Interstellar destinations

[Spaceception]

With all of the interstellar travel plans underway, where are we going to go? Obviously, Alpha Centauri is going to be the first choice because it's the closest and will take the shortest time to get there (Assuming you have a decent propulsion system of course), but it's... Boring, Sure we can study a very sunlike star, a slightly smaller sunlike star, and a star that isn't in any way sunlike aside from the fact that it's a star, but any planets it may have will be too hot, or non existent, so when we set out to the stars, so lets go somewhere that's interesting right?

There's a poll, vote your preferred destination, and say why it would be best down below, I will put the most interesting stars with a distance of around 19 ly

 

Alpha Centauri, 4.2 ly away, 3 star system, possible planets around Alpha Cen B, and Proxima, unknown for Alpha Cen A, about 20 years at .2 c

Barnard's star, 5.9 ly away, Red dwarf, possible planets, about 30 years at .2 c

Luhman 16, 6.5 ly away, Brown dwarf binary, about 32 years at .2 c

Sirius 2, 8.6 ly away, Blue star, with white dwarf companion, about 42 years at .2 c

Epsilon Eridani, 10.5 ly away, sunlike star young system, possibly still in the planet making process, 2 possible cold Jupiter's found, but not confirmed, about 53 years at .2 c

Pryocon AB 11.4 ly away, F class subgiant, nearing the red giant phase, white dwarf companion, possible planet(s)

Groombridge 34 AB, 11.6 ly away, Red dwarf binary, 1 known superearth planet, about .042 AU from the habitable zone, about 58 years at .2 c

Epsilon Indi, 11.8 l away, sunlike star likely old enough to have an Earthlike planet with complex life, 2 Brown dwarfs found, about 59 years at .2 c

Tau Ceti, 11.9 ly away, very sunlike star, older than the sun, 5 possible planets, 2 possibly habitable, about 60 years at .2 c

Kapteyn's star, 12.9 ly away, red subdwarf, almost as old as the universe, 2 planets, 1 possibly habitable, ancient life? About 65 years at .2 c

Wolf 1061, 13.8 ly away, red dwarf, 3 planet system, 1 in the habitable zone, about 69 years at .2 c

Gliese 876, 15.2 ly away, red dwarf, 4 planet system, all Jupiter's and Neptune's, with 2 in the habitable zone, earthlike moons? About 76 years at .2 c

Gliese 832, about 16 ly away, red dwarf, 2 planet system, 1 Jupiter like, orbiting far away, the other in the habitable zone, about  80 years at .2 c

Gliese 682, about 17 ly away, red dwarf, 2 planet system, both super earths, one in habitable zone, about 85 years at .2 c

82 G Eridani, about 20 ly away, very sunlike star older than the sun, 3 planet system, all superearths, too hot for life, but still a possibility of an earthlike planet, about 98.55 years at .2 c

 

Links to the stars above;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnard's_Star

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhman_16

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Eridani

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groombridge_34

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Indi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Ceti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapteyn's_Star

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_1061

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_876

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_682

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_832

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/82_G._Eridani

 

Alright, those are all of the stars that I think would be worth studying, that we can get to within a century.

 

Edited April 17, 2016 by Spaceception

[Snark]

No strong opinion... other than that 0.2c seems a tad optimistic.  If you assume, say 0.02c instead of 0.2c, then the distance starts to matter a lot more.

Not a huge difference between 20 years and 50 years... but a lot between 200 and 500.

[Atlas2342]

That depends. Manned or a probe?

Edited April 14, 2016 by Atlas2342

[Mitchz95]

I'd probably star with Alpha Centauri and Barnard's star. One gives us an opportunity to study a multiple-star system, and the other a red dwarf system.

[kerbiloid]

A pack of orbital beyond-Neptune telescopes with ~100 AU triangulation base, synchronized with each other.
After getting high-resolution detailed description of every star system, select the one to be investigated.
- In any case really interstellar propulsion system won't be available earlier.
- Several decades later the humanity may drastically change its understanding of "perspectiveness". For example, closed-loop artificial biomes may make unimportant "habitable zone" idea, while closed-loop resource recycling may drop down any interest in extra-terrestrial mining.

P.S.
But as we must build Babylon-5 near e Eri, the sooner we start - the sooner we finish,

 

[UmbralRaptor]

If we're talking something like Starshot, all of the above and more (presumably Lalande 21185 isn't in there because of the mid-northerly declination?). I'd prioritize Luhman 16 and Sirius (especially Sirius B) for astrophysics studies, though. And then pick up some more brown dwarfs and Procyon (closest thing to a red giant in the solar neighborhood, and a white dwarf rather different from Sirius B).

[Spaceception]

7 hours ago, Snark said:

No strong opinion... other than that 0.2c seems a tad optimistic.  If you assume, say 0.02c instead of 0.2c, then the distance starts to matter a lot more.

