Slashdot Mirror
Rogue Brown Dwarf Lurks In Our Cosmic Neighborhood
astroengine writes "The UK Infrared Telescope in Hawaii has discovered a lone, cool brown dwarf called UGPSJ0722-05. As far as sub-stellar objects go, this is a strange one. For starters, it's the coolest brown dwarf ever discovered (and astronomers using the UKIRT should know; they are making a habit of finding cool brown dwarfs). Secondly, it's close. In fact, it's the closest brown dwarf to Earth, at a distance of only 10 light years. And thirdly, it has an odd spectroscopic signature, leading astronomers to think that this might be the discovery of a whole new class of brown dwarf."
Just waiting for the Nibiru and Planet X quacks to say "See? We told you so!".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_collision
You think we can send a probe an average of 1/10th C, including acceleration and slowdown?
To paraphrase Yogi Berra: In theory, currently achievable theoretical speeds are achievable. In reality, they aren't.
An ion engine? Hardly. BTW, the cheapest way for a long, long time will probably be a reaaally large space-based telescope somewhere far away to keep it nice and cold. Not cheap in absolute terms, but certainly cheaper than any kind of interstellar probe.
Ezekiel 23:20
Neither. They're saying it's the only brown dwarf to, well, let me just quote them:
Oddly, when looking at the spectrum from UGPSJ0722-05, there is an anomalous absorption line (i.e. a particular wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum that is missing) that cannot be explained by our current understanding of brown dwarfs. Perhaps the UKIRT has discovered a new breed of brown dwarf; a very cool object with some chemical in its atmosphere that absorbs infrared radiation at a wavelength of 1.25 micrometers.
Aside from the expected water vapor and methane, they've found this other absorption line pointing to something new and different from previous brown dwarves.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
There is a big difference between the basic technology existing and a practical device using that technology existing. The Apollo project didn't cost $80 billion because the technology was revolutionary. It cost $80 billion because getting something that big to work properly is in itself a massive pain in the ass even if you have all the technology. Hell, just recreating the Apollo project would probably cost close to $80billion without blueprints and we already did it once before. Essentially it's an engineering problem rather than a scientific one.
If we would really want to we can get rid of the slow down by simply performing a flyby. Who knows how acceptable the former would be of course, considering the limited science and that such mission wouldn't get funding very often...
One that hath name thou can not otter
Hm? Wouldn't one expect a star to have a much denser atmosphere due to the high gravity?
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Wouldn't solar sails fail to work once you reach the Heliopause?