Zeta Retciculi - Photo and Discussion

originally posted by: stormbringer1701
it's tangential; but i think i remember an article concerning a revision to the theories that determine the ages of stars and that the revised model accounts for the anomalies in several stars behavior vs ages? that would pertain To Ross's information about zeta reticuli being unusual? i forget the details but i think it concerned stellar chemistry or motion; maybe both.

Its a chemistry issue.

Basically the stars have the chemistry of young stars but seem from their motion to be older. It's a bit of a paradox.

BTW: I plan on posting a few more images from some sessions in the weeks ahead.

originally posted by: Ross 54

Thanks for those kind words.
Yes, the two stars are far enough apart that each might have its own set of planets. If life existed on planets of each star it could be readily detected by the other. This would very likely be an incentive to explore these planets.
The distance is substantial, but far less than the usual distance between stars. Imagine what we would do, if we had solid evidence of life, and perhaps another civilization in space, only 1/12 or so of a light year distant!

Exactly. Zeta Reticuli looks promising for habitable planets and it's very easy to imagine that if we had a companion star to Sol in a similar configuration and with at least one habitable planet around the companion star, our space program would have advanced more quickly to date and that there would be a steady push to advance space science in order to send manned missions there.

This set up would give an advanced civilization a massive advantage as far as incentivizing space travel vs. our situation. Those priorities would lead to advances in space travel much more quickly than on earth, were space budgets are given very low priority.

Our skeptics on ET life cling to the fact that we have not yet proven life exists any where else in the universe and thus might be unique. If we had evolved in a system like ZR, we would have known early on that we weren't alone and, if a planet around the companion star had active life, we'd know that life is common and that it evolves towards complexity.

It's exactly the kind of star system you would expect to spawn a civilization of interstellar travelers.

Probably the only better would be a similar binary pair located in a densely populated star cluster where the journey to the twin star would just be a stepping stone to other stars less than a light year away, also with habitable worlds.

It's not only likely that there are civilizations in our galaxy thousands, millions or even more than a billion years more advanced, but many of them probably also had the advantages outlined above, which would only serve to put a much more massive emphasis on developing space travel than exists on Earth.

Heck, if Mars had been big enough to retain it's atmosphere and maintain conditions for life, I'm sure a life filled Mars would have spurred us to colonizing the planet decades ago.