Research Progress

          I had two weeks researching about Proxima Centauri (nearest star to Earth). I choose this topic because I was recently reading a physics book written by Walter Lewin (physics teacher of MIT). He mentioned this particular star and got my full attention so I began searching about it on EBSCO (school´s library subscription service) and saw an article that talked about traveling there and discovering the possibility of having a place that might be able to sustain human life.

          I also used as well NASA webpage which mentioned the nearest technology that we have to travel to Proxima Centauri which is a space craft named Voyager I. 

If Voyager were to travel to Proxima Centauri, it would take over 73,000 years to arrive. If we could travel at the speed of light, an impossibility due to Special Relativity, it would still take 4.22 years to arrive!

Throughout my reasearch my interest changed from searching just the description of Proxima Centauri to the possibility of traveling to it and finding a possible place of living. 

"It's so close to us, and the position of the other stars is such that it should be very possible to find a small planet,” affirmed NASA.

 

 

MLA SOURCES

MLA Sources

EBSCO Source:
1) Andrews, Bill. "How Humans Will Travel To Alpha Centauri. (Cover Story)." Astronomy 40.7 (2012): 22. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 16 Jan. 2013.

OTHER Sources:
2)O'Neill, Ian. "Main Menu." Traveling To Proxima Centauri. N.p., 9 July 2008. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. <http://astroengine.com/2008/07/09/how-long-would-it-take-to-travel-to-proxima-centauri/>.

3)Rodriguez, Joshua. "NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration." NASA. N.p., 28 Jan. 2009. Web. 17 Jan.2013.<http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/alpha_centauri_earths.html>.

4)"Cosmic Distance Scales - The Nearest Star." Cosmic Distance Scales - The Nearest Star. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. <http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/cosmic/nearest_star_info.html>.

5)Carl, John. "Proxima Centauri." Universe Today RSS. N.p., 19 Mar. 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2013. <http://www.universetoday.com/59336/proxima-centauri/>.

Proxima Centauri

Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to the sun and is at 4.2 lightyears. I choose this theme because I read about it in a Physics book written by a famous Physics teacher of MIT. It sounds really interesting to talk about stars and especially if it is the nearest star to the Sun. This star is classified as a red dwarf located in the constellation of Centauri. It was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes, it has a diameter of 1/7 of that of the Sun and its density is 40 times bigger than the Sun.