Cancer Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Its ( Sirius A) also got a lot of metallic content to it, which might make for some interesting phenomena on the surface. Cassaopeia A is a remnant of a supernova and resides in the constellation. Wikipedia says its the strongest radio source in the sky beyond the solar system. I don't have much reason to cite it as an interesting target other than the mythological significance. Sirius A is a pretty standard Am (metallic-line A-type) star, binary companion and history notwithstanding. (There's lots of those, and it has been suggested that all non-rapid-rotating A stars are Am; those that are neither Am nor obvious fast rotators -- like Vega -- are fast rotators seen pole-on.) Cas A might be a target, though... I'm not used to thinking about non-Solar System targets in a "go there and see" context. Things like eta Car, the Crab, and so on, are interesting, but those are stunningly nasty or dangerous environments ... those are targets for robot probes, not human crews. Unless you're wedded to an exotic astrophysics situation, I'd posit as a plausible target something that we can see from where we are but don't know about yet, discovery of an apparent Earthlike planet with an oxygen-bearing atmosphere. The ability to find those with orbiting equipment is about 10-15 years off. For that, pick a nearby early G star in the Solar Neighborhood. If you are more interested in a mission predicated on astrophysics for its own sake, then perhaps a star-forming region like the Taurus dark cloud complex. Difficult place to observe, the interesting bits are the hardest, and the environment is not, in general, going to feature hard radiation, nasty particle fluxes, powerful magnetic fields, or explosive nucleosynthesis. It will, however, be a site to observe and measure planet formation in situ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Yeah, yeah. Planet formation. How long will that take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Yeah' date=' yeah. Planet formation. How long will that take?[/quote'] Good science doesn't happen overnight. Just keep sending the grant cheques to that address in Tahiti. We'll let you know when the research is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition how about the newly named dwarf planet called makemake? or failing that an alternane universe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 Re: Where to send the scientific expedition Why not aim close, Alpha Centauri? You'd get some interesting information about the dynamics of both close binarys (Alpha A and Alpha and distant binarys (Proxima), and it would grant some interesting insights into solar system formation (Alpha A is a twin to Sol - they have the same spectral signature - so differences between the Solar System and the Alpha Centauri A System could tell us a lot. Of course, which differences are from being a binary and which were 'natural' variations might take a lot of work). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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