Not a huge difference between 20 years and 50 years... but a lot between 200 and 500.

I'm basing the .2 c on project Starshot.

7 hours ago, Atlas2342 said:

That depends. Manned or a probe?

Probe.

[magnemoe]

I will await more data, as in interesting planets around the stars. 
An planet with life will push the star to the top even if the star itself is uninteresting. 

[Bill Phil]

So what if a system is "boring"? It's something else entirely. Something wholly different from our solar system, except for some similarities and the laws that bind it all together. 

And besides, the destruction order for our planet could be there.

[Spaceception]

5 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

I will await more data, as in interesting planets around the stars. 
An planet with life will push the star to the top even if the star itself is uninteresting. 

Well, there's 4 systems with that possibility, so which star would you want to go to?

 

3 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

So what if a system is "boring"? It's something else entirely. Something wholly different from our solar system, except for some similarities and the laws that bind it all together. 

And besides, the destruction order for our planet could be there.

If it's completely different from our solar system, I think many planet scientists would use the word "exciting"

Edited April 14, 2016 by Spaceception

[Bill Phil]

Just now, Spaceception said:

Well, there's 4 planets with that possibility, so which star would you want to go to?

 

If it's completely different from our solar system, I think many planet scientists would use the word "exciting"

It is, in a way. A Cen is a binary or a trinary (it's hard to tell). That's alreasy different.

[p1t1o]

If its based on project starshot, I thought he idea was you'd send buckets of little probes to as many stars as possible, or at least a good list of nearby stars.

Then you might find something really interesting, like a liquid-water-bearing planet, that is worth sending something more sophisticated (ie: massy) to.

[PB666]

11 hours ago, Spaceception said:

With all of the interstellar travel plans underway, where are we going to go? Obviously, Alpha Centauri is going to be the first choice because it's the closest and will take the shortest time to get there (Assuming you have a decent propulsion system of course), but it's... Boring, Sure we can study a very sunlike star, a slightly smaller sunlike star, and a star that isn't in any way sunlike aside from the fact that it's a star, but any planets it may have will be too hot, or non existent, so when we set out to the stars, so lets go somewhere that's interesting right?

There's a poll, vote your preferred destination, and say why it would be best down below, I will put the most interesting stars with a distance of up to 15 ly

 

Alpha Centauri, 4.2 ly away, 3 star system, possible planets around Alpha Cen B, and Proxima, unknown for Alpha Cen A, about 20 years at .2 c

Barnard's star, 5.9 ly away, Red dwarf, possible planets, about 30 years at .2 c

Luhman 16, 6.5 ly away, Brown dwarf binary, about 32 years at .2 c

Sirius 2, 8.6 ly away, White star, with white dwarf companion, about 42 years at .2 c

Epsilon Eridani, 10.5 ly away, sunlike star young system, possibly still in the planet making process, 2 possible cold Jupiter's found, but not confirmed, about 53 years at .2 c

Epsilon Indi, 11.8 l away, sunlike star likely old enough to have an Earthlike planet with complex life, 2 Brown dwarfs found, about 59 years at .2 c

Tau Ceti, 11.9 ly away, very sunlike star, older than the sun, 5 possible planets, 2 possibly habitable, about 60 years at .2 c

Kapteyn's star, 12.9 ly away, red subdwarf, almost as old as the universe, 2 planets, 1 possibly habitable, ancient life? About 65 years at .2 c

Wolf 1061, 13.8 ly away, red dwarf, 3 planet system, 1 in the habitable zone, about 69 years at .2 c

Gliese 876, 15.2 ly away, red dwarf, 4 planet system, all Jupiter's and Neptune's, with 2 in the habitable zone, earthlike moons? About 76 years at .2 c

 

Links to the stars above;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnard's_Star

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhman_16

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Eridani

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Indi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Ceti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapteyn's_Star

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_1061

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_876

 

Alright, those are all of the stars that I think would be worth studying.

 

Has anyone noticed that the more polls that are posted, the number of people that are responding to these polls is declining?
How about a poll to see if people are willingly not responding to polls because they are tired, annoyed or otherwise ignore them.

I have this plot in my head showing polls from about a year ago are getting 30 to 40 respondents, and now they are down to about 10 to 20.

Poll taking statistics are science.

 

[Spaceception]

Alright, I added 4 more systems, all have planets

[Spaceception]

3 hours ago, PB666 said:

Has anyone noticed that the more polls that are posted, the number of people that are responding to these polls is declining?
How about a poll to see if people are willingly not responding to polls because they are tired, annoyed or otherwise ignore them.

I have this plot in my head showing polls from about a year ago are getting 30 to 40 respondents, and now they are down to about 10 to 20.

Poll taking statistics are science.

