Out There: Discovery Rekindles Wish for a Journey to the Stars



Source: Dennis Overbye, New York Times

Excerpt:  The discovery last week of an Earth-like planet circling Alpha Centauri B "set off an epidemic of daydreaming among the astronomical and sci-fi set," including Sara Seager, an MIT astronomer, who repeated a call made last year by Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy that "we should drop everything and send a probe there.” "But if astronomers have learned anything over the last few years from devices like the Kepler satellite, it is that small planets come in packs. There is plenty of room in the system for more planets, habitable ones."

Read the full article:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/science/space/discovery-rekindles-wish-for-a-journey-to-the-stars.html

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