I. The S.S. Light

Welcome space travelers! This is your space-host onboard the spacecraft 'LIGHT', which travels at the constant speed of light (about 300,000 km per second), the maximum speed anything can achieve in the Universe. Unlike the Star-Trek's spaceship, SS Enterprise, our spacecraft encounters the 'Real Universe' and its mysteries. (In this episode, we will deliberately avoid the relativistic effects of time dilation due to traveling at the speed of light).

II. The Home Preview

I hope you enjoyed your previous journey to the solar system in which you visited your neighbor next door, the Moon. You also visited the Sun and the outskirts of solar system together with the interplanetary space. At 300,000 km/s, we were orbiting around in the solar system for many years within a few minutes, as imagination has nothing to do with the time and space. We were able to visit Moon in 1.2 seconds but reached exteriors of the solar system in about 1.5 years of traveling at the same speed. We obtained the measurements and data about the contents of situation (celestial body or space itself) and concluded that the Earth has no central place in the solar system as previously thought for thousands of years. It is a normal planet as other planets are. It is spherical and traveling in the emptiness around the Sun as other planets do. If you were living on the Moon, you come to know that the Earth has phases like the Moon itself i.e., New Moon (Crescent), Full Moon, First and Last Quarter etc which is only the game of light playing around with reflection and casting shadows at different angles. The only difference is that Earth is the only known life-bearing place in the Universe as far as we know. Consequence of this knowledge is far more complex: Who are we then? Where we came from? Where are we going? We will explore 'Life in the Universe' in the next episodes.

III. A Word on Today's Journey

Today we will extend our journey a little beyond the solar system to the nearest star to the Sun. The main purpose of our journey is to analyze the truth behind the stars which we have been looking throughout our childhood, and used to sing 'twinkle twinkle little star'. Normally we unconsciously think that Moon, Sun, and Stars are above in the sky and the sky is above the Earth. Don't we say 'Sunrise', 'Sunset', and likewise words when we know that Sun does not rise or set, it is the earth which rotates and faces the Sun gradually? We also know that Earth is already in the sky as Moon, Sun, and Stars so there is no 'above' and 'below' in the sky.

IV. The Gravitational Boundaries

From the EARTH base, Countdown begins. Lift off! Your speed is well enough to leave the boundaries of Earth within a few seconds. The atmosphere is not the boundary of Earth but the Gravity. This gravity of Earth has held the Moon tightly around it and extends far beyond in the interplanetary space. So, how will you find the closest star in the sky? Complex question; isn't that? Yes it is, but you can solve it in an interesting way.

V. How to find the Nearest Star to the Sun?

Follow these steps carefully:

(1) Accelerate your spacecraft in any one direction for about 17 minutes (size of Earth's orbit's diameter if you travel at the speed of light), scanning all the stars around you. You notice that stars are not moving at all. To give you the example, visualize that you are in the train and you look out of window while train is traveling. The trees on the horizon will appear traveling with you. The closer the tree is, the quicker it will go past by you. Same happens with the stars. The stars are so far away that if you travel even with the speed of light, you feel yourself stationary in the space unless you see some planet nearby i.e., Mars or Jupiter whose motion will assure you that you are in fact traveling and at a tremendous speed. Or, at what rate Earth is receding from you. Once Planets are invisible, your reference point is lost.

(2) Notice any minute displacement of any star. You may have to point your spacecraft randomly in different directions so that you can thoroughly observe the sky.

(3) You notice that there is one particular star in a group of stars (constellation) which displaces before anyone else. Others also change their location slightly but when you increase your travel time. So the sooner any particular star will move, the closer it is to you. It's called Parallax Method in Astronomy.

(4) Once you know which star moved first, you can calculate its distance by carefully reading the astronomical data:

'Earth's sky is considered as a Circle or Sphere. This Circle is divided into 360 parts or Degrees. 1 Degree is further divided into 60 Arc Minutes and 1 Arc Minute is divided into 60 Arc Seconds. Displacement of 1 Arc second means the Star situated at 3.2 light years away. Light Year is the distance in kilometers the light takes to travel in one whole year which is 9.46 Trillion kilometers. This system works on Earth as well as in the space. After 17 Minutes of your space travel, only one star moved at 1.3 Arc seconds. So, the Distance to the star is 1.3 arc seconds multiplied by 3.26 light years, which is, 4.2 light years'.

VI. The Proxima Centauri in the Alpha Centauri Star System

Proxima Centauri, which is in the Constellation of Centaurus visible in the night sky of southern hemisphere at Earth, is the one which moved first thus making it the closest star to the Sun. You instantly request the information from Hubble Space Telescope (HST, the large orbiting telescope around Earth) to zoom into the star. For your amazement, its not one star, it's a combination of three stars which appear one dim point of light. You have directed your spacecraft towards Proxima Centauri. Traveling in the darks of interplanetary space for about 1.5 years, you crossed the Sun's influence and entered in the interstellar space (space between the stars). Here you are welcomed by Milky Way Galaxy's Gravity holding about 600 Billion stars in it. In this region you see large and luminous clouds of dust and gas, though far from you. Your instruments show that Hydrogen element is the most abundant element in the interstellar space and in the clouds of dust and gas. Furthermore, invisible and energetic rays (Cosmic Rays or Gamma Rays) are also prevailing everywhere which are generated by star formations or explosions. There are still 2.7 years to go.

Upon arrival you easily calculate distances of member stars in the group which is Alpha Centauri. You call them A,B, and C. A and B orbit each other and C orbits both of them outside. The C is closer to Earth. So Proxima Centauri is also called Alpha Centauri C.

VII. The Stars are Suns

It appears to you as if you are approaching the Sun. You realize that stars are suns or Sun is a star. Proxima Centauri is smaller and redder than the Sun and most abundant kind of star, burning Hydrogen and converting them into another element, Helium; Sun does the same. You are provoked to think that Hydrogen is the main building block of the Universe. With one Proton in the center and one Electron orbiting around it, Hydrogen atom is the simplest and basis of every element in the Universe, including you. Hydrogen gives the subtle message of ONE-ness of everything. Our Sun of Solar System is much larger and yellowish than Proxima. Unlike our Sun, Proxima has no planets around it instead it orbits around its companion stars in the center of the system like a planet. This is one of the most complex forms of orbits found under the gravity of other companion stars.

VIII. A Point of White Light

Now look back at your home, the Solar System. Surprisingly, Sun is a small white point of light with no planets visible. The whole diameter of 3 light-years seems to be shining and squeezed into the dot of white light. From the viewpoint of Proxima, you see the Universe same as you see from the Earth except some minute displacement of stars. Majority of stars did not move at all.

Our existence in the unnoticeable white point of light among billions of other points of light raises the simple questions starting with 'What', and the complex questions starting with 'Why'. From the atom to the Universe, the ONE-ness has something to do with the Great One, logically the Unseen containing body of every conceivable and not easily conceivable reality.

IX. The Nothingness

Forget the Stars, Earth, Moon, Planets and Clouds. The question is, what do you know about the Vacuum inside the Atom to limitless space of Universe? Don't you think; NOTHINGNESS is 'something' and found everywhere?