Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to Earth, is home to three stars, one of which is so tantalizingly similar to our sun that many experts speculate that its solar system might contain ...

A new proposal uses an electron beam fired from a stable platform near the Sun, which could push a ... this idea could theoretically propel a probe to Alpha Centauri in just 40 years.

Only the three-star Alpha Centauri star system ... of the relative distances between the nearest stars and the Sun. Barnard’s ... [+] star is the second closest star system to the Sun, and ...

"Chemical rockets that we use today, even with the extra speed boost from flying by planets, or from swinging by the sun for a boost, just don't have the ability to scale to useful interstellar speeds ...

This platform would sit above the sun's surface, using a combination ... it is possible to push a scientifically useful probe to Alpha Centauri within a human lifetime with minimal advances ...

It would then take them just 20 years to travel to the Alpha Centauri star system four light years away, but they would have extremely little time to explore the system –. It is not possible for ...

The nearby star Proxima Centauri has long been considered a potential ... a red dwarf that is just a fraction of the size of the Sun, has a feisty personality, and the space weather it produces ...