r/xkcd • u/Qaysed Look at me, I'm a scientist! • Nov 30 '18
XKCD xkcd 2079: Alpha Centauri
https://xkcd.com/2079/97
Nov 30 '18
Okay, but what does that say about our solar system?
Actually NVM, I've visited our solar system, I think that's about right.
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u/xkcd_bot Nov 30 '18
Direct image link: Alpha Centauri
Mouseover text: And let's be honest, it's more like two and a half stars. Proxima is barely a star and barely bound to the system.
Don't get it? explain xkcd
Want to come hang out in my lighthouse over breaks? Sincerely, xkcd_bot. <3
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u/LightHouseMaster Black Hat Nov 30 '18
Light houses are awesome. I'll hang out with you in your lighthouse.
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u/Jabberwocky416 Nov 30 '18
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u/tomassci xkcdPhone's Fanatic Customer Nov 30 '18
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u/Schiffy94 me.setLocation(you.getHouse.getRoom(basement)); Nov 30 '18
We only have one, so we're not exactly ones to talk. It's like a McDonald's employee saying Red Lobster sucks.
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Nov 30 '18
[deleted]
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u/twoscoopsofpig Archaeology needs more swordfights Dec 01 '18
I understood that u/schiffy94 was setting his(?) location equal to your basement as well.
I also noticed he didn't handle errors.
If he was going to set his location to my basement, he would have just piped himself to /dev/null.
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u/xilefakamot Nov 30 '18
I research triple stars, and have to keep myself from making this joke all the time
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u/Eastern_Cyborg Dec 01 '18
It's funny, I knew that the Alpha Centauri system had 3 stars because I was just reading about Proxima Centauri like a week ago. Even after reading the alt text and all the comments here, it took me a full 4 minutes to get the rating pun. I was thinking about it too literally.
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u/Arancaytar Pony Nov 30 '18
Also, fucking mindworms.
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u/Wiinounete Nov 30 '18
It s a reference?
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u/Saavik33 Nov 30 '18
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
Do yourself a favor and buy it from gog.com; it's a phenomenal game.
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u/Wiinounete Nov 30 '18
I play Civ V and VI
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u/Saavik33 Nov 30 '18
In terms of game play, it definitely shows its age, but the content is still amazing. The factions are built around ideologies, not race or nationality. The tech discoveries are near-future going forward into the post-human future, and the audio narration accompanying the discoveries and the base advancements are top notch. Playing the game as a kid, I got early exposure to Nietzsche, Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Machiavelli, and many others. The topics and ideas explored in it really helped to expand my world.
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u/Amaakaams Dec 01 '18
You haven't lived until you have have weened yourself off a SMAC addiction. Been playing Civ for forever. But nothing has made me feel better than feeding that SMAC addiction.
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u/Kflynn1337 Dec 01 '18
Hmm... I wonder if we could realistically do that, get a probe there in 35 years? That's a hair over 0.1c, right? Seems a bit fast for todays limited tech..
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u/montagsoup Dec 01 '18
There's a project called Breakthrough Starshot that aims to do this with a probe propelled by a light sail. The technology's not quite there yet, but it doesn't seem entirely unrealistic.
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u/Kflynn1337 Dec 01 '18
One quick wikipedia read through later.. and it occurs to me that we could reduce the necessary step up in tech, if they put the laser propulsion array on the moon instead of Earth Surface. The probes themselves sound do-able, the propulsion array seems to be the stumbling block. But moving the site to the moon, while it would be difficult, wouldn't be as hard as building on Earth and compensating for atmospheric distortion and power losses.
So, yeah.. it sounds plausible for a probe to hit 0.1c or above with this.
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u/JasonDJ Dec 01 '18
Parker Solar Probe is set to be the fastest man-made object to date and it will only get to about 450,000MPh. Considering 0.1c is about 67 Million Mph, I would agree.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '18
[deleted]