Jim Benford amplifies on Starshot's Phase I successes w/ video discuission available here www.youtube.com/@beyondcente.... Slides & commentary making case for reaching Alpha Centauri within this century. Beamed sails as only practical way for making this happen. Next: Testing in Starshot Phase 2.
Looking for habitable planets in very unlikely places. Speculations on red giant & even white dwarf prospects for living worlds. Can a sufficiently advanced technology move its home planet? www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/03/25/i...
Wrapping up Starshot's success at Phase I with a detailed look at the advances made in materials, laser array physics and communications, much of it available in journals from the Starshot scientists, and more papers from other sources coming. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/03/10/s...
Don't dismiss Breakthrough Starshot, media reports to the contrary. Jim Benford w/ spirited defense of what Phase 1 accomplished. I'll be running part 2 of this piece early next week. Solid work on lightsail, laser beamer, data return. Over 50 published papers www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/03/03/s...
Pondering the language of contact if we ever do confront ETI. Ted Chiang's wonderful Story of Your Life features aliens whose language is non-linear & transcends time. Consequences for SETI if we ever run into anything this bizarre. And we might. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/02/25/t...
How to reach the Solar Gravitational Lens? Propulsion options carefully dissected in new paper out of JPL. Sundiver trajectories, solar sails or possibly nuclear electric and hybrid missions now under discussion. 2035-2040 possible launch, but it's tight. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/02/17/p...
Astronomers are applying a new technique to study archival radio telescope data at low frequencies. Remarkable method may allow sweeping surveys of nearby stars, detecting star-planet interactions. Several early detections discussed on Centauri Dreams. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/02/06/a...
Beaming a lightsail to the stars demands a sail that can stand up to huge accelerations while remaining stable and on course. Holography is one solution. A flat sail carrying the holographic surface of a curved one is now being explored as a solution. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/01/28/h...
Why the continued silence from SETI? Eduardo Carmona lays out factors that imply life is abundant but technology vanishingly scarce. Fermi's famous question is answered by constraints the universe presents. Keep looking, in other words, but be realistic. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/01/20/c...
Pandora space telescope, now in space and going through system checks, will offer multiwavelength study of exoplanets transiting their stars. Highly important because we can filter misleading stellar noise from atmospheric data. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/01/14/p...
David Kipping, brilliant Columbia astrophysicist, offers new take on SETI strategies called Eschatian Hypothesis. I explore its ramifications on today's Centauri Dreams. Is a truly ancient civilization indistinguishable not just from magic but from nature? www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/12/17/n...
TRAPPIST-1, with its seven transiting planets - three in the habitable zone - is attracting plenty of work. I look at recent papers on whether any of these worlds has an atmosphere, and what we can do to make a definitive call. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/12/09/c...
Interesting paper on non-human species communication. Can we learn from signaling patterns in fireflies how to distinguish optical SETI signals in astronomical data? What about dolphin 'language' or bird-song? More on today's Centauri Dreams. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/11/20/t...
Possible evidence that the accelerated expansion of the universe is being mis-read, based on new analysis of supernovae data. Is the cosmos in fact decelerating? Is the universe, after all, cyclical? www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/11/12/a...
Machine intelligence will guide our first interstellar missions. Putting non-biological 'crews' on journeys of this magnitude is inevitable, but it challenges us to revise our values and adjust our moral philosophy. Thoughts on why this is necessary. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/11/05/b...
Will we ever study a black hole up close with a spacecraft? Some musings on how it might be done as we learn to locate solar-mass BHs within tens of light years. Interesting paper points out science opportunities. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/10/23/i...
At Voyager speeds, well over 200,000 years.
Teegarden's Star has a planet that might be habitable, but only if we make key assumptions. I look at recent work on what those assumptions are, and how much we still don't know about the 'habitability' question. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/10/18/t...
On that dark 'object' that may help refine dark matter models in the early universe. If indeed it is dark matter and not an ancient inactive dwarf galaxy. Striking detection via gravitational lensing pushed to its limits. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/10/14/a...
Something no other propulsion system can do: Non-Keplerian orbits, essentially hovering over a target. Space weather mission concept illustrates the possibilities. Will we be smart enough to fund it? www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/10/09/s...
Rogue planets move through interstellar space with no star to warm them. We've assumed they've been ejected from a parent star system, but now it appears some form in same way stars do. A fascinating example discussed in new paper. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/10/02/r...
If the Wow! Signal was result of power beaming accidentally sweeping across our sky from another star system, why would it be so narrow in bandwidth? James Benford offers an explanation that shows how physics forces the issue. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/09/22/b...
A new look at old data from Ohio's Big Ear, where the famous Wow! signal was recorded. Plus thoughts on a recent work that analyses the factors that make a technological civilization possible. How likely is it that we are alone? www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/09/15/s...
Life on Ceres? Almost certainly not now, but go back a few billion years ago and conditions in the asteroid's sub-surface ocean could have supported micro-organisms. New study makes us wonder about other outer system objects. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/09/03/a...
Keith Cooper's new book Amazing Worlds looks at the interplay of science fiction and exoplanet research. It's a crisp, well-informed survey rich in SF both classic and new, mingling with latest exoplanet data. My review is available here. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/08/29/a...
Deeply saddened to learn of the death of Italian physicist Claudio Maccone, a good friend and a leading figure in interstellar studies. I post some recollections about this fine man today on Centauri Dreams. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/08/22/c...
Further thoughts on generation ships, including an obvious one. Will we insist on carrying humans to other stars, or are we more likely to send intelligent machines? www.centauri-dreams.org/2016/03/25/t...
Project Hyperion generation ship design contest produced a solid result in 'Chrysalis,' a richly detailed study of how a ship like this could be constructed. Key problems: As always, propulsion, & especially closed loop life support. That last one is huge. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/08/12/c...