On Fri, 19 Sep 2025 14:28:56 +0000, James Nicoll wrote:

Bad News From Alpha Centauri A?

There's a planet in the habitable zone... but not an Earthlike planet.

https://reactormag.com/bad-news-from-alpha-centauri-a/

My initial reaction was that this was actually _good_ news, even if it was less than the best possible news. We might not find a civilization there
to make friends with, or be able to colonize the planet, but from material
in the system, we could make orbital habitats around a planet with a
stable orbit.

However, upon reading your article, I see that it's actually a bit farther away from Alpha Centauri A than a planet with an equable surface
temperature would be.

While that is in a way bad news, as it eliminates the possibility of a
planet just like Earth and with a stable orbit in the system, it doesn't preclude an orbital habitat - just make the mirrors for catching sunlight
a little larger.

Even its eccentric orbit isn't a dealbreaker - make the mirrors adjustable
in size.

But that it's probably larger than Saturn? Oops. That means it probably,
like Jupiter (and, I think, also Saturn) has radiation belts that would basically preclude putting any orbital habitats into orbit around it.
(Placing them in an orbit beyond those belts doesn't work because
radiation belts tend to have a long tail on the side away from the
primary.)

So I guess I do have to break down and admit that this is bad news.

John Savard


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