A Journey to Alpha Centauri - Christian Marois (SETI Talks 2017)

The Alpha Centauri star system is ideal to search for habitable planets by various observing techniques due to its proximity and wide range of stellar masses. Following the recent discovery of an Earth-size planet candidate located inside the Proxima Centauri habitable zone, Dr. Marois will discuss this remarkable discovery and the planet’s potential to find life. He will also present our current instrument project for the Gemini South observatory, TIKI, to discover similar planets around the two Sun-like pair located 15,000 AU from Proxima Centauri. The Alpha Centauri system is the prime target of the Breakthrough Starshot program, a project to send small quarter-size probes to take resolve images of these new worlds, and to prepare for Humanity’s first step into a new star system.

Dr Marois completed his Ph.D. at the Université de Montréal in 2004. The main topic of his thesis work was to understand the limits in exoplanet imaging and to design innovating observing strategies. After his thesis, he did postdoctoral researches at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Univ. of California Berkeley and NRC. In 2008, while at NRC, he led the team that took the first image of another planetary system (HR 8799) using the Keck and Gemini telescopes. He is currently pursuing his research at the NRC Herzberg where he is part of the Gemini Planet Imager campaign, and leading the development of instruments for imaging Earth-like planets at Gemini South and at the TMT.

[TimothyWhiteheadzm]

A small correction on spectrum. The speaker says that plants on earth use green light. In fact, most plants reflect green light and utilize mostly blue light and some red light.

[MrCrowebobby]

Here's hoping we one day learn what time and space really are and are able to travel through them in something other than what know think "time" is.

[dichebach]

I was very edified to see Dr. Marois point out the journey time (one way) to get to Alpha Centauri given the best speeds we have so far attained (80, 000 years at about 16km/second).

Obviously the research to remote detect celestial bodies in these far away places is fascinating and crucial. But I hope people of similarly high intellect as these fine investigators are also putting equal if not greater effort into exploring the systems to propel an unmanned probe to these places, including propulsion, autonomous control, etc. In the long run, if we find planets that seem promising for human habitation, obviously we want humanity to be able to colonize such places, and that is a much more complicated undertaking but being able to at least get an unmanned spacecraft there in a reasonable time frame (400 years?) would seem to be a requisite first step.

SETI, how about a talk in future on this topic? Everything I know about such things is gleaned from wiki articles on things like the Nuclear pulse propulsion designs from the late 1960s, but surely there are some institutionalized researchers who are continuing to explore such topics?

[edwin]

Very interesting technics. So it could be possible if funding is there.

[Eo_Tunun]

Watching the bit about the speckles in the camera, I get to think:
You can influence the polarization of light emission with magnetic fields. Wouldn't it be easiest to expose the detector to an even magnetic field, that is, put it inside a Helmholtz coil, so that you *know* which of the detected radiation is caused by heat from the instrument? Are there even polarization filters for infrared?
Am I being daft here?
If I were, would that stop me from making such suggestions? (Well, no, it wouldn't. I can tell you that much. ^^)

[Swede__DJT]

spectrum green absorbed by plants?
100bn stars?

was he nervous or had he spme new knowledge that most of us haven't heard before this?

[deniseclegg]

oh, his tie is awesome! if we ever need a runway to take off for a-central and it gotta be a long

[flyingtable]

I am watching this after my interests were piqued by the novel "Three Body Problem", by Liu Cixin.

[coastwalker]

One day if we don't poison the earth I am sure we will send a robot there and get some data back. A grand project but it will be in a few hundred years time IMHO. It is still fascinating to learn what we can about the system. Great talk thanks.

[tadghmurphy]

The hard thing to comprehend is the age of the audience. Where are all the young enthusiasts??

[sergey]

"JWST coming end of next year" -this statement never gets old

[vburd]

correction....alfa centauri a is actually more massive than the sun while b is less.

[NicosMind]

Does anyone know of any Spanish observatories or bodies which does weekly lectures like this? Thanks :)

[francisjames]

The quicker way to get to Alpha Centauri is to catch the Express bus! Lol

[Alpsbeach]

Searching for life out in the cosmos (aliens) with electromagnetic
speed? light & radio waves are too slow to establish interstellar
contact! my goodness!

[rowdeo]

Why would any advanced civilization want to communicate with Earth and any civilization not advanced would not. I have Seti on my computer and would love to hear that we found evidence for advanced or life as we perceive it through radio waves but am skeptical. I love the spirit of Seti and the other projects (milkyway) that I engaged my computer to do since I am no science person! It is the least I can do to support science

[stevengrammer]

I only see living on another planet if it is earth like.

[bimmjim]

What we now know about Physics is miniscule. We don't even know what is *Gravity* and what is *Time.* We are very, very small and stupid.

[andenkondorzenzi]

B E S T
E V E R
S E T I
T R I P

[janhuddleston]

There will be a time that we can get to Alpha Centauri within three days.