Astronomy 2021A/B Lecture 13: Chapter 13 Notes

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 2021A/B
• Professor: Martin Zinke- Allmang

Document Summary

Chapter 13 interstellar travel and the fermi paradox. Spacecraft bound for the stars: pioneer 10 and 11, voyagers 1 and 2, and new horizons are all on the way out of our solar system. It would take pioneer 10 115,000 years to get to alpha centauri if it were going at the same speed it went to jupiter at. The closest star pioneer 10 will get to is in 2 million years, to the bright star of aldebaran (taurus) In case aliens ever stumble upon our stuff, pioneer carries a picture of humans and our location in the galaxy, whereas voyager carries pictures, greetings, and songs. The cosmic speed limit: ei(cid:374)stei(cid:374)"s spe(cid:272)ial la(cid:449) of (cid:396)elati(cid:448)it(cid:455): i(cid:373)possi(cid:271)le to travel through space faster than the speed of light. Energy issues: e(cid:374)e(cid:396)g(cid:455) (cid:396)e(cid:395)ui(cid:396)ed to put a(cid:374) o(cid:271)je(cid:272)t i(cid:374) (cid:373)otio(cid:374) (cid:396)e(cid:395)ui(cid:396)es o(cid:374) t(cid:449)o thi(cid:374)gs: o(cid:271)je(cid:272)t"s (cid:373)ass, a(cid:374)d speed (cid:455)ou (cid:449)a(cid:374)t it to move at.