if alpha centauri were to all of a sudden disappear, we wouldn't knknow 4 another 4.3 years. How come? Why would this be the case?
would this be the case because its really far away from us and it's 4.3 light years away. So if it suddenly just vanished out of sight, then it would definetly take 4.3 light years to get back, because that's how long it would take its light to travel.
please correct me if I'm wrong, and list any other info, thanks - by more info, i mean info that you know from the top of ur head, please no links, thanks
Your explanation is correct.
The 4.3 light year distance of Alpha Centauri means that the light we are seeing now was emitted 4.3 years ago. If the star ceased to exist NOW (which is not at all likely to happen), we would not know about it for 4.3 years, because light emitted before is still on the way here.
thanks drwls, :-)
You are correct in your understanding. If Alpha Centauri were to suddenly disappear, we would not know about it for another 4.3 years because it is located approximately 4.3 light-years away from us.
This means that the light we currently receive from Alpha Centauri took 4.3 years to travel to Earth. Therefore, any changes or events happening at Alpha Centauri would also take 4.3 years for their light to reach us and be detected.
As for additional information, Alpha Centauri is actually a triple star system consisting of three stars: Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth in the system, is located about 4.24 light-years away and is the nearest known star to our solar system.
Alpha Centauri is also of significant interest to astronomers and researchers because there is a possibility of exoplanets orbiting the stars in the system. Proxima Centauri has been found to have at least one confirmed exoplanet in its orbit – Proxima Centauri b.
You are correct! If Alpha Centauri were to suddenly disappear, we would not know about it for another 4.3 years because it is approximately 4.3 light years away from us.
To understand why it would take this long to notice its disappearance, we need to consider how light travels. Light travels at a finite speed, approximately 299,792 kilometers per second (or about 186,282 miles per second) in a vacuum. Since Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light years away, it means that light emitted from Alpha Centauri takes 4.3 years to reach us on Earth.
So, if Alpha Centauri vanished, the last light it emitted will still be on its way towards Earth. Until that light reaches us and is no longer visible, we would continue to see Alpha Centauri as it was 4.3 years ago. This is because the light we see from any object in the sky has traveled for some time before it reaches our eyes, giving us a delayed view of what's happening.
As for more information about Alpha Centauri, it is a star system consisting of three stars - Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri is the closest of the three and is actually the closest known star to our solar system, located about 4.24 light years away. The Alpha Centauri system is of particular interest to astronomers and scientists in the search for exoplanets and possibly habitable worlds beyond our own solar system.