 

Actually, 9 people responded (1 twice) and 8 people have voted.

And early this year I made a poll for a thread about Mars colonies, and that got a lot of replies and votes (Although, that may have been because it was pinned for a month, but still), and I've made several other threads with polls, and those get a decent amount of replies, so it may depend of the content of the post as well.

[fairytalefox]

What's the goal of the mission?

Plant a flag? Proxima Centauri hands down. (If by "plant" we mean "drop into space somewhere nearby").

Bring back or transmit science? Alpha Centauri.

Find an earthlike planet? As @kerbiloid already mentioned, we ain't need no stinky interstellar for this.

Some really useful astrophysics? Ask real astrophysicists.

Build a colony? Since I don't believe in colonization of planets, all we need is literally any star as an energy source and a bunch of asteroids/dwarf planet as a source of materials for a space habitat. So let's find asteroids first, space telescopes FTW, again.

[PB666]

4 hours ago, Spaceception said:

4 hours ago, Spaceception said:

Actually, 9 people responded (1 twice) and 8 people have voted.

And early this year I made a poll for a thread about Mars colonies, and that got a lot of replies and votes (Although, that may have been because it was pinned for a month, but still), and I've made several other threads with polls, and those get a decent amount of replies, so it may depend of the content of the post as well.

Actually, 9 people responded (1 twice) and 8 people have voted.

And early this year I made a poll for a thread about Mars colonies, and that got a lot of replies and votes (Although, that may have been because it was pinned for a month, but still), and I've made several other threads with polls, and those get a decent amount of replies, so it may depend of the content of the post as well.

The power of your argument, statistically, is basically random noise.

Here is chi-square analysis. Note you cannot perform Fisher Exact test as it is only suitable for 2x2 contingency tables. They recommend you combine groups.

Quote

When the sample sizes are too small, you should use exact tests instead of the chi-square test or G–test. However, how small is "too small"? The conventional rule of thumb is that if all of the expected numbers are greater than 5, it's acceptable to use the chi-square- http://www.biostathandbook.com/small.html

Biostatistical analysis (Zar, 3rd edition) says essentially the same thing.

[kerbiloid]

The sole and ultimate condition of an interstellar 'spedition: geographers decide.

Such enterprise is so expensive and dangerous and has too low chances to undertake it at random, that you shouldn't "think", you must "know", what exactly you're going to get.
No "maybes" or "suddenlys" are allowed, because such expedition will technically and economically cost more that all previous flights together.

So, a target for this mission should be not "look at star, maybe find some planets", but "we need a close study of the Thayaphaeawoed continent on the Alofmetbin planet, due to the enormous presence of thorium lines in its spectral pattern".
I.e. while the exoplanets are the astronomers' subject, rather than geographers' one - all you need is more telescopes to sharpen their picture.
Once you have an exoplanetary globe rather than tellurion, then the journey is a deal.

 

Edited April 15, 2016 by kerbiloid

[YNM]

Alpha Centauri, for it's proximity and the fact it's a binary.

Although, better data should be around first. I know that people who launched Hubble said "you can't predict what you'll see" but of course that's just the massive icing on the cake, because the thing have to work first, more so what it was designed for. Design of probes and telescopes are based on goal although the output can be unrelated.

Edited April 15, 2016 by YNM

[Nibb31]

We've explored something like 0.00001% of our solar system. Isn't it a tad premature to send explorers over the ocean when you don't even know what's in your own back yard?

Edited April 15, 2016 by Nibb31

[Bill Phil]

1 hour ago, Nibb31 said:

We've explored something like 0.00001% of our solar system. Isn't it a tad premature to send explorers over the ocean when you don't even know what's in your own back yard?

Depends on how you define solar system. There's an Oort cloud, yes, and a Kuiper belt. But we've already seen where over 99% of the mass is.
 

[Spaceception]

@Nibb31

Try telling that to the Project Starshot guys that

And like Bill Phil said, we've already seen where the mass is, really, the only thing left is the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud, and with Starshot, we could take care of that exploration pretty quickly.

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, Bill Phil said:

There's an Oort cloud, yes, and a Kuiper belt. But we've already seen where over 99% of the mass is.

Oort cloud is yet presumed to be, afaik. Nobody yet have seen this directly, it's a statistical generalization of observed trajectories. Maybe its a cloud, maybe it's just a cutoff.

We've probably already seen 99% of surface, but if gather all those scientific crafts together, whether there's enough sense to send them in such expedition while we can just presume: if there arer under-ice oceans, what are Titan lakes below the first several meters, what is Jupiter under its upper clouds and its Red Spot and so on.

[Rakaydos]

Alpha centauri is prbably best for the first mission.A trinary is a plausable investigation target, and stars are easy to see. plus it's close.

[PB666]

by this you mean also proxima centauri.