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A comment on Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star. Parent comment

Re:Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest su... by Retra on Thursday August 10, 2017 @06:58PM (#14985147)
Do you realize how far away that star is? It would take 40,000 years just to reach the nearest star if we travelled at the speed of the fastest human created object in history.

Why do you need to see a habitable planet soon? If you can't survive that trip, it means almost nothing.

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Re:Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest su... by ExactoKnight on Friday August 11, 2017 @01:55AM (#14986926)
Not at all. I don't care about traveling there, I want to know about what other life exists.

Once we find a good target, the Breakthrough Starshot program is one example of a promising project that could get us results within our lifetime.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest su... by Retra on Saturday August 12, 2017 @04:54PM (#14999907)
Breakthrough Starshot will get you to a negligible number of stars. Fewer than ten, probably. You think one in ten stars has life?
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Re:Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest su... by dTal on Sunday August 13, 2017 @10:56AM (#15003127)
That wouldn't necessarily be a surprising figure. I might even be tempted to assign a similar probability to finding life elsewhere in the Solar System.
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