Should We Be Concerned about This?

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Should We Be Concerned about This?

Concerned2012 (guest) 27 Aug 2010 01:11

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/ege/pressrelease.mail

13 Lightyears away…..How far is that? When was this found? Could it pose a threat?

Re: Should We Be Concerned about This?

3WMElliott 27 Aug 2010 01:43

If I've got my 0's right, that's a good 122,986,869,000,000 kilometers away (that's 122 trillion kilometers). We consider it 'close' in an astronomical sense, but it's noway near close enough for any concern.

There are certainly plenty of stars closer to us than this one (DEN 1048-3956 if you want to research it further), none of which are giving us any problems now, or in the future.

Re: Should We Be Concerned about This?

Moo (guest) 27 Aug 2010 02:35

10 Years ago. I don't believe we had the technology THEN to really be able to track low-light stars like that.

In other words, no. This is nothing to worry about. I'm fairly positive we have superior telescopes since 2000.

Re: Should We Be Concerned about This?

Astrogeek 27 Aug 2010 06:08

It was found in 2000.

13 light years is about 3 times the distance to Proxima Centauri, and about double the distance to Barnard's Star, both of which are also red dwarfs, and both of which we have known about for… well… a very long time.

At 13 light years, it is "close" in terms of our stellar neighborhood, but it is very, very far away from our standpoint.

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"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind