Search Lites Vol. 15 No. 2, Spring 2009 The Quarterly Newsletter of The SETI League, Inc. Offices: 433 Liberty Street Alpha Centauri, Here We Come PO Box 555 by Paul Gilster, Tau Zero Foundation Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA I'm always fascinated with the way the media handle nearby stars and the plan- ets that may orbit them, especially as our inventory of confirmed planets continues Phone: to grow. A recent National Geographic television special is a case in point. The (201) 641-1770 show's graphics were superb, its narration gripping. But how puzzling to run into a Facsimile: (201) 641-1771 fundamental misunderstanding about our nearest stellar neighbors. Email:
[email protected] In "Journey to the Edge of the Universe," putative travelers have moved out Web: through the Solar System, passing (an ingenious touch) the various probes and arti- www.setileague.org facts we humans have scattered from Mercury out to the Kuiper Belt. As we move President/Registered Agent: to the nearest stars, we pass what is obviously the red dwarf Proxima Centauri and Richard Factor make for the binaries Centauri A and B. Describing them, the narrator says, "Not Secretary/Treasurer: one but three stars, spinning around each other locked in a celestial standoff, each A. Heather Wood star's gravity attracting the other, their blazing orbital speed keeping them apart." Executive Director Emeritus: H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D. And then this: "Get between them and we'd be vaporized." Trustee: Not a chance. We don't yet know whether there are planets around Centauri A Martin Schreiber, CPA or B.