The Pale Red Dot

Many years ago, astronomer Carl Sagan said that Earth, viewed from other solar systems, would look like a pale blue dot. Now astronomers think they've found a habitable planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. They're calling their campaign to explore this new celestial body, "Pale Red Dot".

Guillem Anglada-Escude of Queen Mary University of London, who heads up a team of 30 scientists around the world at work on the campaign says, "We're talking about a planet that has very similar properties to Earth." But there are some very striking differences.

• First, the planet is more massive than Earth and orbits its star every eleven days, making for a super short "year" in Earth terms. 
• Second, if you were able to stand on the planet, it would definitely look like an alien world because only one side of the planet ever faces its star, making it seem as if the star is stationary in the heavens. 
• Third, though the official name of the planet is the dry and boring "Proxima Centauri b" the planet is so orange that its atmosphere would give the impression of a perpetual "autumn sunset". Which is why everyone calls it the Pale Red Dot.

The Pale Red Dot is about 4.25 light years away, which might seem like a long distance to you and me, but to astronomers, it's a short trip down the cosmic street. Villanova University astronmer Edward Guinan says with our current technology we can travel at about one tenth of the speed of light. Which means humans could be there in about 50 years.

It might be a bit early to start packing your bags for the half-century trip, but according to Guinan, a trip to the Pale Red Dot is totally "feasible". Which is why 'visit the Pale Red Dot' is the newest Thing on my Bucket List.

See you next week,
Bobby