Submission + - How civilisations can spread across a galaxy
kanweg writes: If you look at the milky way at night, it appears not much is changing. But over time, stars get closer and further to each other. Coryn Bailer-Jones, an astrophysicist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, found that of 14 stars coming within 3 light years of Earth, the closest encounter is likely to be HIP 85605, which now lies some 16 light years away in the constellation of Hercules. It will get a close as the Oort cloud.
Human or alien civilisations could practice star hopping. Why travel 16 light years through space when you can just wait until a star with a suitable planet gets close and cover only the last stretch with an artificial spaceship? Take your time for a thoughtful response; it will take another 250,000 to 470,000 year before the close encounter.
Human or alien civilisations could practice star hopping. Why travel 16 light years through space when you can just wait until a star with a suitable planet gets close and cover only the last stretch with an artificial spaceship? Take your time for a thoughtful response; it will take another 250,000 to 470,000 year before the close encounter.
