Next planet too far if earth becomes uninhabitable

Space is aptly named. For that is exactly what it is, lots and lots of space. The closely packed stars we see in the night sky are actually separated by unbelievable distances. For example, the closest neighbor to our sun is the star Proxima Centauri. This star may even have a habitable exoplanet. But there is a problem. The fastest speed man has currently planned to achieve is 430,000 miles per hour (Parker solar probe). At that incredible speed, you could travel from New York to Los Angeles in 20 seconds. Pretty fast and no small accomplishment.

Now comes the problem. Even though Proxima Centauri is our closest neighbor; traveling at the highest speed humanity will soon record it would take us 6,550 years to get there. That’s right, 6,550 years. Proxima Centauri is 4.25 light years distant which equates to 25 trillion miles. It is not very likely that we will choose to scrap earth in the near future to travel for thousands of years to live in a questionable planetary system.

Another aspect of space is that we are well insulated from aliens by the sheer distance of other bodies from earth. Just as we cannot get there, visitors cannot readily get here. Perhaps we should take better care of planet earth, I think we are going to be here for a very long time.

John Thomas

Coralville

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