but possible with what we have right here, right now. As far as I'm concerned, that's pretty damn cool.

But the most important lesson here, as always, is the same that Carl Sagan taught over and over again. This is our home, and we are for all intents and purposes, "homebodies." We're not really going anywhere any time soon. We need to remember that. We need to realize not only that, but that no one's coming to visit us soon, either. We need to see that ultimately, our destiny is ours alone. We are the only ones who can drive ourselves to become better.... and the only ones who can ultimately destroy ourselves.