Why has Proxima Centauri become the “C position” in science fiction works?

Editor's note: Recently, the domestic science fiction film "The Wandering Earth 2" is being screened. The grand science fiction scenes and hard-core scientific knowledge have become hot topics of discussion.

In the movie, the destination of the Earth is Proxima Centauri, which happens to be the home planet of the Trisolarans. In addition, Proxima Centauri also appears in "Transformers" and "Avatar". Why is it so popular among science fiction writers?

Gou Lijun, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave the answer.

Gou Lijun

Researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

The end point of the Earth's wandering is Proxima Centauri, which is also a star among the Three Body System.

In reality, it is 4.23 light-years away from the Earth and is the closest star to our solar system. Precisely because it is closest, scientists know more about it, and it has become the first stop for humans to travel to the world outside the solar system.

I really hope that such a scene can be realized in the future space age, but it is still difficult now.

We know that in the 1970s, the United States launched two probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Although Voyager 1 has already flown out of the solar system, someone has calculated that it will take about 70,000 years to fly to Proxima Centauri.

In the movie "The Wandering Earth", it takes the Earth more than 2,500 years to travel to Proxima Centauri, which is almost impossible to achieve with our current technology. It is a beautiful imagination.

END

Editor: Guru